On Saturday, I took Mer to Canton to the $1.50 theater to see a movie that neither of us had heard of – Letters to Juliet. I knew from a on-line summary that it was a romantic film, involving a woman who answers a letter to Juliet (from Romeo and Juliet). That was good enough for me, especially for $3.00 total.

It was a gem of a film. It was sweet and clean and well written. The characters were sympathetic, and there were several twists that I had not seen coming. It was all filmed on location, mostly in Tuscany in Italy, and the scenery alone is worth seeing the film. We were both charmed, and I highly recommend it.

In the evening, our friends Eric and Shanna came over, and we headed out to the far west side of Cleveland, to Lorain County Community College. The college was hosting (for one weekend) free plays by The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. We were going to see the very rarely performed Titus Andronicus, but first we wanted to eat. I had found an intriguing-looking bar that was praised for its huge sandwiches, called Fat Boys. It turned out to be a pretty decent find. None of us tried a full-fledged Fat Boy, but Mer and Shanna got half-sized ones. The food was tasty, and we were early enough that we were the only people there, other than a few at the bar, so it was pretty quiet and easy to talk.

We got over to the college a little before 7:00, and found out that the performance, which is usually held outside, had been moved inside because of weather concerns (it was very hot and looked as if it were going to rain). That was nice – we got out of the heat and, since we sat in the front row, we were sometimes less that three feet from the actors.

Titus is largely condemned by scholars as being a “bad” play of Shakespeare’s. It is argued that it was his first, and it is very very violent, with multiple limbs being cut off, several decapitations, and a huge body count by the end of the play. It is basically an out-of-control revenge play. Everyone is trying to get revenge on pretty much everyone. Still, I liked it. It is not a particularly deep play – there is no symbolism to speak of, and no subtlety at all, but the language is still Shakespeare and there is certainly lots of action. You do end up feeling for several of the characters, and you can see where many of the characters are coming from in their motivations. There is even a character who is evil and scheming just because he loves being evil. I am very glad to have gotten to see it.

Since The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival performs every weekend all summer long at different locations, they rarely have any kind of scenery or set. It still works. They generally use storage boxes to create different levels for actors to stand on or hide behind, and the audience simply fills in the rest. The acting is quite good, and the company gives younger actors a chance to get some experience playing in a Shakespeare play.

Sunday, Mer and I headed back to Canton to have lunch with Aunt Mary after church. We went to a small cafe that Aunt Mary had found called Caffe Gelato, and it was an Italian-style cafe with real gelato ice cream. They served lunch, and it was very good, and I was able to get an excellent hot chocolate that I had for my dessert. They were playing Roman Holiday on the TV screen in the corner, so I was sometimes distracted from conversation with Mer and Aunt Mary, but it was certainly a pleasant distraction (I like both Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn).

We then went back to Aunt Mary’s place, where I took a nap while Aunt Mary and Mer played Trivial Pursuit. For the first time ever in playing with Aunt Mary, Mer won, although Aunt Mary was only one space away from getting a chance to win herself. She is a very formidable Trivial Pursuit player.

That evening, Mer and I went back to Lorain County Community College to see the second play of the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, The Merry Wives of Windsor. This time, it was outside, and we were probably seventy-five feet from the actors, but they had the stage pretty well miked, so we could see and hear just fine.

Wives is the story of how the very popular Shakespearean character, Falstaff, is tricked by two women he is trying to have an affair with (so that he can have access to their money). The women get the upper hand in every instance, and Falstaff is duped and humiliated. It is a very funny play, and we enjoyed it quite a bit. This was the third production of the play we have seen together, and although it was funny, we both agreed the other two productions were better. Mer pinned it down when she said she thought Falstaff should have been much more over-the-top. Falstaff is a fat and old character, and it is ridiculous for him to think he could seduce any woman, let alone two married women. There is a lot of potential humor to be played up if Falstaff is played as being completely full of himself. Still, it was a very solid play, and we were very happy to have seen it.