Steppin’ to Steppenwolf
As I mentioned in my last post, I don’t always take advantage of the things this city has to offer. In another attempt to remedy this, Scott and I went to see our first play at Steppenwolf Theatre on Saturday night. Steppenwolf is a pretty well-known place in the city and we got all dolled up to make our debut there. We chose to see George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which is a novel we both really enjoy. Due to my not exactly knowing how to best get to the theater, we were rushing but managed to sit down right before lights out and we happened to have some fairly great seats. The play was 90 minutes long and did an incredible job of conveying the main themes from the novel. For those of you who don’t know, Animal Farm is a story about a group of farm animals who decide to revolt against their master and take over the farm for themselves. They manage to drive their farmer away and things go well at first, until certain animals decide they’re better than others and begin trying to take control for themselves. It’s a really poignant depiction of what power and influence can do and it leaves the audience truly wondering what type of animals men really are.
It’s showtime!
I was curious how they were going to depict the animals in the play given everyone acting was human (obviously) but the costume director did a great job of creating knit animal heads and hooves/mittens that made it easy to forget a human head and hands were underneath. The actors portrayed the mannerisms of the animals they played (the chicken was particularly accurate with neck movements, etc.) and there was a slaughter scene where the actors simply took off their woven masks, threw them in a pile on the floor and walked off the stage. It might not seem like it but it was extremely powerful and moving. I actually had chills at one point (and not just because it was cold in the theater). The performance was better than either Scott or I anticipated and we even stayed after to participate in an open discussion/question and answer session. The whole experience was really incredible and since the tickets weren’t too pricey, we’ll definitely be doing it again sometime!
After the play, we decided to find a bite to eat and something to drink. We went to a taco joint appropriately called ‘Taco Joint’ and again, we were not disappointed. We had two kinds of guacamole to start and a few tacos each, which we washed down with a couple of drinks. Scott had a typical Mexican beer while I enjoyed a red wine sangria that I could’ve drank for days. It was a fabulous date night all around and I can’t wait for another night out on the town!
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