Gaudy Night: great fun at the theatre!

W and I enjoyed the Gaudy Night show at Taproot Theatre last night! Producing Artistic Director Scott Nolte knows his actors and his space and once again provided an entertaining evening.

The story starts in 1935 with a girls'-night gone wrong. In an era where society questioned the value of educating women, female dons and students tried to minimize any scandal: when one occurred, it was not easily forgiven or forgotten.

Oxford alumni of 1935 have gathered for their annual Gaudy Night celebrations but a cloud hangs over their women's college. Crude notes threaten mayhem and vandalism almost derails a celebration. Who can find the culprit?

Enter detective novelist Harriet Vane, 15-year alumna of Shrewsbury College. FYI for those of you unaware of British university systems: separate "colleges" - what we call universities - are clustered under a single university name. Thus, Oxford University today consists of 38 independent, self-governing colleges with a governing regent, usually someone famous. (Prince Philip is regent of Cambridge, for instance.)

If you like entertaining fun, this who-did-it? surprises the viewer with its twists and turns, delights with cultural insights into British academia, spinsterhood, and the early C20 class system. Don't miss the romantic banter between the female novelist and her suitor and mentor, Sayer's hero and British diplomat, Lord Peter Wimsey. The audience around me sat on the edges of their seats. Sometimes they laughed aloud at the British humor, occasionally they held their breath with suspense, sucked into the story like I was.

As usual, Taproot maximizes its small stage. The audience sits close enough to get intimately involved in the action, which my seat-mates and first-time attendees kept exclaiming about. The set changes, minimal, efficient, and at times resembling a choreographed dance, fired our imaginations as the action traveled between library, guestroom, faculty offices, and punt (a small river boat beloved by students because it requires great balance to pole along). The costuming (by Sarah Burch Gordon) was simple and authentic.

The actors' body acting riveted my attention as much as the script by Frances Limoncelli. Jeff Berryman (Lord Peter Wimsey) and Alyson Scadron Branner (Harriet Vane) were convincingly funny and serious by turn. Overall this show was outstanding, barring small blips in lines that stopped the flow a few times and occasional foul language.

My recommendation (and my guest's): ****+ or 4.5 stars. I'd say, "DON'T miss this one!" Gaudy Night is Taproot's final play of the 2012 season, running through October 20. It's long (2:20) but the story is hilarious and full of adventure. If you'd like to stay behind to discuss the play, purchase Wednesday tickets.

Coming up for 2013: Jeeves in Bloom (if you haven't meet P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster, you'll laugh yourself to bits at the interaction between the silly nobleman and butler); Lopez's The Whipping Man; Moses' Bach at Leipzig; Mills' adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in Illyria; and Wilder comedic The Matchmaker.

Tickets were provided gratis to the reviewer by Taproot.

Praise the everlasting King!

Culture inundates us with sounds, sights, textures, tastes, smells. Western noise floods every sense with diversions that keep us from meditating on God and his ways. I suggested to a young friend that hymns might help soothe him when he has trouble sleeping.

"Don't think so! I hate hymns," he replied. "They drive me crazy, like a busy Bach piece or random jazz. There's too much going on." Many people without a background in traditional Protestant churches or classical music would agree.

When W and I lived in Cambridge, UK, we enjoyed Evensong at the various colleges. On debate trips to the UK, students and I attend Evensong sung by one of the exceptional university choirs of Oxford or Cambridge as a cultural experience. Students and I sit with other tourists near the choir and reader, on hard benches facing the center aisle in cold, dark chapels. The music washes over us. Old and New Testament readings pour into the shadows between songs. Responsive readings from the Book of Common Prayer echo against stone walls. The discomfort of non-religious or world religious adherents is obvious:  the Word, prayers, and music direct attention without apology to the living God and his expectations. I am always astonished at the indifference of the singers as they pour the tones into the air. They pass along Living Water without sipping it or drinking deeply themselves.

The music and lyrics of Evensong, written to glorify God, have been sung for decades or centuries, reminding us of God's faithful provision and constancy. I love the thick growls of the pipe organ that buzz and rumble through soles to scalp. The occasional bleat of an oboe or keening cry of the trumpet accompaniment gives me goose-bumps. The pure voices of young boys soar into the rafters, their innocent clarity and white choir robes denying sneaky shoves in the foyer before the preteens marched into the chapel. 

I hope my young friend engages in worship within his own culture. My prayer is that he seeks out meaningful words, melodies, rhythms, and harmonies written by his peers, opening his heart to be drawn into God's presence. 

Anyone desperate for well-sung, beautifully written hymns can enjoy old and new favorites online. UCB Media plays hymns at 7-9am Sundays (Greenwich time), and streams British and American "inspirational" worship music without commercials the rest of the week. (Another option is saturation in scripture as it's read aloud on UCB's "Bible" station.) 

Whatever else we do today, let's take time to praise the Everlasting King! 

Read more:
*Praise the LORD!
        
         Praise God in His sanctuary;
         Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
        
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
         Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
        
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
         Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
         Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
         Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
        
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
        
         Praise the LORD! (Psalm 150)