And back to normalcy.
Cabaret vs. The Cure at Troy, a modern adaptation of Sophocles' Philoctetes. This weekend I got to watch a musical about sex in Nazi Germany and a play about a soldier with a stinky foot. For all intents and purposes, The Cure at Troy should've been awesome-- local theatre, actors I know, a story I had to read for class last year, and one of the most elaborately beautiful sets I've seen in ages. I've spent the last two days wondering how you build a hill, complete with cave, out of loose stones on a slanted stage. Unfortunately, Troy was pretty miserable-- Hans Altwies was great to see again, as always, although I don't think he really got Odysseus quite right-- a little too brusque, a little too angry, a little too much of a commandant. If I hadn't known who he was cast as, I would've thought that he was Menelaus or one of the Atreidae. Neoptolemus was not badly acted, because he did carry the story well, but he was one of those characters that you just sort of want to smack upside the head. And Philoctetes... um. There's more to acting than yelling and throwing yourself on the ground, dude, even if that is all the character does.
Also, they stole the fucking deus ex machina! Hercules was supposed to pop out of the volcano and start doling out heavenly orders at the end, and instead the chorus just showed up and quoted him. Instead of a literal god out of a machine, I got a half-assed "HERCULES SAYS GO TO TROY, BITCH" and Philoctetes did. Where was my incredibly cheesy god popping out of nowhere? I wanted that, dammit!
The rest of my daily life has been low-key if frustrating (why would you schedule an exam for today and tell your students when they're scheduled to take it that you've decided to give on Wednesday instead?). I've been keeping myself busy as much as possible: we're painting my room yellow, I'm prepping a new LJ, I'm jobhunting and working on the bass a bit (I've progressed to the point where I've got the finger strength and the agility to play it, I just don't know how to use it musically yet). And I suppose one knows they have weird hobbies when they're linked on the Wikipedia cannibals list and are able to say "I know all of this already!"
Also, they stole the fucking deus ex machina! Hercules was supposed to pop out of the volcano and start doling out heavenly orders at the end, and instead the chorus just showed up and quoted him. Instead of a literal god out of a machine, I got a half-assed "HERCULES SAYS GO TO TROY, BITCH" and Philoctetes did. Where was my incredibly cheesy god popping out of nowhere? I wanted that, dammit!
The rest of my daily life has been low-key if frustrating (why would you schedule an exam for today and tell your students when they're scheduled to take it that you've decided to give on Wednesday instead?). I've been keeping myself busy as much as possible: we're painting my room yellow, I'm prepping a new LJ, I'm jobhunting and working on the bass a bit (I've progressed to the point where I've got the finger strength and the agility to play it, I just don't know how to use it musically yet). And I suppose one knows they have weird hobbies when they're linked on the Wikipedia cannibals list and are able to say "I know all of this already!"