The recommended daily allowance

Slings & Arrows, Season Two

On 2.26.2008, I wrote, Mr. M-mv and I both adored the first season. Here's hoping the second is as wonderful.

Well, it was even more wonderful. Perfect and brilliant and perfectly brilliant.

From the Amazon review:

It’s amazing what can happen in the theatre. Dramas unfold, epic stories and indelible characters are formed, battles are fought, lovers wooed and spurned, and every once in a while, a play is actually performed. And so Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) is back as the Artistic Director of the New Burbage Theatre Festival for a second season of the backstage machinations and on stage drama that is Slings and Arrows. After a triumphant first season that revolved around the staging of Hamlet, season two uses Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most difficult and cursed plays, as the central device for this season’s plots lines. Things begin close to where they left off in season one. As the last performance of Hamlet winds up a mysterious old woman, in witch-like fashion, practically dares Geoffrey to undertake Macbeth, and her ominous tone makes it clear it won’t be easy. The lead actor (Geraint Wyn Davies) engages Geoffrey in a titanic clash of egos, with the ghost of Oliver (Steven Ouimette) continuing to weigh in from beyond the grave. The rest of last season’s stellar cast returns including Rachel McAdams, leading woman Ellen (Martha Burns), and the excellent Mark McKinney as scheming/bumbling CEO Richard Smith-Jones. The return of guest director Darren Nichols (Don McKellar) to stage a post post-modern Romeo and Juliet provides many of this season’s best moments, and shows the hilarious side of what happens when artistic imagination and exuberance outpace artistic ability. --Daniel Vancini

Excellent writing. Great acting. Insights into both the artistic and business aspects of theater. Shakespeare. Gosh, what's not to love?

Writes M.:

I think the consensus is that the first season is the best, but the second is my favorite by far. More focus on the plays and the Oliver the ghost parts seemed more integrated into the story (or maybe I had become accustomed to the conceit). Incredibly funny minor characters -- Darren Nichols returns, and there's Sanjay of Froghammer. I have a big smile on my face just thinking about them.

So do I.