IN WHICH I BROADEN MY HORIZONS

Well, I hate to disappoint, but I did not knit a stitch yesterday. Why, you ask? Because I went to a play. Yes, I try to keep culturally current, to the best of my humble ability, and, towards that end, I have a yearly subscription to a little theater in town that we like to call the Yale Rep. (Now you all know where I live. Let the stalking begin! Just kidding. Now, people are going to do a Google search for “Yale stalking” and come up with me. Shoot.)

Anyway, last night was my show night, so I toddled off to see “The Psychic Life of Savages.” The play takes a rather catty look at the confessional poetry movement of the 1960s and pokes fun at the mental instability of its characters, loosely based on the poets Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, and Ted Hughes. It’s a black comedy, the whole point of which is to find the wry humor in situations which would normally be considered tragic or disturbing. I wish that the people sitting near me had gotten the memo on the black comedy thing; they spent most of the performance shaking their heads and clucking their disapproval at how cavalierly the actors and director were treating such a sad situation. I’m not going to style myself as a theater critic here, but I will say that Sylvia Plath was the only poet to make it out (relatively) unscathed. She was very nearly sainted by the end. The playwright also managed to find the humanity beneath the posturing of the Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton characters, but rode roughshod over Ted Hughes. Obviously not a big Ted Hughes fan. I did enjoy the production, despite the lukewarm reviews I had read beforehand, possibly because I always enjoy perspectives on Sylvia Plath, arguably my alma mater’s most famous alumna.

THE READERS HAVE SPOKEN

Unbelievably. I know I once promised not to whitter on about the comments section, but I am still in awe when people take the time to leave a note in there. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, everyone. And, if you’ve been feeling a little shy, but you are filled with a burning need to weigh in on my next project, get on in and comment, my friends. The polls are always open here at grannysquare.

AND AN OMISSION

How could I have forgotten to mention the new Knitty? I don’t know. It’s hugely exciting, though, people. I must make Sitcom Chic very soon. Do you think I could make it in a wool blend, though? I’m not too into cotton, and my office is actually colder in the summer than the winter, so I need some warm layers. I was wondering about Rowan’s Kid Classic. I also think that I should make the cats some toys. That way, when they play with/sit on my knitted articles, I can tell myself that it is all intentional.