It’s been years since I’ve been to an actual theater — many years. Maybe that’s because some of my visits didn’t exactly turn out to be great successes. I remember one in particular, back in 2008.
I was working in London at the time as an intern for a major company. My duties included corporate hospitality — things like gifting Champions League Final tickets or seats near the finish line at the Tour de France in Paris to managers who were close to signing contracts with the company I worked for. It also included managing the company’s corporate membership at Wyndham’s Theatre.
Meanwhile, my Shakespeare-loving future wife, Harriet, was studying in Glasgow. When she came down to London for a weekend visit, I surprised her with tickets for us to see Hamlet at Wyndham’s — with Jude Law in the lead role.
After the performance, as we walked down the stairs into the hall, I was excited to hear her glow about how much she enjoyed it, so I asked for her thoughts. She has a single-sentence evaluation. “David Tennant is a better Hamlet,” she said.
Turns out that she had seen Hamlet about a year earlier in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace, and I’m not sure I’ve been to a theater since. (Unless you count my regular visits to the NBA’s small sample size theater, which I fall for every year. At least I’m not the only one.)
By the end of October, even the NBA’s analyst elite were calling Victor Wembanyama the frontrunner for this year’s MVP award. Ten days later, that talk seems a bit premature.
Wemby met an unprepared opponent in game one, but the league has since adjusted to his early scoring outbursts. The fear of Wemby running rampant through the open court has opponents sending double-teams right away (if not sooner) and it’s working.
But if they can’t or don’t double him, it’s over, as was on full display Friday night when the 7’5 giant drove to the basket past Amen Thompson, one of the best on-ball defenders in the league.
Still, Wemby isn’t yet an undeniable offensive force. But he’ll get there — sooner rather than later. The good thing is, he’s on a team that’s developing in the right direction.
