Obscene scents of summer
A celebration of summer may well begin with an early morning trip to the farmer’s market, giving way to a whole series of events and experiences, all about senses.
Blood-red strawberries, uniformly and loosely packed in baskets, exposed to our voyeuristic look, are as good as they come: smallish, deeply flavoured and red right through, without that tasteless white core some varieties have these days. While still in the basket, their smell is reminiscent of a baby after an evening bath. But when you pile them on a plate, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with the juice of half a lemon, they will release a flavour of unparalleled intensity.
Summer garlic is something else. Plump and white, its soft pliable skin faintly brushed with green and mauve hides the youngest, freshest, juiciest nuggets inside. So firm, crisp and mild you want to eat them raw, thinly sliced on a sandwich, or in mayonnaise. This is the sweet garlic of cautious romance, just don’t expect anyone to want to snog you afterwards.
Meanwhile, a seemingly humble Galia melon has been in the kitchen for a few days. It’s oozing its intoxicating scent, given each morning a gentle squeeze, sniffed and rolled over and over in hands. Heavy with juice and promise, it won’t last another day.
After the show
And it’s all over now. The students of Global Village celebrated the end of the school year on Wednesday. But how they did it! The performance was simply a hit. The audience – other students, parents, friends, and a great number of chance passers-by – all reacted spontaneously. You could hear laughter, giggling and applause every now and then. As for the actors, they did their best. The nervousness of the rehearsals disappeared the moment the drumming announced the beginning of the play. Later some of them said that they did actually miss a word or two, but it was hardly noticeable. To me they were professionals, and it was a double pleasure watching good performance played by good actors, as well as watching my own marvellous students – the shopkeeper, Capulets’ servant, Father Lawrence, Lord Montague, Tybalt, Benvolio, Prince Escalus, and many many others.
And to those who couldn’t come – don’t worry. You’ll still have a chance to see them next school year – in a student theatre, in one high school or another. They are too good actors to let them stop at the beginning of their careers :)
(basia_t)
A street in Verona, Italy
The cast:
Mateusz Acewicz (Gimnazjum nr 19)
Przemek Alkowski (I LO)
Marta Baczewska (Gimnazjum nr 3)
Mateusz Bałasz (Gimnazjum nr 7)
Dymitr Borys (Gimnazjum nr 4)
Michał Citko (Global Village)
Damian Czykier (Gimnazjum nr 9)
Magdalena Gorbacz (gościnnie)
Gabriela Karczewska (VI LO)
Paulina Kordiukiewicz (VI LO)
Jan Kowalski (Gimnazjum nr 8)
Jakub Kwiećkowski (III LO)
Justyna Łobaszewska (Global Village)
Wojciech Łukaszewicz (Global Village)
Adrian Młodzianowski (VI LO)
Rafał Onoszko (Gimnazjum nr 7)
Marta Opacka (VI LO)
Marcin Szychowski (XI LO)
Daniel Taranta (Gimnazjum nr 17)
Krzysztof Tarasiuk (SP nr 12)
Second time around
In the midst of testing and bringing the school year to a close, a bunch of some twenty Global Village enthusiasts are busy staging Romeo and Juliet again. This time we are attempting the entire text of our heavily, alas, simplified version, but we are putting it on outdoors so that more people could join us and have fun. The two main characters are played by new actors, otherwise most of the last year’s cast has remained the same. And there’s lots of live music added to give the play a more contemporary feel. Rehearsing it is a bit of a stunt itself, since it’s practically impossible to bring the whole cast, all from different schools, together at a given time. The only way we could possibly have them all for a rehearsal is to encourage them to play truant. This week we are taking rehearsals to the location.
