A Date With Shakespeare

We had a date with Shakespeare a couple of months ago where we watched The Merchant Of Venice in Fort Canning, under a starry night with balmy evening breezes.

Check out the crowds! We were lucky to have found an area right in front of the stage to plonk ourselves down! 

It was the Bees' first exposure to a play by the Bard, with full-fledged Shakespearean language. They had read a lot of his plays in adapted versions, in regular English, and we had talked about The Merchant Of Venice before this play. However, it was still a delight to see them looking quizzical in the first few minutes, whispering furtively, "Mummy! What language are they speaking in?" Haha.

I read the Merchant of Venice synopsis to them before the play, so the Bees were aware of the key protagonists and the main plot (and subplots). Once the play started and they got used to the archaic language, they were slowly drawn into the dramatic twists and hyperbole of Shakespeare's magic.

My qualms about this play were that 1) the setting was constructed deliberately in a modern setting with techno music (call me an old-fashioned, unadaptable fool, but I would prefer a good ol' Shakespearean play over these new modern re-adaptations!) and that 2) I wish more local actors could be in main roles since this was organised by a local theatre production company. The 2 key protagonists were non-Singaporeans. Otherwise, I thought it was a lovely evening out with the family, just kicking our shoes off, sitting back on the grass and simply having a chillax time!