Shakespeare at the Castle

After yesterday’s rain, today sees a return to summer and the dismal days of August seem but a distant memory. 

As for me, while I enjoy the sunshine in the garden, I’m feeling very jittery and anxious. This may be due to medication, or due to thinking about our proposed excursion this evening. Current difficulties make me think twice about going anywhere, and tonight we’re due to attend an open air performance of Romeo and Juliet in Conwy Castle. It’s an annual event we look forward to, and the weather just couldn’t be better, but it’s an undeniable challenge; the walk up to the castle with chairs, rugs and nibbles, sitting for a couple of hours watching the play …… I just don’t know whether I can do it. 

In the end we go, arriving late to avoid the entry queue and to sit at the back so we can leave if necessary - negotiating tightly packed picnic chairs and the uneven ground of an ancient castle in the dark isn’t something that I’d relish! 

Surprisingly, I last the whole performance, and I’m so glad I’ve managed it - psychologically it means a lot, and it does suggest the new meds are working. The setting’s glorious, such a privilege to be in this spectacular setting watching Shakespeare, the crumbling walls exuding history. And not only is the view within the castle magnificent, but its elevated setting looks out over both the Conwy estuary and the beauty of the rural hinterland. 

As usual, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men are great - a small all-male group of actors who each play several parts and sing in haunting a cappella harmony - but although the all male casting is just how the bard would have his plays performed, somehow a robust male Juliet just doesn’t work for me! 

My main today’s the rural view back from the castle, with a poster and the internal view in extras.