Tonight I saw the next play in CalShakes season, Life is a Dream, a play from the Spanish Golden Age, by a near contemporary of Shakespeare, Pedro Calderón del la Barca. I enjoyed it. The stage stage was spare, but beautifully designed with a curved arching wall/path and circular motifs within the stage. The actors were all strong. It was great to see Julian López-Morillas back at CalShakes again, as he has always been one of my favorites going back to the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival days. The play deals with the themes of self-determination versus destiny, morality, and reality versus imagination.
We had a mixed group this time: Jennifer joined us for the first time in many years, and as Andy was away, and Bill brought along Doug for the first time. I was a nice evening to get away from the press of work and enjoy a great play among the hills.