Captain’s Log 1606

CB and I saw “Macbeth” last night. ****. Blood and violence and death all wrapped up with some very beautiful speechifying. In other words, a perfect night in the theater. Patrick Stewart was The Thane of Caldor and he was excellent, but I occasionally saw Captain Picard poking up through his performance. Well, that’s the hazard of acquiring a lot of fame for one particular role. You carry a lot of baggage on stage with you. I saw a local production of “Macbeth” back in January that was also quite good. Immediately prior to that performance, I bought a copy of Cliff Notes for Macbeth and made sure I understood who all the characters were and what the plot involved prior to walking into the theater. I hate to sound so thick, but if it weren’t for Cliff Notes and the production four months ago, I’m pretty sure that some of what happened on stage last night might have gotten by me. The last image prior to the lights going out was Malcolm holding the blood-soaked, decapitated bald head of Professor Charles Xavier aloft. That’ll give you something to dream about!

Shakespeare always makes for a long night. I woke up at my usual 5:15 a.m., curtain was at 8:00 p.m. and the show ran nearly three hours. The train didn’t leave skuzzy old Penn Station until 11:30 and I got home a little after 1:00 a.m. That means I was up for almost 24 hours for the sake of a gad damn play. I explained that to CB and he looked at me with a mixture of pity and revulsion. Do you know what? It was totally worth it and I'm sure I'll do it again! To pass the time on the long train ride home I sent drunken text messages to my sister and two friends. That’s never a good idea but it’s considerably less humiliating than drunk dialing.