(no subject)
A special kind of dread accompanies being told that you've just uttered the funniest thing you've ever said.
According to Melissa, the funniest thing I ever said was this:
I press this button and it doesn't do shit, mannnn...
The context involved cynical remixes of Kraftwerk songs. (Buildup lines from others included "We are programmed just to ignore you" and "I do not know how to operate this pocket calculator.")
Yesterday's Macbeth was awesome, in the literal sense of the word. I felt a little like I did when I saw FotR in December, floored by the force of the performance.
As magid noted, it was a fairly traditional interpretation of the original, sticking closer to period than last year's "Twelfth Night" on the common with its lounge singers and redneck bikers (though I also enjoyed that a lot). However, the director did a very interesting thing by elevating the wicthes' role in a clever and indirect way, having them portray not only their usual trouble-toiling selves (which they did beautifully, cavorting barefoot through their scenes in tattered white robes and fishnets) but also playing half of the spear-carrier roles! They would remain in costume but carry themselves as befitted Messenger No. 1 or Drunken Guard No. 3, with the other characters treating them appropriately. While doing so, there was the barest hint of a suggestion that they were simultaneously still the witches, masquerading as these foils in order to stay part of the action, rather than sticking to their cave.
They also acted as the performance's musicians, playing a variety of portable percussion instruments throughout. (For the 15 minutes or so while the audience filed in and seated itself, they sat motionless in the set's niches with bored expressions, and beat a simple, repetitive drum piece, ominously.) This came to a climax during the final siege of Macbeth's castle, when their instruments became war drums, helping the actors bring things to a cinematic level (if you'll pardon the expression) as the action shifted between Macbeth and the advancing Macduff, switching between scenes as if they were camera cuts, each group storming the stage just as the other left with battle cries, back and forth until it was done. Boy.
Some people in our group had problems with the costuming, in that all the characters, despite being royalty, looked grubby as hell, swaddled in raggedy, moth-eaten clothing. I thought it looked really cool, and probably more historically accurate than sable robes or whatever would have been, but some thought it was a tad overboard. However, my favorite costume effect was the armor: a couple of pieces of articulated and buckled gray felt, covering its actor's right arm and part of his or her torso. It successfully suggested plate mail, despite being only partial, and obviously fuzzy. Very nice.
Andy noted that some confusion came about from the fact that the actors portraying Banquo and, erm, some other guy were two very similar-looking people. Once or twice I said "?!" as Banquo popped up after he died but before his ghost was supposed to appear. Oh, wait, that's not him. Never mind. (They also both happened to be female actors; many of the manly-man soldierly types were played by women, in fact. I grinned to think that this Macbeth took place in a D&D-like setting where the gender division of warriors is 50-50, but they were actually playing male characters, so it didn't quite work.)
According to Melissa, the funniest thing I ever said was this:
I press this button and it doesn't do shit, mannnn...
The context involved cynical remixes of Kraftwerk songs. (Buildup lines from others included "We are programmed just to ignore you" and "I do not know how to operate this pocket calculator.")
Yesterday's Macbeth was awesome, in the literal sense of the word. I felt a little like I did when I saw FotR in December, floored by the force of the performance.
As magid noted, it was a fairly traditional interpretation of the original, sticking closer to period than last year's "Twelfth Night" on the common with its lounge singers and redneck bikers (though I also enjoyed that a lot). However, the director did a very interesting thing by elevating the wicthes' role in a clever and indirect way, having them portray not only their usual trouble-toiling selves (which they did beautifully, cavorting barefoot through their scenes in tattered white robes and fishnets) but also playing half of the spear-carrier roles! They would remain in costume but carry themselves as befitted Messenger No. 1 or Drunken Guard No. 3, with the other characters treating them appropriately. While doing so, there was the barest hint of a suggestion that they were simultaneously still the witches, masquerading as these foils in order to stay part of the action, rather than sticking to their cave.
They also acted as the performance's musicians, playing a variety of portable percussion instruments throughout. (For the 15 minutes or so while the audience filed in and seated itself, they sat motionless in the set's niches with bored expressions, and beat a simple, repetitive drum piece, ominously.) This came to a climax during the final siege of Macbeth's castle, when their instruments became war drums, helping the actors bring things to a cinematic level (if you'll pardon the expression) as the action shifted between Macbeth and the advancing Macduff, switching between scenes as if they were camera cuts, each group storming the stage just as the other left with battle cries, back and forth until it was done. Boy.
Some people in our group had problems with the costuming, in that all the characters, despite being royalty, looked grubby as hell, swaddled in raggedy, moth-eaten clothing. I thought it looked really cool, and probably more historically accurate than sable robes or whatever would have been, but some thought it was a tad overboard. However, my favorite costume effect was the armor: a couple of pieces of articulated and buckled gray felt, covering its actor's right arm and part of his or her torso. It successfully suggested plate mail, despite being only partial, and obviously fuzzy. Very nice.
Andy noted that some confusion came about from the fact that the actors portraying Banquo and, erm, some other guy were two very similar-looking people. Once or twice I said "?!" as Banquo popped up after he died but before his ghost was supposed to appear. Oh, wait, that's not him. Never mind. (They also both happened to be female actors; many of the manly-man soldierly types were played by women, in fact. I grinned to think that this Macbeth took place in a D&D-like setting where the gender division of warriors is 50-50, but they were actually playing male characters, so it didn't quite work.)