botanical shakespeare in the night.

It’s 5:10 PM and we are waiting on the platform for the train from South station to pull up and take us to the heart of the city. Chatter fills the warm evening air as smiling face greets smiling face. The woman with the ebony hair calls names from a list to ensure everyone’s accounted for. All are but one and we await her presence eagerly.

The clock ticks to 5:30 and the metro appears. The platform is covered now in beings of all types; businessmen, scruffy locals, teenagers disembarking for night ventures. Everyone due for one city from which they will all branch out to destinations of their own. 

We load the train and still, the missing member has made no appearance. Hasty phone calls are made by determined voices. Then suddenly commotion strikes. “She’s running!” a voice several seats behind me yells. Yet, the automatic doors fly shut and we are suddenly in motion leaving the poor girl standing angered on the platform. It’s as though the train heard the call and saw the desperate feet but was unwilling to carry yet one more passenger. Luck it seemed, had been against our friend since the venture began.

We ride for less than sixty minutes passing railways, then suburbs, then open land covered in nothing but brown grass, dried by the sun and the odd tree. I speak of distant lands and fond memories to the dear acquaintance beside me. She questions and ponders and I appreciate her interest.

Soon enough the bare lands end and the city is in sight. Buildings colored with creative wall art and drooping wires give modernity. We are eager and excited for the evening awaiting us. 

It’s roughly 6:30 PM and we’re  sent out in triplets to locate a meal. A Mexican food stall attracts most and orders are put in place. We devour corn chips, black beans, sour cream and salsa til our taste-buds tingle with spice. The friend the train left behind arrives soon after and she eats with us, grateful to be part of the group once more.

With promises that the walk isn’t very far, we depart the train station and begin the journey towards our designated destination, bellies full and satisfied. It becomes clear that what was thought to be the truth was in fact not so true as our legs grow weary with walking and the location is not yet in site. But alas, at last! The green beauty of botanical trees can be see over towering the florescent lights of our event. 

We spread blankets, array the plentiful snacks and shuffle about until comfort is present. It’s 8:30 now and the sun has disappeared due west. Stars are dotted across the sky over the canopy of trees before us. A single stage with the gardens as a backdrop is in view. The chattering, animated crowd soon turns silent when the first character appears upon the stage. He’s slim and young, dressed smartly in a glimmering tuxedo and clear of tongue as he welcomes us in a formal British accent. And so the play begins. 

Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ has the crowd enthused and enthralled for two hours. Abrupt wails of delightful laughter had filled the air often throughout the performance causing the attentive crowd disappointment when the show ends and the characters disappear behind stage and tree.

Jacket’s are pulled on, the air now crisp and cool. Our stomachs ache from laughter and nourishment. The walk back to the station is brisk and pressured for fear of missing our train. Fear was unnecessary, because we board the train without issue and begin the journey back. Eyelids are heavy and fall tightly shut as the metro rumbles and rocks. A gentle shake disrupts me from my slumber, but little does it matter as we soon part our separate ways and return home to rest our bodies and dream our dreams.