Shakespeare in the Park

I have been meaning to watch a University of Victoria's production of Shakespeare in the Botanic Gardens for several years now, and last night I finally went to a production of Anthony and Cleopatra with a friend. As there is always a lack of parking we left the car about a kilometre away and enjoyed a walk up Tinakori Road to the Gardens in the twilight.
We set up our little chairs, and relaxed to watch the show. It would have been wise to have brushed up a little on the story beforehand, or bought a programme at least, but I had forgotten my money and had drained that of my friend's, so we had to rely on memory.
Still, it was a pleasant evening and I understood the gist of things. As student productions go, there was fine acting by some (who were not students but seasoned actors) whose every word could be caught, and a range of acting and speaking skills for the rest, who definitely were students. There was some great interaction with the audience and a young boy near us was caught off guard when he was suddenly embraced by Cleopatra. He went pink but was obviously pleased with the attention.
As evening fell the temperature grew cool and we wrapped in a blanket and I pulled on my woolly hat.
The lighting in the trees became more visible and at what seemed exactly the right moments the wind would sigh through the surrounding bush. The Dell is the perfect place to take in a little Shakespeare on a fine night I decided as I relaxed on my camp chair and snacked on a peppermint or two.
During one of Anthony's speeches I heard a friend of mine adding his squawk at opportune moments (or not, depending on your point of view) to the play. Probably Alfie Kaka I thought, adding his own version of events with a rhythmic squark every five seconds. This went on for five minutes until I saw a silhouette of a kaka fly over the audience for a better look before departing the scene.
A morepork then took up the challenge and went through its repertoire of vocalisations before silence reigned once more except for the actors on stage.
They were up to the long process of wordy anguished dying by sword and by asp at this stage, and very soon the last gasp was had, and Julius Caesar had had his last soliloquy, so we packed up and wandered past the darkened rose gardens back to the car.