Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Tom Hiddleston, and a lot of Drama

A few months ago, I got wind of my celebrity man crush doing live theatre.  Not only was he doing live theatre, he was doing Shakespeare.  I have been a fan of Mr. Shakespeare since I was in high school.  I remember the first play I saw, it was Twelfth Night.  From that point on I was hooked. The language is so beautiful, and when you see it acted it brings it to life in the most brilliant way.  The only other way I can describe it is that moment in Pretty Woman when she is watching The Opera and she is hooked and in awe of it.  Yeah, like that.  I have never perfomed myself...because I LIKE it...I don't want to defile it!  All right, perhaps it wouldn't be THAT bad... but it wouldn't be too pretty either.  Okay...back on track...man crush...he was to play the title role in...Corio...what....Coriolanus.  I don't know this one.  How many plays can you name besides Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth?  Off the top my head, I can name 8 in addition to those three...not counting Coriolanus.  What made me feel better, Tom Hiddleston was not familiar with it either.  Oh to be able to seeee this.  How wonderful.  But, it's being done across the pond.  Then, I got wind of National Theatre Live and the fact that they were showing encore presentations of it. (they still are if you are interested.)  Originally I was going to take my girls to one the recorded encore veiwings.  That was until I found out the dates were when Kristin would be in production herself.  Ah the actor's life!  Then, I saw it..a one time only LIVE showing.  The tickets were nominal at $15 a piece.  The bigger expense was getting to the venue which was 80 miles away.  Yes, EIGHTY.  Think if you were seeing a concert.  I have done this actually. HAHAHA.  I digress.  I bought the tickets.  I was thrilled.  Fastfoward....wait, you are still me...sweet!  

January 30th finally came and we were all excited.  We listened to show tunes all the way there.  Wicked, Frozen, and even Romance Romance.  Since we took the back route traffic was easy peasy.  It still took an hour and a half to get there.  Imagine my frustation, and my daughters' utter disappointment when the staff was turning us away because the girls were under 21.  Yes, under 21.  This is Shakespeare people.  I was livid.  They were willing to give me a refund.  How thoughtful.

Come at me bro!

This theater has an "adults only" shows where they also serve alcohol.  Now correct me if I am wrong but can't I take my children to sporting events, restaurants, and the like where alcohol is served.  This was "adult swim." For goodness sake, it's Shakespeare.  Yes, I was a bit of Mama Bear.  I told them if they expected me to leave they better give me more than my money back, they better give me my gas money back too.  Eighty miles people.  TOM HIDDLESTON performing live Shakespeare.  Yes, I was hacked!  I went to go and comfort my girls who were understandably crying.  I apologized for embarassing them and promised this would not happen at the One Direction concert.  A nice patron started talking to us, he couldn't believe my girls were not going to be able to see the show.  He kept apologizing to them, and me.  Finally the manager (or whoever she was--honestly I don't care) told me that they checked with the audience and they said that they it was okay with them and they wouldn't drink during the show.  So yes, the girls could see the play

So thanks to a generous and lovely audience who were not going to drink at ELEVEN in the morning anyway, my girls got to experience the most incredible experience of acting they have yet to see.  It was most intense.  It was tragic.  Tom Hiddleston delivered a magnificent performance as did his fellow castmates.  The whole thing was done on a small stage with only chairs and ladder for their main props--and swords.  Not even backdrops...just the stage.  The actors held the show...and I mean they held it.  It was the most impressive thing I have ever seen.

I would love to see it again...if only they would sell it on DVD!!  It was a great show.  I am so grateful we got to see it.