(no subject)
Went to see National Theater Live screening of Danny Boyle's Frankenstein with a bunch of friends from East Bay. B.C. played the Creature, Johnny Lee Miller -- the Creator (Dr. Fr). The production itself was glorious -- the magical lighting, the stage which, with minimal props, was on fire and submerged in water, and dark, and light, and scrappy and lyrical. Steam-punky tinge, and straight-out period costumes. Scary and sublime. BC's performance -- very physically demanding, yet very nuanced -- was mesmerizing. Those fingers in a canvas egg; leg and hand twitches; inverted palms; mouth gestures. He vaguely reminded me of my grandfather who was born with Cerebral palsy (ДЦП), and of several severely autistic children I've met. His cadence was perfect, his movements -- without a single false note. Not sure how one rehearses that. BC inhibited that role, he was that misshapen, forsaken, horrible creature.
Truth be told, I am plain envious of that man -- raw talent, raw dedication, work ethic, artistic genius applied to the max -- he is my age! Yeah. Those 10000 hrs weren't wasted.
JLM played a rather flat, shrill, hysterical Creator. Other characters in the play were a bit carboardish, esp. women -- but the text --
love, longing, loneliness, absolute, absurd conviction that there's someone out there just like me, just for me -- and I have a right to that someone -- and the drumming on parental responsibility and parental love and hate -- and life in pursuit of love that's driven by hate and monstrosity -- and also a meditation on brilliance and brilliant reasoning and familiarity with morality and yet complete bestiality in the same human (human?) form --
that was something.
*
mind-boggling that after this ... wrecking performance of an ugly beast, right after, right after (a week later), he went on to play this --
