Shakespeare Festival in Forest Park

Ahhh...road trips. They are a hallmark of summer. AJ, Lauren, Flat Jason and I piled into the car for a short road trip to see Tracy and King Richard in St. Louis. We got to the park early to find a good seat. And, after much debating, AJ made the final decision on seating location, and the tarp was laid out. We made friends with Lee Roy, a man sitting in front of us who regaled us with stories of Kentucky, sunsets and the actors in the play.

Before any entertainment began, our small party wandered about, looking at various collectibles and food items for sale. AJ and Flat Jason were very excited to come back with William Shakespeare bobbleheads.

Around 6 p.m., performers began making their way through the crowd doing bits of magic and other tricks. Others gathered on stages to dance or act out a short version of King Richard. We were sitting on our tarp when we met Magic John. AJ and Lauren were his assistants, and we were all amazed by his tricks.

Later, Tracy, AJ and I watched the short play while Lauren and FJ met Yorick, the jester. Lauren said Yorick was pretty funny and was awesome as a fire-eater. The actors did a good job of the short play, too.

Then, as the play got underway, small drops began to fall from the sky, which had been threatening rain for part of the afternoon. A short rain delay was called to allow time for the clouds to blow past. Everyone that had an umbrella opened it. We just pulled one section of our tarp over us and made a tent. We waited hopefully and talked with Lee Roy. It was announced that the play would start in another 10 minutes, and we waited, but alas! It was not meant to be. The show was cancelled.

We gathered our things as quickly as we could (which was not easy for an unrolled, wet tarp) and headed to the car. It was a good thing they called it off. Our trip back was punctuated with close lightning strikes and loud claps of thunder. Not a good time to be outside! We went back to Tracy's and played with Toby, the cat. He seemed to take a liking to Flat Jason. He sniffed at him and then curled up in his lap.

So, we headed home without seeing the play, but we still had fun...and that's the most important part, n'est-ce pas?