Sunday, March 20, 2005

Wisteria & Merchant of Venice

... First day of spring....



Before the wind and rain returned we went for a walk in Bidwell
Park.  The grasses are bright green; the oaks are leafing out; Spring
is still springing.


... Wisteria....





This is the view out of my 2nd story window, looking down on the patio cover and my street corner.



The wisteria is blooming now, so I decided to take a picture before the current wind and rain blew away all the blossoms.



As you might be able to see, some of the trees are already leafing out, and some are still dormant.



...The Merchant of Venice....



The Pageant Theatre,
our local art theater, has good movies that don't usually show in the
local mega-plex.  This time we saw "The Merchant of Venice" (NY Times
review here).



Al Pacino is a very good Shylock.  Jeremy Irons is a very good
Antonio, here played as a subtly gay merchant in love with Bassanio.
Joseph Fiennes plays Bassanio who is in love with Portia.  Lynn Collins
plays Portia, the beautiful, intelligent rich girl who loves Bassanio
in return.  The Christians hate the Jews and visa versa.  Shakespeare
includes his usual stupid double identity foolishness.  The familiar
speeches ("If you prick me, do I not bleed?", "The quality of mercy is
not strained.") are here and delivered well.



I thought it was a very good movie, and I almost understood all of the Shakespearean dialog.



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