Thursday, May 29 party for The Burial at Thebes and the break/s. Church Street home of John and Shea Kuhn.
Sprawled out on a couple of couches in the family room, Mark Bamuthi Joseph, beatboxer Tommy Shepherd (a.k.a. Soulati), DJ Excess and the crew of the break/s, were watching the Lakers finish off the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.
“Oh! Kobe’s gonna get 40!” Joseph said.
The game in hand, I came into the kitchen, where Paul Bentall of the Nottingham Playhouse — Creon in Burial at Thebes – was discussing natural law with a member of the opening night audience: 
‘“…absolute value is the dignity of the human being…”
…the Christian takes his hat off to show reverence, the Jew puts his hat on…”
Of course, this being Spoleto, things were more artfully complex. In between goading the non-Laker fans, Joseph was discussing integrated schools and “the major influences on my pedagogy,” and the guys in the kitchen had on these ties (at right).
It’s always a wonderful moment when the guests of honor arrive. We missed the break/s’ entrance but the chorus of Burial came in ready to have a good time, and not necessarily ruminate on the curse of Oedipus.
“You enjoyed it?” said Maxwell Hutchinson (chorus leader), with a smile. “A bit gloomy, though right? I mean, all that wailing and moaning.”
The role of Antigone calls for a good bit of wailing and moaning by the lovely Catherine Hamilton. She was reluctant to give her age so we will be too because she could play far below it, and we don’t want to blow her chances at a guest spot on Gossip Girl.
Peter Basham, who plays Antigone’s fiancé, Haemon, sings, acts, plays the violin and dances shirtless in the show. I’m going to be a man and admit it: the dude’s even better looking up close.
“This is the next James Bond,” Bentall said. “Daniel Craig look out.”
So when Basham went out of the kitchen, perhaps to avoid slipping on the puddle of drool my wife left on the floor, and Lisa Sexton and Susan McAdoo chased after him, I wasn’t surprised.
My mistake. Sexton later corrected that she was encouraging her shy friend to reconnect with her old mentor from Westminster, Joseph Flummerfelt.
This was the second straight party to feature great artwork by the host family. Hard to say who’s the best out of the three talented Koon Children, aged 6-10, Madeline, Philip or Louisa. Let’s get Nick Smith over there for a proper review.
Great party. No need to wait in the bar line because the staff (mostly young family friends) circulated with trays of wine. And – guilty pleasure — first time I’ve ever seen a TV on at Spoleto. I blended in with my fellow sports fans by urging Phil Jackson to put Kurt Rambis in.
Be sure to ask John and Shea Kuhn (not pictured, a thousand apologies – I shall exit stage left and claw out my eyes!) their story about getting miracled outside of Marriage of Figaro almost twenty years ago by none other than Nigel Redden.
Party index:
Cheeses: Ossau-Iraty, Comte, Reblochon, Bleu d’Auvergne, Saint Nectaire, Belletoile Triple Cream, Taleggio, unnamed spanish goat log. (Thanks to Harriet Franke, daughter of O’Hara and Flynn owner Michael Franke and Kuhn family babysitter.)
People who founded O’Hara and Flynn named O’Hara or Flynn: 0
People who came to the party not knowing it was for two plays, sat down with the cast of the break/s and had a long conversation with them, not getting into any specifics, but all the while talking about the completely wrong play: At least 1
