fandomhigh | Live Entertainment Appreciation, Thursday, Period 5

"Once upon a time," Jonothon said, having instructed his class to once again meet him on the Causeway, "In London, going to the theatre to see a play was a very valid source of entertainment not only for the upper class citizens, but also for the lowest common denominator. A good many members of the audience were just people who wandered in off the street, who could wander out again at any time they pleased, because they'd rather be at the pub, or perhaps taking in the bear-baiting across the road."

Wasn't education fun, kids?

"In the event of royalty coming to watch, they'd seat them directly off to the side of the stage. Meanwhile, that lowest common denominator that I spoke about got to stand on the floor, in an area called the pit, which was more or less directly in front of the stage. People standing in the pit, referred to as groundlings, paid their admission of a penny when they entered, and were about as rowdy during these shows as today's sports fans might be when taking in a football match." Proper football. The kind where you actually used your feet. Not that Jono was going to launch into that conversation today. "Because most admission came in the form of these groundlings, playwrights like Shakespeare had to write to keep them entertained, with plenty of action, and, yes, more fart and sex jokes than you can shake a stick at."

Well, what did you think the Netherlands referred to?

"These days, theatre has evolved to be a more formal experience in general, with people being seated and expected to remain on their best behaviour during a performance. If you have cell phones, turn them off, and if you feel the need to talk, be prepared to be escorted out by an usher. That will affect your grade, by the way. Today, we're going to be seeing an opening night performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, mostly because I said, 'Give me Shakespeare,' and there was a Portalocity discount on this show in particular."

The portal opened up behind him, and Jono waved his students through. Once again, they showed up just inside, though there was something decidedly more authentic about this opening night than Jonothon had anticipated.

He sighed.

"Right," he muttered, shaking his head. "Not an opening night. The opening night. Welcome to the Globe Theatre, students. Into the pit, then. Try not to get spat on or catch the bubonic plague or anything."

Students probably wouldn't catch the bubonic plague.

[OOC: Open!]

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Downside of being crammed in among this many people: Mavis found herself regretting that vampires, while nowhere near as blessed/cursed in that department as werewolves, had a keener sense of smell than most humans. Ergh.

Upside? Crammed in among this many people, they were unlikely to realize that the tall girl in black was not so much actually tall as hovering about a foot off the floor to get a better view of the stage.

The play was actually funny, too - who knew? The actor playing Puck was no Zombie Laurence Olivier, but you could actually understand his dialogue.

Cecil looked up at Mavis, a bit jealous. He wasn't exactly short, but he wasn't terribly tall, either, and he could only see the actors when they happened to be on one-third of the stage, right in front. "Is it good?"

"Oh, yeah! So much better than when I saw it at home." Mavis glanced down and added guiltily, "Don't tell my Dad I said that. He was so proud of getting the Undead Shakespeare Company to perform."

"I won't," Cecil promised. "That sounds cool too, though; I bet they do great with the ghosts and things."

He spotted an apple core being pitched their way from behind Mavis, tried for "look out!" and managed "eep!" and grabbing her sleeve.

"Ack!"

Also *poof* but that was more of a visual effect.

That sleeve was suddenly a wing, and if Cecil was still hanging on, his view of the stage should have improved quite a bit.

Cecil totally didn't squawk, any evidence to the contrary. Nobody could hear over the general noise, anyway.

He then did his best not to flail and get dropped. "Sorry!"

"No, whoops, my fault!" Mavis replied, her voice not changing a whit despite her physical form. "Er, do you want down? It's way easier to see the stage up here, but somebody might notice..."

"Do you think they'll mind? It is easier to see." Cecil craned his head up to look at her. "Are you okay? I'm not too heavy?"

"Nah, I'm pretty strong, even as a bat. Not as strong as Dad, but he's twice my size." Also twice as likely to freak out that she might get spotted, accused of witchcraft or possibly just fashion forwardness, and burned at the stake. "If anybody gets weird, just yell 'help, I'm being attacked by a bat!' and I'll drop you and fly off. Problem solved."

Somewhere, Drac was having inexplicable shooting pains in his chest, occasionally radiating to the shoulder and left arm.

"Okay!" Cecil agreed happily. He shifted to try and get them both comfortable. "Thank you!"

Drac should probably get that looked at.

Live Entertainment Appreciation, Thursday, Period 5

Re: A Midsummer Night's Dream!

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Re: A Midsummer Night's Dream!

Re: A Midsummer Night's Dream!

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Re: A Midsummer Night's Dream!

Re: A Midsummer Night's Dream!