We started rehearsals for The (Concluding?) Amazing Adventures of Nigel & Bridgette this week. This is Season 3 of the multi-media theater project we (myself and John Cisar) created from an improv sketch 3 years ago. If you're unfamiliar with Nigel & Bridgette, visit our website www.nigelbridgette.com and learn more. I don't want to clog my Shakespeare blog with Nigel & Bridgette, so I'll spare you the intimate details. So, what DOES Nigel & Bridgette have to do with Shakespeare, you might ask? I'll get to that, promise.
I've been feeling nostalgic about this show all day. We created these characters from nothing and from nothing has come this world, these relationships this world that seems as real and tangible as you or I. I am Bridgette, Bridgette is me. I am the only one who has ever played her and maybe I'm the only one who ever will.
I was so distracted by my own nostalgia today that I posted this on my Facebook page: "For what may be the final time (though I sincerely hope not) I step into the familiar, brilliant, loving, mischievious persona that is Bridgette Smythe, and despite the fact that she is far more intelligent, worldly and patient than I, it feels remarkably like coming home."
If this is my final chance to play Bridgette, I will truly miss her.
Anyway...
Enough of my chronic nostalgia, the point is that in part of Nigel & Bridgette I am actually playing William Shakespeare (or rather Bridgette playing William Shakespeare). It's a Past Life Regression thing. Just come see the show, it's tough to explain. Most of the Shakespeare dialogue is lifted straight from Antony & Cleopatra. So, I'll be spending some close personal time with Antony and Cleopatra in the next few weeks. I gotta admit, Antony and Cleopatra was never really my favorite play. It's a tough read, and I've never actually seen it in performance. To me it seems like a "Julius Ceasar spinoff" like the Shakespearean "Joey" Ew.
I'm hoping I'll get into it and change my mind... like I did with Macbeth and Troilus and Cressida, but I'm not holding my breath.
So, Shakespearean friends... any insigt into Antony and Cleopatra? I could use a little help.
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