Last night, I shared a blanket with my best friend, near the orchestra pit. \u00a0I watched the skilful musicians beat out the rhythm of Shakespeare. \u00a0I let the music of the words sink into my soul and the stars above added the needed sense of connection to a larger world, placing this FEMALE FORWARD reading of Othello in the world of today. \u00a0Every act, played upon the other, and led brilliantly to the inevitable demise of the protagonist and his intimates. \u00a0Yet, actresses really brought the play home with a smashing, intensely womanly understanding of what it is to submit to, and what it is to resist, male domination. \u00a0Kristen Connolly plays a striking Desdemona, no cowering flower, she faces scandal, paternal wrath, and death with chiseled dignity. \u00a0Yet, it was Angela Reed as Emilia that most intensely captured the voice of the abused and betrayed woman. \u00a0She dies for and with her mistress in a visceral representation of loyalty, delivering her final speech with the fearless passion of total understanding.<\/p>\n Barry Edelstein\u2019s Othello is refreshing and inviting into a renewed intimacy with the simple mechanical and emotional perfection that is Shakespeare\u2019s later work. \u00a0Edelstein, author of two books on Shakespeare, \u00a0has succeeded in creating a memorable departure from prior stagings and to arrive at a noteworthy\u00a0addition\u00a0to the \u00a0world\u2019s perpetual fascination with the violence, the passion, and the innocence that Othello ensures. >Special thanks, to the wonderful staff at the Globe Theatre and even more special WARM & FUZZY Thank you to E. and her Crew of Lovely Ladies.<\/p>\n AND, a GIGANTIC THANK YOU to ACTOR, Blair Underwood<\/a>, for allowing us to take his picture, Thank you for continuing to visit this lowly wayward self-spun masterpiece of self discovery: Talkinggrid. \u00a0Years ago, Frau Kolb changed her personal art web-site into this wordy mess you keep returning to, a feast for some word hungry souls, requiring contact with another ravenous appetite. \u00a0I understand, because I\u2019m addicted to blogging. It is true that I have neglected to sleep, at times in my bunny\u2019s desire to hop to it and write-right-now!<\/p>\n The intense need to express one\u2019s self, as an artist (painter\/music player\/noise maker\/performer) renders communication the unwavering focus. \u00a0We read. \u00a0Often we write. \u00a0Many of my best friends have their own blogs which I support. \u00a0 Yet, my entire life, I\u2019ve preferred the small-homespun look of transition and unfinished experimentation. \u00a0I shun much of what is POPULAR Culture today. \u00a0The slick hard look of music makers, their tattoos all in order and SHINY\u2026 Yuck. Sorry, but commercial television, mainstream Hollywood films, junk foods, and other less than wholesome advertising rich sources of spiritual pollution leave me looking for the bookstores, the good museums, \u00a0off beat and curious art galleries, the analogue, the antique, the unchanging enduring SILENCE which is the core of enjoying life in the long term. Ah!<\/p>\n Yesterday, one of my on-line buddies made a comment that hit home. \u00a0He said that gardening is a \u201cpositive addiction.\u201d \u00a0Well\u2026 I like that. \u00a0I have a number of \u201cpositive addictions,\u201d which make my life sweet. \u00a0I dig walking, talking, reading, writing, laughing, loving, learning, music, and DANCE.<\/p>\n I love the movement of the sea. \u00a0I am \u201cpositively addicted,” to life near the ocean, the beach, the sand. \u00a0Of course<\/p>\n Loving LIFE is my hobby and I\u2019m becoming an Expert on being at ease in the turbulent crunch of TODAY.<\/p>\n Merci,<\/p>\n Frau K.<\/p>\n Re-Thinking Talkinggrid<\/p>\n Dearest Readers, Contributors, and Supporters,<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to thank you for your attention and donations. \u00a0You have given me reason to write and get out looking for art adventures on which to report.<\/p>\n You have shared the links and sent in money. \u00a0You comment and you help me edit this blog. \u00a0I appreciate your help very much and really you have encouraged me. \u00a0I\u2019ve become a person that writes, regularly, fluidly, thanks to the knowing that you might read what I wrote today. \u00a0I find that prospect alone very exciting. \u00a0Moreover, when you click the DONATE button on the side bar you send Frau Kolb soaring, literally! \u00a0I\u2019m always planning my next trip, the NEXT big art adventure!<\/p>\n I confess: \u00a0I am an ambitious woman. \u00a0Yet, my goals are private, personal. \u00a0I don\u2019t want to be a politician or an attorney. \u00a0I don\u2019t want to be a judge. \u00a0I\u2019m happy doing what I do best which is caring, loving, and living in awe of all that is. \u00a0I\u2019m lucky that I can see the sunlight and feel its warmth on my skin. \u00a0I\u2019m blessed that I can read and write and share with you some of my quirky ideas and perspective. \u00a0You inspire me.<\/p>\n Thank you for reading and please be aware that I\u2019ve a long term vision for Talkinggrid and that your donations, contributions, comments, LIKES, and shares all give Talkinggrid reason and the means to continue.<\/p>\n Best regards,<\/p>\n Frau Kolb<\/p>\n “Positive Addictions,\u201d\u00a0Time for a NEW Attitude Toward Being<\/p>\n Darlings, Lovely Humans,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the LOVE of Underwood! Actor Rocks role of Othello in San Diego\u2019s Old Globe Theatre, July 8th, 2014 Thank you, regular readers of Talkinggrid, I can\u2019t get over how happy I am, how much gratitude I feel for all those that continue supporting this wacky, homespun, and about to massively improve, alternative art news […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultural-commentary","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/img_2938-2_med.jpg?fit=851%2C638&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1134,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions\/1134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"img_2938-2_med\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/img_2938-2_med.jpg?resize=300%2C224&ssl=1\")
<\/a>The hunky-super-handsome actor was beyond dreamy, in a driven and moving enactment of Shakespeare\u2019s blackest of black comedies in three acts. \u00a0Underwood embodied the most tragic of British Literature\u2019s, arch tragic heroes, the-one-and-only, Othello . \u00a0Underwood, a powerhouse actor was supported by a tight, vivid, and on-point performance by Richard Thomas as Iago, whose lucid demonstration of evil, calculating revenge, and pure malice evoked chills of recognition, fear, and excitement from the audience. \u00a0The two lead actors pushed the story forward with their muscular acting talent. \u00a0They delivered The Bard\u2019s oft quoted lines with the light lips of a lover\u2019s undying sincerity.<\/p>\n
\nIn short, Bravo!<\/p>\n![\"img_2935-2_med\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/img_2935-2_med.jpg?resize=170%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a>signing a birthday autograph, and assisting celebrating my best friend\u2019s keynote birthday! \u00a0His warmth and open-hearted, easily approachable demeanour, made it a snap to create a little memorabilia of the marvelous evening. \u00a0Visiting the theatre was never more meaningful, than last night surrounded by my friend and her friends, which are now, thanks to the bonding experience of seeing and meeting such a marvelous specimen of human perform, are my friends, too. \u00a0 But more than anything, thank you, to all that have gone to hell and back, to bring to life the glorious Othello.<\/p>\n