10 feet from McNulty

Life is a Dream, the latest production at the Donmar Warehouse, based on the work of Spanish poet Pedro Calderon dela Barca, was a gorgeous experience. Dominic West and the rest of the cast were marvellous. I was maybe drifting off during the long-winded monologues, but staring at West up close in the flesh for paragraphs and paragraphs of lines was beyond surreal. West of course, starred in The Wire for five seasons, which is the best piece of television I’ve seen ever and that includes The Sopranos. West as Segismundo was mesmeric in Life is a Dream. He evolved from a wild prisoner to a tyrannical prince then back to being incarcerated to becoming a revolutionary until his rightful birthright as heir to the throne of Poland, all the while waxing philosophically about the stages in his life. The austere production design and the exceptional lighting bode well with the play’s theme. I get startled by the sounds, but that’s only me acting all wide-eyed and amateurish as part of the audience.

I’m always amazed by the delicacy of theatre as an entertainment commodity. There are no rooms, nor leeways, for mistakes. I wonder if the actors have earpieces for someone to whisper to them just in case they forget a line or their minds go totally blank. There was a time in high school that I was tapped as a stage whisperer. I was like a shadow feeding the actors words. Very lowly. But I guess having a free meal after the performances were well worth the drudgery. Oh, how simple gestures have such lovely appeals in our youth.