Thoroughly enjoyed the CAST production of the Two Gentleman of Verona. It was performed this afternoon on the lawn in the Tennis Court Garden of Sidney Sussex College. It was a strong cast, and a well balanced one. Josh Higgott had great comic timing as Lance, a laconic, drunken, Chaplin-esk figure with a good helping of slapstick. Costume was good and in the programme the Production Designer (Siân Docksey) admits to spending much of her time under kilos of face paint—time well spent). Jack Monagham and Joe Bannister made good leads as the two Gentlemen—I could mention all the cast in this way, they were all great.
The production now goes on tour round the USA: glad I had an opportunity to see it before they go. Good luck on tour!
From the ADC Web site:
The scene is Italy: hot, energetic and unrelentingly romantic. Valentine and Proteus are the closest of friends. Valentine leaves Verona to seek his fortune in Milan, where he falls in love with Silvia. Proteus is made by his father to leave his lover Julia and to go to Milan, where he too instantly falls in love with Silvia.
Suddenly an unbreakable friendship and four people’s happiness is threatened by the course of young love running none too smoothly. The meandering journeys of these lovers bring them into contact with several servants, two clowns, three forest-dwelling outlaws and a small dog: Two Gentlemen of Verona is a heart-warming and hilarious story about the universal experience of being young, confused and in love.
Catch this exciting production of Shakespeare’s earliest and funniest comedy in Cambridge before anyone else – previews take place in the beautiful surroundings of Sidney Sussex college, before CAST take it to venues across the Eastern United States as part of their tenth anniversary tour in September. Then, there is a final opportunity to see the company perform the show in October, as Two Gentlemen of Verona kicks off the ADC Theatre’s autumn season.
I was having a really good flight to Washington for the ACS meeting, been upgraded to World Traveller Plus, was working on some notes and reading cached email offline. After suspending my laptop so I could eat my dinner the hard drive died. Awful timing—not only do I need the laptop for demonstrations at the exhibition booth, but also for email and accessing our VPN (which is locked to the laptop). Ggrrrr! Hoping that when I get off the flight that a jolt of mains power might bring it back to life. If that fails I’ll give it a good shake (and at least I’ll feel better!). I’ve only lost an hours work, there are no local files, which is a relief. I’ll see how good an iPhone is as a laptop replacement (and I’ll be able to demo ChemMobi!). 
