What you will
I've been watching plays and shows in the past couple of months; I've just been lazy about writing about them. Let me bring you up to speed.
Turn of the Screw: This adaptation of Henry James' ghost story only used two actors: a woman playing the governess and a man playing all of the other characters. This was great for comedic purposes--there's something funny about watching a twenty-something woman bossing around a twenty-something man pretending to be a fifty-something woman--and it underlined a theme of the play, the corruption of the innocence. When the man, acting like a 9 year old possessed by a lecherous ghost, kisses the woman full on it is disturbing, yet arousing to the audience and to the character of the governess.
The play was one of the most frightening things I've seen in recent memory and I loved it.
Hamlet: Hamlet is dangerous. In the wrong hands, it can be deathly boring as Hamlet contains two of Shakespeare's most verbose characters; it is easy to drown in Hamlet and Polonius' words words words. However, in the right hands, hands that can bring out the range of human emotions in the play (rage, sorrow, even humor, be it dark), Hamlet is excellent. Fortunately, I was in good hands.
Twelfth Night: This play is a silly good time. I half-wish that Shakespeare had further explored the interesting gender issues he raised (the main character is a woman who pretends to be a man) though that might have taken the play in a less silly direction. Then again, the Malvolio subplot could have been trimmed as the prank drifted from funny to downright cruel towards the end.
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change: This is the only non-Cincinnati Shakespeare Company show I've seen recently. I caught this one at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park with friends for one of their birthdays. I wasn't expecting too much, but it was a surprisingly good time. The play is a series of short acts peering in on various men and women (all played by two men and two women) at different times in life and love. It was consistently entertaining and surprising affecting in parts, such as a elderly man looking at his wife over morning coffee and singing about how much he still loves her and a woman declaring in song that deserves to be loved and have happiness in her life.
Turn of the Screw: This adaptation of Henry James' ghost story only used two actors: a woman playing the governess and a man playing all of the other characters. This was great for comedic purposes--there's something funny about watching a twenty-something woman bossing around a twenty-something man pretending to be a fifty-something woman--and it underlined a theme of the play, the corruption of the innocence. When the man, acting like a 9 year old possessed by a lecherous ghost, kisses the woman full on it is disturbing, yet arousing to the audience and to the character of the governess.
The play was one of the most frightening things I've seen in recent memory and I loved it.
Hamlet: Hamlet is dangerous. In the wrong hands, it can be deathly boring as Hamlet contains two of Shakespeare's most verbose characters; it is easy to drown in Hamlet and Polonius' words words words. However, in the right hands, hands that can bring out the range of human emotions in the play (rage, sorrow, even humor, be it dark), Hamlet is excellent. Fortunately, I was in good hands.
Twelfth Night: This play is a silly good time. I half-wish that Shakespeare had further explored the interesting gender issues he raised (the main character is a woman who pretends to be a man) though that might have taken the play in a less silly direction. Then again, the Malvolio subplot could have been trimmed as the prank drifted from funny to downright cruel towards the end.
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change: This is the only non-Cincinnati Shakespeare Company show I've seen recently. I caught this one at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park with friends for one of their birthdays. I wasn't expecting too much, but it was a surprisingly good time. The play is a series of short acts peering in on various men and women (all played by two men and two women) at different times in life and love. It was consistently entertaining and surprising affecting in parts, such as a elderly man looking at his wife over morning coffee and singing about how much he still loves her and a woman declaring in song that deserves to be loved and have happiness in her life.