Oh, the Bard

Last night was one that I look forward to every year. It was our night at Collaborative Arts Shakespeare on the green. It is a standing date we have had with the Whiskey's for three or four years now. This year the production is "Comedy of Errors" a tale of mistaken identities and identical twins. The idea is you get a picnic basket, blanket and friends; then drink heavily in public and enjoy the warm summer air and a few laughs. I believe we succeeded on all levels. We will start with the basket which was full to the brim with cheese and crackers, homemade pickled asparagus, a salad of spicy greens and a tomato-basil pie procured that morning from the newly opened Pickles Farmers market in NoDa. To drink we had a bottle of cava and one of pink prosecco; the green always calls for bubbles. We always plan to get there an hour early, this gives us time to get a good spot right up front as well as get most of our eating out of the way before the play starts. This year there was an opening act, The Charlotte Waites, a renaissance revival music group. As we watched them set up we realized we actually knew one of the members, an eccentric man named Don that we know through the gardening community. It was especially nice, for The Mrs. and I, to get to see a number of the instruments from the MIM in Brussels actually played. After a short intermission the play started and we quickly lost ourselves in iambic pentameter. This year was notable for two reasons, one, this was in my mind the best production they have done on the green, it was very well acted, and two, the new Duke Power building is complete and makes for an impressive and somewhat imposing addition to the skyline. It hovers over you and really gives the park a truly urban feel. Luckily, the weather held up as we have been having evening thunderstorms for the past two weeks. All that and it's free, but they do pass a hat and the suggested five dollars is the least anyone can do, but if money is tight, go enjoy it anyway, good attendance brings more sponsors so you're helping regardless. I highly recommend going out and enjoying an evening on the green. I also want to mention that we checked out The Icehouse on South Blvd Friday night. First impression was good, I'll do another visit and give a full review at another time.