Foresooth, What Tradition is This?

Conversation with 11-year-old Akira on Skype last night:

MS: What did you like best about going to the Farmers’ Market?

A: Being able to walk around and go to Puck’s Donuts afterwards.

MS: Do you know who Puck is? 

(Evidently Shakespearean references abound in Ashland where there is a huge, year-round, Shakespeare festival)

MS: (assuming too much) Puck is ~

A: Wait. Give me a minute and I will elucidate. (Time spent thinking)

Puck is in Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is the messenger for the King of the Fairies.

MS: Very good, Akira! 31 years ago I played Titania, the Queen of the Fairies.

A: What was the King’s name?

MS: Oberon. Puck also serves as a sort of narrator and opens and closes the play.

A: He breaks the 4th wall - is that right?

MS: It is indeed, Akira, it is indeed. 

When I was cast as Titania, my daughters said, "of course they cast you as Titania, mom. You are Titania." 

As I looked on Skype at those unruly curls and mischievously twinkling almond-shaped eyes, it occurs to me not so much that he may one day play Puck but that he is Puck.