Last weekend we had tickets to see the Tempest at the Stratford festival. Life has been so hectic lately that I forgot all about it until mom reminded me. Apparently on some mysterious date last fall she asked me to go - none of her friends wanted to see it and she really did. I agreed. She bought the tickets and apparently I paid for them. At some point Paul felt left out and demanded to come as well. Fast forward to last week and we were off.
Because she hadn't taken us out for our birthdays yet she wanted to treat us to lunch. We opted to go to one of our favourite restaurants in Stratford - Pazzo. There are two restaurants int eh building - both featuring the same kitchen. The basement is more casual and the main level more formal. We opted for formal.
I was still full from breakfast so I didn't have a started. Paul's caprese salad (made with buratta) looked fabulous though.
I ordered spaghetti carbonara for my main course and it was delicious. Carbonara is one of those recipes that is so often mangled. The classic is just guanciale, eggs, cheese, and the pasta water to bind it all together. lots of places add cream and other things - even peas! Porca Miseria. This version was pretty close to the real deal - the only change being pancetta subbed for the hard to find in Canada guanciale.
I LOVED this!
Carbonara done right is the ultimate comfort food and I was a happy guy eating this.
I was pretty full so I decided on a light dessert. Vanilla tartuffo with honey and candied figs.
Ahhhh.
After lunch we drove to the theatre. The play was at the Festival theatre and we built in some time to enjoy the gardens. They did not disappoint.
The play, thought to be the last one written by Shakespeare, was interesting.
Martha Henry stars as Prospero - usually the lead is male.
After a remarkable 43 seasons, Ms Henry returns to the play that launched her Stratford career in 1962. Back in 1962 she played Miranda and during her last season on the stage she plays the lead.
In Shakespeare's great drama of loss and reconciliation, Prospero, former Duchess of Milan, uses magical arts to bring within her power the enemies who robbed her of her throne and stranded her on a remote island. With the help of the spirit Ariel, she orchestrates a confrontation with her adversaries - and a new destiny for her daughter, Miranda.
Henry delivers the physicality, timing, cynicism, and humour of a woman who is tired — tired of her obvious skill, tired of having to wield it, tired of arguing for her particular place in a world dominated by men. Nevertheless, she persisted — because Miranda survived the shipwreck with her. And Henry’s moments of tenderness almost always concern Miranda. At first she keeps a cynical distance away from her plot for revenge against Antonio and the nobles that helped him over throw her — observing new lovers Miranda and Ferdinand (Sebastien Heins), son of King Alonso (David Collins), from above, or teasing the doe-eyed innocence of her daughter’s paramour — the release of this burden softens Henry’s edge, lets her relax, and finally show affection for the creatures she had to once view as subjects.
This production is visually stunning - so much so that in the third part of the play the special effects almost seem to overwhelm the actors and the plot. Henry pulls it together in the famous last lines of the play:
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