Day four: The Bitter Belief of Cotrone the Magician

Wow. Awesome play. No idea what happened.

We took a bus from the city out to a dock on the bay (with a bridge that looks suspiciously like the Bay Bridge, and apparently may also be in the sixth Harry Potter movie), then got on a boat to take us to "Mystery Island," where the play would be held. Beautiful guitar music played through speakers the whole ride over, which had what can only be described as an "I'm sailing out to sea to find Mystery Island" feel. Honestly.

Twenty minutes later, we begin to approach a small island with big hills and cliffs. The sky is completely cloudy except, somehow, for a break in the clouds directly over the island. The grass and cliffs are covered in 6:30 pm sunlight. (Seriously, what? You can't plan this.) As we drift around the island to the dock, we can make out four figures standing stoically on top of one of the hills, watching our boat.

Once we're on the island, we're directed along a path to a small, run-down castle-looking thing. We sit on hay bales outside of it, in front of a raised grassy area that will be used for the stage. It's windy, but the sun breaks perfectly through the clouds, spilling deep gold light over the castle and stage.

Again. What? We just took a boat to an island to watch a play. This is completely ridiculous. But also totally beautiful.

The play ends up being this mix of dance, puppetry, fantasy, and poetry. I almost feel like I drifted into meditation at some point. The whole thing was much more an experience than a play. A lot, a lot of plays try to do that these days, but often don't succeed. This, though, was well-executed and just beautiful to watch. My only complaint is that it seemed a little slow toward the end. That, though, was mostly a result of being in the cold wind for too long once the sun started to set, and I made up for that with hot chocolate on the boat ride back.