Midsummer!
So in just 20 days I will be legal in the United States!
I just came back from the Regency Park Theater production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". It was really the perfect setting because the whole thing felt like we were right in the middle of a forest.
Click for the rest of my Midsummer Review!
The set, like the actors themselves, was incredibly physical. Three grassy slopes were used as natural slip 'n slides by at first only the fairies. Yet as the mortals enter their realm it isn't long before all are entwined in the chaotic and slippery world of romance gone wild.
It was set at the turn of the century so bloomers and corsets abounded. The lovers began in prim white dresses only to end in a messy-haired, dirt streaked bloomered mess.
Which seamlessly connected to the theme of the fairies as forces of nature. The fairies themselves are all clothed in tattered, dirty, and discarded clothing of the time. Though the fairies were easy to spot because they were all bald (with the exception of Titania and Oberon).
Yet in the fight sequence in the third act in which Hermia chases after Helena arround the stage , a fairy comes running out screaming for no apparent reason. The fairy (other than the baldness) mirrored both lovers and brought to life how much the mortals had become a part of the chaotic world of the sheer forces of chaotic and misdirected love.
Admitedly I was not a huge fan of Oberon in this production. Kind of stoic without any real character showing throughl; luckily his Titania was incredible. Impassioned in almost every action. She reminded me of Peter Pan's tinker bell in the sense that her Titania was a being which could only feel one emotion at once. When something angers her, her entire being is anger. This isn't to say she's screaming the enitre time, but the anger is there. Similarly when thinking of a happy memory, her Titania become entirely engulfed in the moment and she gives full and vibrant laughts at such thoughts.
The mechanicals were a delicious combination of timidity, awkwardness, raging wanna-be artist. Bottom towered over his tiny comrades and hammed up the role to perfection. His Pyramus was played almost as Count Dracula but it was such a non-sensical choice it worked beautifully. The Mechancial's play was as fun as ever and their bergamasque (sp?) developed into a summer festival dance that all eventually join. Not quite as bad ass as N'Sync, but fun nonetheless.
Classes are starting to involve work. Go figure; thus I leave to complete some of that now.
Also, I naturally missed our Midsummer with a passion. It also has made me think of people and things I've pushed from my thoughts for a while because its easier not to think about the difficult things.
I just came back from the Regency Park Theater production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". It was really the perfect setting because the whole thing felt like we were right in the middle of a forest.
Click for the rest of my Midsummer Review!
The set, like the actors themselves, was incredibly physical. Three grassy slopes were used as natural slip 'n slides by at first only the fairies. Yet as the mortals enter their realm it isn't long before all are entwined in the chaotic and slippery world of romance gone wild.
It was set at the turn of the century so bloomers and corsets abounded. The lovers began in prim white dresses only to end in a messy-haired, dirt streaked bloomered mess.
Which seamlessly connected to the theme of the fairies as forces of nature. The fairies themselves are all clothed in tattered, dirty, and discarded clothing of the time. Though the fairies were easy to spot because they were all bald (with the exception of Titania and Oberon).
Yet in the fight sequence in the third act in which Hermia chases after Helena arround the stage , a fairy comes running out screaming for no apparent reason. The fairy (other than the baldness) mirrored both lovers and brought to life how much the mortals had become a part of the chaotic world of the sheer forces of chaotic and misdirected love.
Admitedly I was not a huge fan of Oberon in this production. Kind of stoic without any real character showing throughl; luckily his Titania was incredible. Impassioned in almost every action. She reminded me of Peter Pan's tinker bell in the sense that her Titania was a being which could only feel one emotion at once. When something angers her, her entire being is anger. This isn't to say she's screaming the enitre time, but the anger is there. Similarly when thinking of a happy memory, her Titania become entirely engulfed in the moment and she gives full and vibrant laughts at such thoughts.
The mechanicals were a delicious combination of timidity, awkwardness, raging wanna-be artist. Bottom towered over his tiny comrades and hammed up the role to perfection. His Pyramus was played almost as Count Dracula but it was such a non-sensical choice it worked beautifully. The Mechancial's play was as fun as ever and their bergamasque (sp?) developed into a summer festival dance that all eventually join. Not quite as bad ass as N'Sync, but fun nonetheless.
Classes are starting to involve work. Go figure; thus I leave to complete some of that now.
Also, I naturally missed our Midsummer with a passion. It also has made me think of people and things I've pushed from my thoughts for a while because its easier not to think about the difficult things.