The Cruicible-Play

A promotional email from Goldstar informed me of a play being performed at Bus Barn Theater in Los Altos. The play was called The Crucible based on a book of the same name by Arthur Miller. The blurb about the play caught my eye and piqued my interest. When I asked Anne and Nush if they'd like to go with us, they agreed.

Before the play, we had some delicious dinner at Opa Greek Restaurant in downtown Los Altos. The theater was within walking distance of the restaurant.

We picked up our tickets from the box office and were surprised to see that we got excellent tickets (2nd row from the front). Once a school bus-barn, the place is now a cosy theater with 99-odd seats.

The play was very entertaining as well as eye opening. It made me shudder to think that the events portrayed in the play were based on true inc

idents (the Salem witch trials). The actors were terrific, the sound and lighting were impressive. I was completely engrossed in the story and felt the lead characters' pain. There was a brief ten minute intermission and the play ended in about 3 hours.

I really enjoyed the experience and I look forward to watching a few more documentaries/films based on the topic.

Shakespeare in the Park: Hamlet

Watching Shakespeare In The Park each year has become a tradition for us. So far, we've watched Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Winter's Tale and now Hamlet.

Based on all the experience from the previous years, we managed to be fully prepared to have a good time. We carried lawn chairs, a tarp to sit on, a picnic dinner, snacks, drinks and lots of warm clothing. In addition, we reached there well ahead of time to score parking as well as good seats. We reached there almost an hour and a half before the show began. This time we had company. SIL, BIL and Ritwik joined us.

 

Sandhya and Gaurav were supposed to come too but that was a comedy of errors in itself.

They ended up going to Saratoga where another theater group was putting on a production of Hamlet. What are the chances of that!

Like every year, the show was fabulous, great actors, costume and direction. The only problem was the sound and could have been resolved if we had picked a spot near the loudspeakers. Luckily, the weather was good too so had a fantastic evening.  

Curious Incident Of the Dog In the Nighttime

I had read this book a while ago. So when I saw tickets for the play on Goldstar, I was interested. Sandhya and Gaurav were also keen so we booked tickets.

We saw the play at the SHN Golden Gate theater in San Francisco. We quickly grabbed dinner at a restaurant across the street. Since we had discount tickets, we got the balcony seats which weren't all that bad.

The story of the play was quite simple and straightforward. What stood out the most was the special effects and the use of technology to powerfully convey emotions, setting and move the story forward. The effects were brilliant and nothing that we ever seen on stage. The acting was decent but the production, lighting and effects over powered everything including the performance, dialogue and sometimes the story.

We had recently returned from our trip to Europe so both Vishnu and I were very jet lagged. It was an effort to keep our eyes open. Vishnu slept through a good part of the first half. Post the interval coffee, he was much better.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend the play for its mind blowing effects. I only wish we weren't this jet lagged and could have enjoyed it more.