Shakespeare Will Follow You Anywhere

Marc's job at the hardware store plopped him right in the center of local society.  You should see when we walk around downtown -- every other passing stranger greets him by name.

It's like we've lived here all our lives.  And everybody loves Marc!

Anyway, one of the guys who frequents the hardware store is also the director of the Cape Ann Shakespeare Troupe.  And he cast Marc as Sebastien in The Tempest during a conversation in the plumbing aisle.

And so it was that Marc got back on the stage after a ten-year hiatus.  And since we spent our years in England watching every production by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, it connected the dots nicely.  Shakespeare has been a theme in our lives for a long time. 

Sebastien is the sinister, sarcastic bad guy who decides to murder his brother.  His equally sarcastic and evil cohort, Antonio, talks him into it. 

a shot from rehearsal

He did an awesome job.  I wish you could have seen it, seriously.  He had the crowd laughing and gasping, and got lots of compliments from strangers in the audience after the show.  Two middle-aged ladies were even overheard talking about how he was "easy on the eyes".  (Another replied, "Yes.   he.   is."   Ha!)

Besides the sexy Sebastien, the play's highlights included live music, written for the play by a  composer at the New England Conservatory (Daniel's school, by the way), and dancers playing Ariel, the nymph.














I wish you had come, if not to see the play, then to have eaten this chocolate cake that Michelle brought him, topped with ganache and a mound of chocolate candy.

As it was, the two of us managed to eat the whole thing ourselves. 

after the play -- Daniel is feeling particularly Shakespearean

Everybody asks him if more plays are in his future.  And apparently the answer is yes.  They've already roped him into doing A Shakespeare Celebration for Shakespeare's upcoming birthday.  It's a show that blends Shakespeare with music, and he's opted to play his guitar, not deliver lines.  (Because there are fewer rehearsals that way, and when you live in a beach house and the sun has finally begun to to shine...you don't wanna miss it, you know?)

Check out the venue!  It's Rockport's Shalin Liu Performance Center downtown, right on the water.  Annnnnnd they're serving birthday cake and punch after the show.  So...why haven't you bought that plane ticket yet?