After class and lunch were over today, it was time to explore Cambridge once again. More specifically, it was time to find a bookstore. The bookstore that we went to is right off the main market square, and is unlike most bookstores at home in that it was small, independent, and had an incredibly varied selection of books. There was an entire room of history books, some about very specific topics, others more general; downstairs was an interesting collection of travelogues, philosophical texts, gardening books, and books about popular science. Furthermore, the store had several rooms devoted to antique texts (first editions and very old books) that I was too afraid to venture into, fearing that I would end up buying a book costing 500 pounds. Someday, when I have more money, I shall have to revisit that bookstore!
Since the market was so near, I had to pop through and explore. There really is an incredible variety of stands, from the cheese and pie man (where I had the pork pie) to clothing stalls to a juice and smoothie place to the fruit stand. This was my personal favorite, as I took full advantage of the 2 for 2 pounds deal on fresh raspberries! From the market, Hadyn and I wandered around town until we stumbled upon All Saints Church near Jesus College; sometimes, as a tourist, you find interesting, beautiful places by sheer dumb luck. This was one such incident, as we stopped only to take pictures of the outside, which was quite pretty. However, I noticed that the church was open, so we went in to find that the church was built in the Gothic style, with arches and a high ceiling; what was more unique were the painted walls, reminding me almost of a pre-Reformation church. All Saints has existed in some form since 1100, but the actual building we were in was only built around 1850, so perhaps the architect was trying to capture the quality of a pre-Reformation church with its colors and vibrancy.
This evening I (along with two others) went to a performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, performed as part of the Cambridge Shakespeare festival. Having never read the play before, I had some trepidation, fearing that I would not be able to follow the plot. However, a quick look at the summary and the quality of the production quickly put that fear to rest; what occurred in the next two and a half hours was one of the most wholly enjoyable Shakespeare plays I have ever seen. The play is actually rather complex for a comedy, with three sets of characters: the four lovers (Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius), the fairies (Oberon, Titania, and Puck), and hapless townspeople attempting to put on a play (most notably, Bottom). Throughout the course of the plot, these three groups become intertwined through the mischief of Puck, who employs love spells and other magic to create great confusion before setting all to rights at the end. Ultimately, Puck begs forgiveness of the audience, urging them to remember the play as if it had been a dream as well.
Once again, this is an example of how much better Shakespeare really is when one sees it being performed, rather than merely reading it on the page. The staging of this play really made the fairies come alive, especially Puck, as the actor leapt about the grass as if he really were as nimble as a fairy. Moreover, the place in which the play was performed added greatly to the atmosphere. We were lucky enough to be able to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Fellows’ Garden of King’s College, a place that students at King’s are not even allowed to enter; the garden was enormous and incredibly beautiful, with well-kept grass and flowers in bloom. Of all the places that the play could have been performed in the garden, the director chose the absolute best: right next to a tree, so that the actors could move about the branches as I imagine woodland fairies would. Additionally, being able to see the tree really gave me the sense of being in a forest (where most of the action takes place), especially as it became increasingly dark outside.
Another thing I found interesting about the production was the fact that the two couples (Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius) were essentially color-coded, as both Helena and Demetrius were wearing blue, and Hermia and Lysander were dressed in red. Thus, when Puck confused everything during the middle of the play, one could tell that the lovers were not with their proper partner. By the same token, when everything was resolved at the end, all color harmony was restored. However, I am not fully convinced that true love truly won the day in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia and Lysander were finally able to get married (representing true love), after Puck removed the spell that had caused Lysander to become infatuated with Helena, but Puck never actually removed the love spell from Demetrius. This leads me to believe that he never truly fell in love with Helena, but was simply enchanted into loving her; personally, I felt that Helena deserved better than that, as she was my favorite female character by far (I didn’t care much for Hermia or Titania). To say one last thing about true love, Oberon and Titania did resolve their quarrel at the end, representing a return to love and harmony within fairyland. Nevertheless, Oberon did treat Titania badly throughout the entire play, enchanting her to fall in love with a man with a donkey face; additionally, as soon as he removed the spell, Titania fell back into his (Oberon’s) arms. After Titus Andronicus, this resolution just seemed too quick and simple for me.
Despite these quibbles with the plot, I thoroughly enjoyed the production and am looking forward to seeing another of the Shakespeare Festival’s plays! This is truly going to be the trip of Shakespeare, but what better place to enjoy it than England?
Making the Past Present 