Has anyone seen or read Tom Stoppard’s play/movie Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead... [View All]

[WCGreen]

It was the first "adult" play I saw without the urgings of an Adult.

My step brother, who played one of the Players in the 1971 production at Chagrin Valley Little Theater, talked me into coming for the run of the show.

The actors were so old, about 20-30, and they treated us like kings, explaining stuff and just getting a kick out of two 13 year olds hanging around.

Brad didn't have any speaking parts but he was ordered to "Alfred, stop picking your nose..."

After that, I fell in love with the drama of drama...

I only tried out for one play in High School and didn’t make the cut, but I did get to play Old Man Warner in the other allegorical play, The Lottery in the Drama class I chose as an elective my senior year in High School.

Looking back I wish I would have taken the time to learn how to act, to jump into the theater just for “The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd...”

It’s funny how we make choices, why we do the things we do.

I still act completely on impulse on occasion, see my highly regrettable and misguided thread from yesterday, even though I am at the half point of my sixth decade on earth.

I did embrace the political theater and perhaps that was my chance for the stage. I loved giving speeches, meeting people, interacting with voters.

It’s tough, real tough to reach out your hand to a stranger and try to convince someone to vote for you, to trust you with the public good. Going door to door is fraught with drama, especially if you are in an area with republicans who register democrat so they can vote in primary
I recommend that people from the OWS movement and from DU to run for office. It’s the most frustrating thing you will ever do, but when it is all said and done, you will have an experience that will last a lifetime.’

It’s the best way to change things, to be engaged. The people who are out there representing all of us on the front lines of this political upheaval deserve all the credit for reawakening the spirit of engagement that is so dangerous to the status quo.

I wish I was younger, healthier. I did participate in several anti-war demonstrations during that frightening jingoism stirred up by Cheney and his partners in mayhem. But even though millions took to the street, the media completely ignored the tens of millions who opposed that adventure.

Anyway, the absurd nature of R&G reminds me of the drama of politics. Especially now as the GOP continue an absurdist and mostly pointless exercise in politic theater.

I just thought I would share that with you all…