Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Now is the Winter of Our Discontent








The Blackfriars Playhouse, in Staunton, Virginia










"Blow, blow, thou winter wind." And so it has, with gusts up to 40 MPH today, our third consecutive day of government shut-down in the Washington, DC, area.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day." As I look out the window at another foot of snow that has fallen overnight, right on top of all the driveways and sidewalks that I cleared off just two days ago, this is getting old.

But, "sweet are the uses of adversity" in Staunton, Virginia, where the American Shakespeare Center is offering a sweet, sweet, deal to anyone who can get there this week: $10 tickets to all plays at the Blackfriars Playhouse. "The play's the thing" and they'll go on whatever the weather, so, if you can get there, you can watch them all day and night for a pittance.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" I would, if only I'd had the foresight to get a room at the hotel next door to the Blackfriars a few days ago before this mess began. Lesson learned.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A sweet deal - you aren't kidding! That ticket deal is AMAZING.

When my husband and I were up there for a few months for his training, we desperately wanted to go to the Shakespeare Center. I had actually read about it a long time ago on your blog.

When we got up there, we looked at the ticket prices and holy cow- to get all four of us to a play would have cost a small fortune! So we told ourselves we would be sure to go during our next stay in DC.

But those ticket prices are just amazing. Too bad you can't take part! But it sounds like you're where you need to be - you guys obviously still have electricity and internet, and that's a very good thing.

TSB said...

They offer some package deals on tickets, and I try to schedule a trip for days when there will be an opening performance (pay-what-you-will) that I can see back-to-back with a regular performance. The 'talk back' and 'Dr. Ralph tells all' days are good for some added value, and they have tours of the playhouse for $5 on Saturdays.

Still pretty expensive, but I have to say I really do like the place.

BTW, if you go to Coffee on the Corner (the little coffee shop next to the playhouse) after a performance, you can often run into some of the actors there.

Sky Jack Morgan said...

This is a great post about this discount. It's the deepest discount we've ever done, and it's really paying off. We just wanted to get locals out of their houses; everyone's got cabin fever. Turns out, it's quite sunny and a great time to start walking around Staunton. Darjeeling Café is offering 10% off everything to anyone coming to the playhouse!
BTW, our normal ticket prices are a steal in the Shakespeare world, and thanks for mentioning subscription packages. They're a great way to never miss a show and to save money.

TSB said...

I'll try to get there this weekend. Good to find out that the streets are clear.