Bohemian Bacchanalia

Last night I handled merch for ENSMB at the Bohemian Bacchanalia, a show of the Boston Circus Guild, at Oberon. The basic format was sets by live bands (twice by Emperor Norton's, once by Johnnie Blazes' band) in the interludes between a variety of circus acts. Johnnie Blazes MC'd.

The acts that 'popped' most for me: a dance by Valdana Tribal Belly Dance; a guy performing on single-point trapeze, using it sometimes almost like silks, doing some impressive rotations while suspended by his elbows, plus graceful strength moves (according to some of the people I was chatting with, he's also a freshman at Brandeis (!)); a Mario Bros.-themed juggling routine that was choreographed to work beautifully with the game's music; a female contortionist who had me amazed at what one can do with a really flexible torso, especially rib cage; and a guy who did amazing strength feats of pole not-really-dancing, slowly rotating himself or just holding sideways in impressive moves that showed off his muscles (I didn't think actual live people could look like that; the trapeze performer was just as strong, but didn't have that 'ripped' look).

There were also performances on silks and lyra, a stiltwalker, burlesque acts, and more.

Most of the audience was in the standing area, which encouraged people to get more drinks when they had to shift around for different acts, since they weren't always on stage. Oddly, to me, anyway, it felt like it took a while for the audience to get into the swing of the evening, acting more as if they were a more traditional seated audience watching things on stage, rather than something that was a bit more interactive. And I think it ran longer than most people expected (or had allowed time for). By the end, though, those who were left were happily dancing to the new songs by ENSB.

I remain impressed at the level of circus arts in Boston. I'm not sure how it ended up being such a watering hole for this kind of talent, but it is. There's another performance tonight (without the pole guy, alas); it's already sold out.

Medea

Last week I ushered for ASP's production of Medea (Euripides, translation by Robin Robertson) at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center. As always, they have impressive acting, though I'm still not sure I'm happy with them producing non-Shakespeare plays yet.

The translation was more contemporary than I'd anticipated, and that was played up with the costumes being mostly contemporary clothes, though the chorus of Corinthian women were in much more classical Greek-style gowns (and they acted more like a classic Greek chorus, too). The language made it easy to focus on the issues.

I understand Medea's jealousy and anger; that's only understandable, and the revenge on her rival makes sense. I realized this time that just that wouldn't have been enough to inspire a play; without the death of the boys, it's not dramatic enough, at least for bloody Greek reality. And though I understand that her revenge is on Jason, forcing him to live with a reality that could have been so different, it still feels over-the-top that she'd turn her love for her sons to hate, enough to kill them in cold blood to complete her revenge. (Hm. In a more modern setting, I wonder whether she'd do something more like drug them to deathlike coma, or just spirit them away while telling Jason they were dead, or whether she had bloodlust needs, somehow.) It felt a little like the point in Merchant of Venice where Shylock becomes caricature rather than character to me, going over the top in his unreasonable attempt to enforce his pound of flesh.

The set included a house front that slowly split farther in two as if torn from the top. The front area started with a random (ish) placement of rocks and toys. The hall is a lovely historic space, with a very decorated ceiling; they put in a hoop of lights that looked rather like an oversized fire hoop over the main stage. The lights descended in one of the last scenes, a use of lights I'd never seen before.

[local eating] Deep winter farm share (4 of 6)

• a medium (or two small) rutabaga
  
• two and a half pounds of potatoes
  
• one and a half pounds of carrots
  
• two and a half pounds of white sweet potatoes (small ones mostly)
  
• a head of garlic
  
• four and a half pounds of apples (they look like they might be Empire)
  
• a bag (a quarter of a pound?) of mesclun
  
• a third of a pound of what looks like alfalfa sprouts
  
• a bag of frozen tomatoes (I chose red over multicolored because it was more solidly frozen)
  
• a container of cheese from Sweetpea Cheese (feta, chevre, or black pepper cheese; I chose the last)

I never know what to do with alfalfa sprouts other than put them in green salad in small quantities; any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.