Showing a lack of respect

There were three of them, and they were right behind us.
There may have been a fourth, but she was quiet and well-behaved. Not so, the other three.
We were in Stratford, Ontario, for the annual Shakespeare festival, combining it with our vacation and a celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary. (I know, I know. She’s a very patient woman.)
The family has been going to Stratford off and on for something like 21 years, and I’m delighted that students from Jay County High School’s drama program are now making the trip. It’s world-class theater, and while it’s not exactly in our backyard it is accessible.
Our plan this go-around was to see two plays — two matinees as it turned out — and they happened to be two of Shakespeare’s most modern: “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Richard III.”
“Merry Wives” has been called the first English-language sit-com, and that’s a pretty good fit.
One article I read suggested that it was possible to imagine Lucy and Ethel in the roles of Mistress Page and Mistress Ford as they take their revenge on the hapless Falstaff.
“Richard III” is considered modern because of the remarkable number of monologues by the protagonist — who also happens to be the villain — in which he directly addresses the audience in an attempt to justify his evil behavior. Making the production even more interesting was the fact that the lead role was going to be played by a woman, Seana McKenna, one of our favorite women of the Stratford company.
“Merry Wives” was a hoot, as expected. The next day, we went to the Tom Patterson Theater (one of four stages at Stratford) for “Richard III.”
The Tom Pat, as it’s known, is essentially what you get when you convert an old hockey arena into a thrust-stage theater. It’s extremely intimate.
You make eye contact constantly with the actors. But the seating is tight and portable and not very comfortable.
When you’re in your seat, you’re very close to the row in front of you. And the row behind you seems even closer.
That’s where the three women from a bus tour were seated.
They started grumbling before they sat down. One of them — the one who would turn out to be the most talkative and irritating — immediately pronounced the seats as terrible.
They were, in fact, the best in the house.
She had her eye set on something on the other side of the room, but unfortunately she didn’t move.
Then they started complaining about the fact that the male lead character was being played by a woman. Why they would complain after purchasing tickets beats me. The relative novelty of having a woman play the role had been part of the appeal and a big part of the marketing strategy.
But these women weren’t ready to make that leap.
Finally, when the lights went down, they stopped grumbling.
The play opened with a dramatic flourish — with Richard in all his evil glory about 10 feet in front of us. The audience gasped. My mouth was open.
But even before the intermission, the whispered complaints started from the bus tour behind us.
“I hate this.” “It’s awful.” “They’re playing it for laughs, not serious enough.”
None of those comments made sense, of course.
McKenna was astounding, though her blue eyes were a bit distracting. Richard III is a craven, wheedling, little character. And there was nothing about being a woman that interfered when it came to a good actor providing a great performance.
By intermission, I was seething.
But I didn’t say anything.
The ill-measured critique continued, along with a discussion about when they should make a potty stop before getting back on the bus.
By then, I could sense that the most outspoken of the women had begun to embarrass her com-panions. There was tension in the row behind us.
The second half of the play became even more intense as Richard’s evil played itself out with beheadings and forced marriages and slimy behavior.
Finally, emotionally, the play came to an end.
And the three women behind us leapt to their feet in a standing ovation.
Maybe they were just in a hurry to get to the ladies’ room.
If Richard III had had anything to say about it, they would have been sent to the Tower of London instead.[[In-content Ad]]