hrj

No, this isn't about books at all. When I posted my review of the Cal Shakes performance of Irma Vep, I did a little fan-girl squeeing over Philippa Kelly, the current Cal Shakes dramaturge who also gives the pre-performance "Grove talks" during the dinner-picnic hour before curtain time. Someone pointed her to my post and last Thursday she came over to chat with thread_walker and me and said how much she'd enjoyed the review and had I written any others? So of course I popped off a link to my whole "reviews: live performances" tag, which includes most of this season and a sprinkling of earlier seasons (plus, of course, my Broadway reviews). So you never know who may be reading your reviews!

But the main point of this post is that she asked if I'd encourage people who attend Cal Shakes performances to come for the Grove Talks. Now I rather suspect that the overlap of the set of people who read my blog and the set of people who go to Cal Shakes performances can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand, but here's my recommendation: If you get Cal Shakes tickets, definitely see if you can get there early enough to enjoy a leisurely picnic dinner in the eucalyptus grove before the show (the snack bar has a rather foodie bent and serves excellent offerings, if a bit pricey, or you can bring your own) and very definitely sit in the Grove Talk area (the first picnic area on the left as you come up the hill) so you can enjoy the lecture about the background of the play and the performance. It really rounds out the experience nicely. (And you can join the Philippa Kelly fan club.)