The Golden Dragonfly and mumblings on various plays

It was at Bourton-on-the-Water, which was en route to Stratford-upon-Avon, that we found a hedge maze. We'd stopped at Bourton for a sense of what small rural town England was like (I think; but actually, no reason for stopping at Bourton-on-the-Water was definitively provided). A few of us went to an antique shop, where I bought a first edition of Nabokov's Ada, and sometime later, we went in search of a mysterious place called Birdland. When we located this Birdland, which did not prove to be difficult, as Bourton is an example of small rural town England, we realized, with alacrity, that to enter would be to pay 5 pounds. So we walked on further, until coming upon the hedge maze. The hedge maze promised exceeding adventurous fulfillment, and beckoned us to engage our childlike natures, and also had 14 clues within it's hedges, which would lead us to a brick chamber in the middle, wherein we would find a golden dragonfly, provided we'd decoded the symbolic clues, and accurately pieced them together in order to decipher the total message, a piece of which each contained. I was, at the time, too excited to think in complete sentences, and have attempted to piece together the fragments exploding in my mind at the time.

Alpha Group (Josh, Erin, Travis, Phillip) shot into the maze, attempting to leave our lesser Beta adversaries in a daze. In our haste, however, we ran past the first 3 clues, which we did not realize until stumbling across clue 4, by accident. Eventually backtracking, we found the first 3 clues, and winding our way through the maze (which proved quite difficult, actually) we found every clue but 6. After a few minutes of angst-filled repetitions and wrong turns, we finally stumbled out in the middle, and stared upon our goal. Entering the dimly lit chamber, we beheld a pedestal, on which was a glass case holding a large illuminated frog. The walls of the glass case were mirrors on the inside, and on the floor of the chamber were bronzed idols of a caterpillar, a rat, a spider, and a bird. Around the wall were various other animals. We'd ascertained from the clues that we were to step on the caterpillar, which we did, but the missing clue 6 proved consequential. After repeatedly stepping on the caterpillar, and searching for other ways to find the golden dragonfly, we gave up, and began walking out, when Josh suddenly realized what we had to do. Rushing back, we restepped on the caterpillar, and had put one hand on one the monkeys on the wall, which, in fact, held minute buttons. As we were searching for the other monkey, the archnemesis Beta group burst in, found it, and pressed the button. Instantly the dim glow in the chamber went out, and the glass case was the only source of light. The frog rose up, and slowly began opening his mouth, in which sat the golden dragonfly.

In typical archaelogical brouhaha fashion, a vociferous debate ensued as to which group, Alpha or Beta, had claim to the discovery. My feelings on the subject should be obvious.

Stratford-upon-Avon was quaint, but by the time we'd toured Shakespeare's birthplace, most of us were tired. So we ate, lounged in the park, and then went to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater's production of Henry IV Part I, at the Swan. I liked the play but thought it was overdone at spots. Still a positive experience, nonetheless.

Yesterday, I went to London with Josh, Spencer, Colin, and Adam, and being a bit late, did a little of nothing except walk around and eat dinner, until another play for which we had tickets, Woyzeck, was to begin. Woyzeck is a nightmarish schizo-comedy that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Orwellian world. The music was done by Nick Cave.

Today consists of work and a meeting to discuss particulars for the Dublin trip next weekend. As I've run out of steam, I will leave you with a "cheers!"