An Oak Tree and Patti Smith

We saw An Oak Tree by Tim Crouch, a two-person performance with Tim and, I found out after the piece, a well-known Australian actor whose name I unfortunately can’t remember right now. Sorry. In any case, throughout watching the piece it became very clear that the actor was accomplished, and was not simply a random audience member who had been brought on stage (which was my misunderstanding). And so, although I really liked the on-stage direction, reading lines from the script, and the fact that the piece is new to the second actor and would thus push their abilities, I must admit that after lengthy consideration I still don’t understand what that brings to the narrative. (Apparently Geoffrey Rush was the night before, and I have to say, that would have been quite a treat. And maybe it requires seeing it in several incarnations with numerous actors that gives it its true weight.)

And speaking of stars, we had the good fortune and rare opportunity to meet Patti Smith. The kids saw her show, fairly detailed already on the blog, so I won’t describe it here. She was unbelievably generous with her time, comments, and considerations of stardom, death, longing, working hard and never giving up, and humility.