Everybody is clever nowadays.

I read Oscar Wilde’s “The importance of being earnest” for the first time this weekend. It’s an absolute delight! Very witty, as you’d expect. And I totally recommend it.
Here is an excerpt:

Jack: I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can’t go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.

Algernon: We have.

Jack: I should extremely like to meet them. What do they talk about?

Algernon: The fools? Oh! about the clever people, of course.

Jack: What fools!

(Oscar Wilde, The importance of being earnest)

You can download it for free for Kindle on Amazon.

Galileo: “Young man, I never eat olives without thinking”

Yesterday my friend Sophie and I watched “A life of Galileo”a play by Bertolt Brecht staring Ian Mcdiarmid, at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.

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The play was mind blowing. Outstanding acting, great text, minimalist set design (how we like it) and very witty. A pleasure to watch from start to finish. Totally recommend it.

Earlier in that day, we watched The winter’s tale, by Shakespeare, also at the RSC. This one was a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t really enjoyed it, to be honest. I felt it was very plain, nothing special about it. It’s rare for me to say that but I wouldn’t recommend this one.

By the way, if you haven’t done this before, I recommend going to Stratford-upon-avon for a day or two to watch a play at the RSC. The building is spectacular, their productions are usually really great and the town is lovely.

PS:
For a more detailed (and interesting) review of these plays, check the blog post by Sophie.