Lauren makes her debut

Last Sunday Lauren and I went to the Sejong Centre to see the The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged. It was silly, full of over-acting, and very amusing. We were especially impressed with the way they had adapted their script according to the nationality of the audience; there was an annyeonghaseyo scripted in as well as a version of Tell Me providing the background music for the Capulet's house party.

When we went to purchase our tickets we were advised towards some of the front seats, but we were more attracted to the cheaper tickets. On arriving at the theatre we were told that the circles were closed for that show and our tickets were exchanged for front row seats instead.

I always fear that front row viewers will be subjected to audience participation, but it seems that on this occasion my fear was misplaced. It was Lauren, not I, that was dragged onto stage to play Hamlet's Ophelia, got ridiculed for her acting abilities (in jest, of course), and had a spotlight on her as she performed a particularly amusing and impressive scream.

This is apparently an occurrence of every performance of this play, but if we'd been aware of it perhaps we would have fought a bigger fight for the tickets we'd bought. Still, despite this being a subject of her nightmares, I'd say Lauren gave the professionals a run for their money!