This Christmas, one of my resolutions was to ask for gifts that were more about an experience and less about merchandise. My "big" gift request was for my wife and I to attend a play in Fort Worth. We went today to Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, over at Stage West. I am a huge PG Wodehouse fan. Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit is a dramatization by Mark Richards of one of the better Jeeves comedies. I love the Wooster/Jeeves books--the sheer wordplay always keeps me amused. I had always thought them impossible to dramatize (though Wodehouse himself gave it a good try or two), because they are not really funny based on their absurd plots but based on the breezy way in which they are worded.
This play really worked, though, by literally transmuting many of the stories into dramatic form. Stage West is a small theater group which uses an old movie theater with seating "surrounding" a small open stage. It's not quite "in the round", as nothing is round, but might be called "in the square". The play was quite fun. We all had a great time. This was a grand Christmas present, and Christmas is just beginning.
Tomorrow I work, and on Christmas Eve we head north to see my wife's family. I love Kansas City, my in-laws, and Christmas generally. I am really looking forward to the holidays.