PROSPERO AND PIZZA. In the early 1970’s I saw the legendary Peter Brook production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream— with a bare stage and the lovers spending a lot of their time on trapezes. (Here are some rare clips from the production from a Shakespeare website that looks to be very good). It worked wonderfully for the lovers—I remember yearning was evoked by a reaching for a trapeze just out of reach. I did think that Bottom and his fellow actors were not as funny as they can be, but the lovers have stayed with me.
Now, Clare Shine in the June 3 Financial Times reviewed a production in Paris by Peter Brook’s daughter, Irina Brook. In it, “Prosper is the former pizza champion of Naples who lost his chef’s toque at the hands of archrival Alonso and whose magical powers reside in his recipe book.” Clare Shine gives the production four stars out of five. I am something of a traditionalist as far as Shakespeare productions go and Mary Jane is even more of one, but she says she would like to see this production if she ever got a chance, and so would I.
Speaking of pizza and Italy, did you read Grisham’s “Playing for Pizza.”
That along with “A Painted House” are two of his non-legal oriented novels worth reading.
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