monanotlisa

Home after 11pm today again, but at least for a reason other than work: Hamlet performance at the most in/famous of our theatres. Snagged the offered gift ticket off my favourite h.c. at the workplace, because hey, swift as a deer, quick as a snake; winter is not coming but already here.

Not sad I took off early, although I have to say, there wasn't that much nudity and simulated on-stage-sex in it. They're clearly losing their bad touch. Was pretty disappointed by the actor who played Hamlet (pretty though he was) and the actress who played Ophelia; on the other hand, what a fantastic Claudius, and I've never before seen such a present Gertrude either: fallible, yes, but human and relatable. Gorgeous minimalist set, too -- if the overall staging had been either less or more theatre of the absurd, I'd have been more appreciative.

What threw me a little off-balance was meeting a teacher from my old high-school: sociology and political sciences, well-groomed and with an ego forever rubbing against the confines of a classroom. Joined by his wife, pseudo-elegant art teacher (the one who did not smoke weed with her colleagues during breaks). I never had a single class with him, but a bunch of my friends and I joined the 12th-grade class trip to Florence when we were in 13th grade (yes, this is Germany: we don't believe in stopping the party when it just gets good).

HIM: I remember you!
MOI: *yeah, you better; I'm memorable*
HIM: Florence trip -- good times, good times. You were begging for us to go and eat something with vitamins!
MOI: ...I have to confess that sounds very much like me, at all times. Say, don't you still owe me a bottle of champagne?
HIM: Do I?
MOI: Yeah. In front of some side-street restaurant, you and I placed a bet on the correct Italian pronunciation of "gnocchi". Needless to say, I was right.
HIM: Heh, well, could never remember that sort of thing.

And yet he bet against me. Fool. But an entertaining one; he kept ditching the main group of his 12th grader charges and his duties to hang with us and make sure we all knew what a sophisticated fella he was -- and hey, smart and sarcastic people: I forgive them their faults, such as overblown sense of self. He did tell me tonight he got into a spot of trouble with his colleague coordinating that trip for his irresponsibility. Ah, the lives we lead...

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