Performances!

Oh, graduate school... how you suck up all my time with books, papers, and more books. I'm not surprised really, but there's definitely a quick clip to all the words I've been cramming into my head.

That's why it was so fun to go see The Rover by Aphra Behn. This restoration comedy is full of disguise and identity play as everyone shakes out to get with the person they'll marry. Plus it's Carnival - lots of great masks. The language is playful, the double entendres plentiful. Put on by ACT's MFA program, this production had minimal sets used to great effect as well as great acting (including some fantastic British and Spanish accents). Was quite entertained - it closes this week, so if you have $10 and are in San Francisco, go check it out!

Sunday Martin and I went to see SF Opera's production of Xerxes. A rarely performed Handel opera, this was also a fun comedy with a love quadrangle and plenty of gender play. The king is sung by a woman, the king's brother by a counter-tenor (who sounds like a woman), plus a fiancée disguised as a man who's come to see the king (her intended) only to find he's fallen in love with another woman... Yep, totally straightforward is not a description that works here.

Since I'm taking an opera and literature class, it was fun to actually understand some stuff the pre-show talk addressed and explain some conventions, like recitative. The costumes here were fantastic too with the chorus all in grey, watching the action like they were watching a play (complete with programs for every activity). The slow motion clapping and stylized action really added to an already visually interesting production. I loved when the general is singing and his soldiers lawn bowling behind him, moving the balls so that he wins.

There's a love aria sung to a tree too. Check out some clips here on the SF Opera site.