(no subject)
Everyone wants to talk. "Well, let us go to the club?" "Oh no! I hate talking!" It's bad that I'm thinking in terms of Oscar Wilde, and the witty dialogue is really starting to get to me... It makes me not want to talk, because I can hardly open my mouth without some kind of neo-Wilde-ism popping out. "I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays!"
So yes, somehow managed to end up going to see the Importance of Being Earnest on two consecutive days. Tonight and yesterday night. Totally worth it, because it was incredible what they did with it. I've discussed it lots already with... well, with anyone who will listen, but I feel like pouring it out now.
To begin with, the set and costumes were gorgeous. Simply outstanding, as I think befits it. "We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces." The use of lights as flowers was just... inspired. On Thursday night, the audience actually applauded when the lights went on. My breath was just taken away, it was so... beautiful. And I noticed today that there was an amazing amount of thought in the costume design. I hadn't noticed the ties that seemed to be a theme in Gwendolen's dresses, alluding to the man playing her. I'm sure the other costumes warranted similar analysis.
Oh yes, just in case anyone doesn't know (probably Sarah especially...) all the roles in this production of the Importance of Being Earnest are filled by men. Gaiety galore.
Ok, before I wax too lyrical about the costumes - the acting. A fantastic performance from Alan Stanford, of course, and ever true to his prima donna nature, he stole the show. He played Oscar Wilde AND Lady Bracknell AND Lane. THE best female character of the play, as well as assuming the role of the writer as well. Not only did he manage that, but he also managed to steal the last line. Yes, the famous importance of being earnest line... Jack began it "I've now realised for the first time in my life..." and Alan Stanford, reverting back to Oscar Wilde, I think, finished "... the vital Importance of Being Earnest."
I suppose it was an unusual way to do things. Certainly it brought an entirely new twist on the most well-known line.
Perhaps I should go a little into exactly how the play worked... It began with a scene at the beginning, Oscar Wilde in a French cafe, drinking himself into a stupour, reminiscing about his most famous work, the Importance of Being Earnest. The boys in the cafe re-enact it, although whether this actually happens or whether it is actually in his mind, I'm not sure. And he is lost in the fantasy, caught up as we are in the "delicate bubble of fancy" that is the play... At the beginning of the second act, we get a similar punctuation by the appearance again of Oscar Wilde, before we continue with the play... And then we're lost again, and we almost forget that we are supposedly not watching the actual play, but perhaps that the real play is Oscar Wilde, still in that cafe, still lost in his own fantasy world, a broken man.
The end brought out the tragedy, but that didn't make it any less hilarious. There was the Wilde wit, but it was taken in an entirely new direction... It was almost pantomime-esque in a small way, without being garish. It was funny is all I can say about that. Gwendolen was particularly brilliant, and though she was entirely over-the-top in a ridiculously unrealistic fashion, he was the most convincing as a woman.
Lady Bracknell, of course, was amazing. "Never met such a Gorgon..." Stanford really used his presence, both as an actor and his physical presence, which is by no means small... Heh. She was played almost exactly as I imagined her, and... I really felt in great hands. It was simply fantastic.
Really, the only character I took issue with was Algernon. Algernon, I feel, embodies Wilde's aestheticism, he is the paradigm of his life philosophy. And I think perhaps the inclusion of an actual Oscar Wilde may have thrown that off slightly. In any case, his aphorisms weren't delivered with quite the wit I expected, and there seemed to be almost a kind of innocence about him. He wasn't camp enough :P I didn't like it. I was hoping that I could have stolen some tips from him, being a professional actor, but he took the character in an entirely different direction, so... No.
Other than that, it gave me a lot to talk about. The inclusion of just those little Oscar Wilde scenes, they completely changed the perception of the entire play. Which I liked, because I'm so familiar with it, I think a straight performance may have been somewhat boring, or at least, not intellectually stimulating. This gave me a lot to chew on, and whilst it was incredibly enjoyable, the short section at the end... It was so meaningful. And those last lines will probably stay with me for a long time... "Pourquoi pas?" Why not? And Alan Stanford (or is it Oscar Wilde?) lights a cigarette, and watches as the match goes out, as the themic music comes to a close, and the lights dim.
So though I had some issues with the play, it has enriched me, I know. I could talk about it forever. "[Something] much talked about is always very attractive."
I'm exhausted. Before I went to see the Importance of Being Earnest today, we had our first Importance of Being Earnest rehearsal after school... And, after the late night on Thursday after the play (late Luases and the meaning of love... but that's another story), AND having to get up in the morning for the before-school Applied Maths class... Tired. And look, it's half twelve already. And I started this before midnight.
So yes, Andy Stevenson and love... Two things I'll have to talk about sometime later. For now, I need sleep, or at least to rest my poor mind from stringing sentences together. And yet, I never talk anything but nonsense. But then again, nobody ever does.
So yes, somehow managed to end up going to see the Importance of Being Earnest on two consecutive days. Tonight and yesterday night. Totally worth it, because it was incredible what they did with it. I've discussed it lots already with... well, with anyone who will listen, but I feel like pouring it out now.
To begin with, the set and costumes were gorgeous. Simply outstanding, as I think befits it. "We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces." The use of lights as flowers was just... inspired. On Thursday night, the audience actually applauded when the lights went on. My breath was just taken away, it was so... beautiful. And I noticed today that there was an amazing amount of thought in the costume design. I hadn't noticed the ties that seemed to be a theme in Gwendolen's dresses, alluding to the man playing her. I'm sure the other costumes warranted similar analysis.
Oh yes, just in case anyone doesn't know (probably Sarah especially...) all the roles in this production of the Importance of Being Earnest are filled by men. Gaiety galore.
Ok, before I wax too lyrical about the costumes - the acting. A fantastic performance from Alan Stanford, of course, and ever true to his prima donna nature, he stole the show. He played Oscar Wilde AND Lady Bracknell AND Lane. THE best female character of the play, as well as assuming the role of the writer as well. Not only did he manage that, but he also managed to steal the last line. Yes, the famous importance of being earnest line... Jack began it "I've now realised for the first time in my life..." and Alan Stanford, reverting back to Oscar Wilde, I think, finished "... the vital Importance of Being Earnest."
I suppose it was an unusual way to do things. Certainly it brought an entirely new twist on the most well-known line.
Perhaps I should go a little into exactly how the play worked... It began with a scene at the beginning, Oscar Wilde in a French cafe, drinking himself into a stupour, reminiscing about his most famous work, the Importance of Being Earnest. The boys in the cafe re-enact it, although whether this actually happens or whether it is actually in his mind, I'm not sure. And he is lost in the fantasy, caught up as we are in the "delicate bubble of fancy" that is the play... At the beginning of the second act, we get a similar punctuation by the appearance again of Oscar Wilde, before we continue with the play... And then we're lost again, and we almost forget that we are supposedly not watching the actual play, but perhaps that the real play is Oscar Wilde, still in that cafe, still lost in his own fantasy world, a broken man.
The end brought out the tragedy, but that didn't make it any less hilarious. There was the Wilde wit, but it was taken in an entirely new direction... It was almost pantomime-esque in a small way, without being garish. It was funny is all I can say about that. Gwendolen was particularly brilliant, and though she was entirely over-the-top in a ridiculously unrealistic fashion, he was the most convincing as a woman.
Lady Bracknell, of course, was amazing. "Never met such a Gorgon..." Stanford really used his presence, both as an actor and his physical presence, which is by no means small... Heh. She was played almost exactly as I imagined her, and... I really felt in great hands. It was simply fantastic.
Really, the only character I took issue with was Algernon. Algernon, I feel, embodies Wilde's aestheticism, he is the paradigm of his life philosophy. And I think perhaps the inclusion of an actual Oscar Wilde may have thrown that off slightly. In any case, his aphorisms weren't delivered with quite the wit I expected, and there seemed to be almost a kind of innocence about him. He wasn't camp enough :P I didn't like it. I was hoping that I could have stolen some tips from him, being a professional actor, but he took the character in an entirely different direction, so... No.
Other than that, it gave me a lot to talk about. The inclusion of just those little Oscar Wilde scenes, they completely changed the perception of the entire play. Which I liked, because I'm so familiar with it, I think a straight performance may have been somewhat boring, or at least, not intellectually stimulating. This gave me a lot to chew on, and whilst it was incredibly enjoyable, the short section at the end... It was so meaningful. And those last lines will probably stay with me for a long time... "Pourquoi pas?" Why not? And Alan Stanford (or is it Oscar Wilde?) lights a cigarette, and watches as the match goes out, as the themic music comes to a close, and the lights dim.
So though I had some issues with the play, it has enriched me, I know. I could talk about it forever. "[Something] much talked about is always very attractive."
I'm exhausted. Before I went to see the Importance of Being Earnest today, we had our first Importance of Being Earnest rehearsal after school... And, after the late night on Thursday after the play (late Luases and the meaning of love... but that's another story), AND having to get up in the morning for the before-school Applied Maths class... Tired. And look, it's half twelve already. And I started this before midnight.
So yes, Andy Stevenson and love... Two things I'll have to talk about sometime later. For now, I need sleep, or at least to rest my poor mind from stringing sentences together. And yet, I never talk anything but nonsense. But then again, nobody ever does.