A whole lotta Shakespearan goin' on
Today, pretty much my whole day was seeing The War of the Roses with angriest and lie_xin, but unfortunately not doctor_k_, who was too sick too come. miss_kittylix joined us for the second half, so at least some of doctor_k_s ticket didn't go to waste. Eight hours of Shakespeare, an attempt to condense 8 history plays into a single show. We did get a couple of intervals and a 2 hour meal break in the middle, so it wasn't too bad.
Though 8 hours of Shakespeare sounds like a lot, all 8 play in full would probably be about 24 hours of Shakespeare or so. They didn't cut equally either. The first quarter of the show was a condensed version of a single (more or less) play, Richard II, and the last quarter was the same with Richard III. In between, we got a whole lot of Henrys, the second and third quarters each being an attempt to cram 3 3 hour plays about a guy named Henry into 2 hours, so they were very condensed.
Besides being very condense, the style of all parts was very symbolic, and far from naturalistic. Plain modern dress for most characters, a lot of characters standing very still more like props than actors, and some incredible (if unsubtle) staging. We felt some of it worked, some of it didn't.
The first quarter was amazing. The curtain opened to a very static, set tableau of actors standing around at court, and virtually no one moved their feet for minutes, with Cate Blanchett in the centre as King Richard II. But the astonishing thing was the whole stage was filled with a rain of golden glitter, which went on for most of it. I thought Blanchett's performance was great, it is a solid play, and the staging and the various things they did with the glitter in particular really really worked for me. The golden rain effect was dazzling, and made a terrific metaphor for the glory of the divine kingship of Richard II.
Each quarter seemed to have its own standout staging theme, and the second quarter had a guy playing dissonant electric guitar drones through most of it. It was also filled with fluids, especially blood. But also 'sack' (cheap wine in big glass flagons), 'semen', and towards the end things like honey (for Hals bee speech) and some sort of black oily stuff. But especially lots of blood. I thought the actor who played Hal/Henry V was great (and apparently he has also created and starred in a great independent film called Jewboy), but wasn't overall as impressed as with the first quarter. Some of the staging decisions seemed like they were done a bit for shock value (I did mention the semen. There was also a scene where a female character was played by a man that seemed a bit set up for man on man kissing laughs, and otherwise seemed to only make the scene more confusing), and some of their choices of what to leave out and what to leave in where not what I would have chosen. In particular, the bulk of Henry V (the play) was reduced to a few set piece speeches in front of a curtain.
We needed a break, and a couple of beers and a quick Japanese meal was just what we needed, though we really raced to get back to the theatre in time.
The third quarter was my least favourite (though not angriests). The staging theme was flowers, and it is the full on War of the Roses part of the saga. York vs Lancaster (white roses vs red), and flowers all over the stage. The other distinct element of the staging here was that every character who died was generally covered in some flour, and a lot of fake blood. This was done in a very stylised way, often the character who killed them would take a big swig of fake blood in their mouth, and spit/spray it on their victim. And an awful lot of people died. When you condense 9 hours of plays about the Wars of the Roses into 2, it turns out what you are left with is basically a big run of death scenes, each with accompanying curses and gloating and wails of injustice etc. I found it became a bit boring after a bit. Some excellent performances, I particularly liked the woman who played Margaret of Anjou.
And lastly, Richard III (the play my old high school English Lit teacher used to refer to as 'Richard the Turd, or Dick the Shit'). This was a favourite play for most of us, and Richard is one of theatres great villains, filled with gloating and chutzpah and optimism and viciousness and single-mindedness. In a great counterpoint to the golden rain of the first quarter, there was a similar rain but of what looked like ash. And it was set in a childrens playground (there are several child characters in Richard II, and they actually had some reasonable child actors), though as the play went on the playground equipment became one by one covered in great grey drop-cloths that turned them into sort of looming grey barriers closing in. They also had a lot of the dead characters (including those killed by Richard at the end of the previous play) stay on stage, so the stage had a tendency to become a bit clogged with bodies. I really enjoyed this part of the show. They overplayed Richard a bit here and there, but mostly the very over the top Richard really worked, filling the quiet grim play with his deranged manic energy.
Anyway, big day, great theatrical experience, glad I went.
Though 8 hours of Shakespeare sounds like a lot, all 8 play in full would probably be about 24 hours of Shakespeare or so. They didn't cut equally either. The first quarter of the show was a condensed version of a single (more or less) play, Richard II, and the last quarter was the same with Richard III. In between, we got a whole lot of Henrys, the second and third quarters each being an attempt to cram 3 3 hour plays about a guy named Henry into 2 hours, so they were very condensed.
Besides being very condense, the style of all parts was very symbolic, and far from naturalistic. Plain modern dress for most characters, a lot of characters standing very still more like props than actors, and some incredible (if unsubtle) staging. We felt some of it worked, some of it didn't.
The first quarter was amazing. The curtain opened to a very static, set tableau of actors standing around at court, and virtually no one moved their feet for minutes, with Cate Blanchett in the centre as King Richard II. But the astonishing thing was the whole stage was filled with a rain of golden glitter, which went on for most of it. I thought Blanchett's performance was great, it is a solid play, and the staging and the various things they did with the glitter in particular really really worked for me. The golden rain effect was dazzling, and made a terrific metaphor for the glory of the divine kingship of Richard II.
Each quarter seemed to have its own standout staging theme, and the second quarter had a guy playing dissonant electric guitar drones through most of it. It was also filled with fluids, especially blood. But also 'sack' (cheap wine in big glass flagons), 'semen', and towards the end things like honey (for Hals bee speech) and some sort of black oily stuff. But especially lots of blood. I thought the actor who played Hal/Henry V was great (and apparently he has also created and starred in a great independent film called Jewboy), but wasn't overall as impressed as with the first quarter. Some of the staging decisions seemed like they were done a bit for shock value (I did mention the semen. There was also a scene where a female character was played by a man that seemed a bit set up for man on man kissing laughs, and otherwise seemed to only make the scene more confusing), and some of their choices of what to leave out and what to leave in where not what I would have chosen. In particular, the bulk of Henry V (the play) was reduced to a few set piece speeches in front of a curtain.
We needed a break, and a couple of beers and a quick Japanese meal was just what we needed, though we really raced to get back to the theatre in time.
The third quarter was my least favourite (though not angriests). The staging theme was flowers, and it is the full on War of the Roses part of the saga. York vs Lancaster (white roses vs red), and flowers all over the stage. The other distinct element of the staging here was that every character who died was generally covered in some flour, and a lot of fake blood. This was done in a very stylised way, often the character who killed them would take a big swig of fake blood in their mouth, and spit/spray it on their victim. And an awful lot of people died. When you condense 9 hours of plays about the Wars of the Roses into 2, it turns out what you are left with is basically a big run of death scenes, each with accompanying curses and gloating and wails of injustice etc. I found it became a bit boring after a bit. Some excellent performances, I particularly liked the woman who played Margaret of Anjou.
And lastly, Richard III (the play my old high school English Lit teacher used to refer to as 'Richard the Turd, or Dick the Shit'). This was a favourite play for most of us, and Richard is one of theatres great villains, filled with gloating and chutzpah and optimism and viciousness and single-mindedness. In a great counterpoint to the golden rain of the first quarter, there was a similar rain but of what looked like ash. And it was set in a childrens playground (there are several child characters in Richard II, and they actually had some reasonable child actors), though as the play went on the playground equipment became one by one covered in great grey drop-cloths that turned them into sort of looming grey barriers closing in. They also had a lot of the dead characters (including those killed by Richard at the end of the previous play) stay on stage, so the stage had a tendency to become a bit clogged with bodies. I really enjoyed this part of the show. They overplayed Richard a bit here and there, but mostly the very over the top Richard really worked, filling the quiet grim play with his deranged manic energy.
Anyway, big day, great theatrical experience, glad I went.