Monday, April 16, 2012

Whey Pat Exegesis & "Macbeth"

Pub Night

Every Friday night, post-grad's from St Mary's College gather at the Whey Pat on Bridge Street. Conversation can be silly, exegetical, and meaningful.

Always very warm and very crowded, the Whey Pat has character and is slightly less packed with undergrads than other local pubs. It's a different mix of students each week and people come and go until midnight.

This month, Garrick hosts. This means sending out a mass Facebook invite the day of, and getting there at 8pm. Friday night we enjoyed dinner with Raymond & Mary Blake and then made our way to the pub. Our usual corner occupied, we sat in the back and the boys played a few games of darts. I enjoyed conversation with friends, whom I no longer consider "new."

We haven't made it to every Pub Night, but when we do it's always a looked-forward-to ending to another week in St Andrews.

"Macbeth" performed in the St Andrews Castle

When we heard that Shakespeare's play was to be performed in a ruined Scottish castle, we couldn't pass up the experience. Then, we realized we'd have to sit outside for three hours on a chilly night.

Still worth it.

The evening began at Le Rendez Vous (a wee hole-in-the-wall French restaurant) with Ryan & Corrie. Bellies filled with pizza, we walked to wait in line for the play.

Garrick and I went under the names "Jessica" and "Claire" for the evening, because we got tickets from two girls who had purchased tickets online, and we had their confirmation printout. The student who checked our passes said to Garrick, "Jessica, that's a peculiar name!"

Bag pips serenaded the setting sun and soon the lawn was filled with hundreds of spectators.The actors performed fantastically considering they didn't wear mic's or jackets. Lady Macbeth did particularly well with the many emotions she portrayed: love, insanity, sadness, and anger.

The castle proved a perfect backdrop and  the cast wore blue and red tartan, signifying clan Macbeth or clan Macduff. It's one of those moments where you have say to yourself, "I'm in ancient castle ruins watching a Shakespeare play."

Our sleeping bags were perfect. I put the hood up and got so warm I fell asleep at one point! If you're here in June you can attend "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with us.

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