The best theater experiences for me are when you go to see something with no real expectations that you are going to see something special and find yourself watching a lovely gem, something that you could only see in a theater. This happened to us on consecutive nights this week.

“Flying Lovers of Vitebsk”: I bought these tickets simply because a play about Marc Chagall sounded like ti might be fun. It was staged at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, a part of the Globe Theatre complex. (Wanamaker was the force behind the building of the Globe and this Playhouse is a miniature version of the Globe. I like it better.) The play was a magical little gem. It is a small scale production with two actors and two musicians who occasionally pop up in a scene. Marc Antolin, who played Chagall, had an innocence and grace that reminded me of Chaplin, or Keaton or Harold Lloyd. I think this connection was because of his look and the fact that he acted with his whole body, as his performance combined acting, singing and dancing. Audrey Brisson, who played Bella Chagall, was a combination of Helena Bonham Carter and a Cirque de Soleil dancer, with a lovely singing voice. Together, they were great. The play, with combines the prose with singing and dancing was about the loving relationship between Marc and Bella. But it was more than just a love story. It was also about Chagall’s obsession with his painting and career (which had some ups and downs until he left Russia) and Bella’s desire to fill her artistic potential through writing. And it is about anti-semitism, first from the tsar, then from the Bolsheviks. And it was also about the small, market town of Vitebsk. When Marc and Bella were growing up in the early 1900s, there had “sixty synagogues and two churches”. By the end of World War II, it had been utterly destroyed along with Jewish culture. Bella wrote a book about Vitebsk and I’d guess that much of this piece was based on that. It drew you in to these two remarkable characters and the special world in which they tried to live. Memorable.

“Three Penny Opera”: The next night, we went to the National Theatre to see Three Penny Opera. I bought these tickets just because it was the National Theatre doing it, but our one experience seeing the show (with Alan Cummings and Cyndi Lauper as I recall) was so underwhelming that I cannot recall a single thing about it. Not this time. I have been trying to figure out what made this production so wonderful. I think perhaps the main thing is that it had a tremendous new adaptation by Simon Stephens, who is probably best known for “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”. It also boasted a very clever production with an interesting way of moving the flats on the set. The music used the band as part of the play itself at points. The ensemble cast was typically great.  (The big name in the cast is Rory Kinnear, who played Macheath (Mac the Knife) and was compelling.) It is unfair to pick out anyone in the cast since there were no bad performances, but Nick Holder as a truly slimy and bizarre Mr. Peachum and Haydn Gwynne as awful and destructive Mrs. Peachum were especially memorable. The whole production had a dark and very creepy tone and the feeling that something horrible was about to happen. It made a point of its cynicism about society inherent in the play and even related it slightly to the whole mess currently taking place in Britain. The Brecht/Weil duo didn’t write catchy tunes, except “Mac the Knife” of course, but the songs fit into the plot and were rather Sondheim-like in nature. I have an entirely new appreciation for the genius of Brecht and Weil as a result of this evening, which, unlike the prior version I saw, I won’t soon forget.

Wales: As you may or may not know, Wales beat Belgium the other day to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup. This was no minor victory, since Belgium was ranked #2 in the world and Wales had basically  never won any game of consequence since pretty much forever. The fact that they have advanced, while England was humiliated by Iceland has to make it all the more sweet for the Welsh. All of Wales is apparently on cloud nine and all the Welsh are suddenly football fans. And it is not a fluke. They play very well together and have some extremely good players and one great player in Gareth Bale. They have real chance to beat Portugal in the semi-finals. Portugal probably has more talent and features Ronaldo, but they have not played well as a team yet and have only barely made it this far. It would be nice if Wales can keep going, if for no other reason than to distract people from the ongoing mess that the British have created for themselves.

Miscellaneous Thoughts: In no special order:

• It is tempting to feel sorry for Boris Johnson and his betrayal by Michael Gove, killing his dream to be Prime Minister. But he dragged Britain into a gigantic disaster, largely thinking about his own political career, without having any real idea of what he would do if Brexit won. If you are still in doubt that Boris is a jerk, read this article from the Guardian.
• The whole Brexit run-up and result seem to have encouraged racist louts and given them a feeling of free rein to engage in contemptible behavior. Racist incidents are up by as much as 500% according to some reports. It is the same phenomena that makes some Trump supporters feel free to engage in misogynist. homophobic and racist activity. This week, racist and xenophobic graffiti appeared on a small building in Newington Green, across the street from New Unity. We tried to figure out what to do and I suggested that we go and paint over it with something about love, but that wasn’t practical, of course. So we ended up creating a banner out of bed sheet with the message “Wherever You Come From, You Are Welcome Here”, which is how Andy starts our services. After the service today, everyone who wanted joined in writing messages on it and in coloring the letters. It was nice response, I thought. See below:

• You may remember that moment earlier this year when Christie destroyed Rubio in a debate, effectively ending Rubio’s chance of being nominated but also killing his own chances. The same thing appears to have happened to Gove. His betrayal of Boris is looking like a murder/suicide.
• I tried painting out on the terrace of our flat today. Great light but too much wind. I’ll have to take another shot, but for now, it is back to the kitchen table.
• It is Sunday, which means that I could actually watch a Mets game. I’m basically limited to Sundays and an occasional Saturday or holiday, since I can’t see staying up until the middle of the night on a regular season game. I do miss Gary, Keith and Ronnie though. It doesn’t feel like summer with out them. Of course, it hasn’t felt much like summer here anyway…. The Metsies have been hanging in there, mainly due to their pitching, without really playing especially well. The should have at least one or two hot streaks in them. If so, they still seem like a playoff team to me. If they keep playing as they have been, they will play meaningful games in September (which is all I ever ask for) and will be close to making the post-season.