A NIGHT AT THE ABBEY . . .

So, we all have at least a partial day in Dublin under our belts. And everyone seems truly happy to be here! My trip across the pond was even a bit longer than expected as the plane from London to Dublin taxied on the runway for at least half an hour before taking off! But we made it--"we" being me and two of the students in the class, Megan and Cat. It was nice to have each other for figuring our way around Heathrow Airport in London. . . .

Everyone seems very pleased with our accommodations at Trinity College Dublin--and you certainly can't beat the central location. This evening all twelve of us went out to dinner in the hip Temple Bar area at a restaurant called The Quays.

Then we strolled over to the legendary Abbey Theatre--the National Theatre of Ireland--for a production of a Tom Murphy play, The House. Murphy is an icon for plays like Freedom of the City and Famine--though from where I sat, The House was not of the same caliber as those classics. We all chit-chatted for a bit afterward (we'll have some more formal--or least semi-formal--student responses to it tomorrow: each student has to present orally a "review" of two events during our Irish adventure together): the consensus seems to be that "it had its moments" and that it also has its overall merits. But beyond that, I'll not put words into other people's mouths! As I was watching it, I thought it felt a bit "baggy"--too many vague subplots; by the end, I changed my adjective to "boxy"--too many underdeveloped ideas being forced to fit inside each other and inside the overall structure of the play. Still, a night at the Abbey is a special experience--I think that we all came away from The House feeling that.