"The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr" Abridged.
As presented by Oregon Stageworks.
I will start this off by syaing that the actors were fully committed to their performance, and gave a one hundred and twenty percent performance. I was, in part, impressed with that.
The compliments dispensed, I was largely bored with the play and disappointed. For many years I had heard about this play, had been told its comedic virtue. Yet, beneath a thin veneer of clever Shakespearian cutting and wordplay, it was just a two hour pratfall. Now I do appreciate physical comedy, but I also recognize that one of the key tenets of comedy is the need for freshness. Case in point, there was a joke about George Bush vomiting in Japan. I believe that was seventeen years ago... Not so fresh.
A professor of mine told me that there is room in a play for a joke three times. The fourth time, the joke must change, it must have a different result. At that point, the joke is the unexpected twist playing off of the audience's expectation. I agreed with her then. Since that time, I have seen instances where a joke is funny because of the sheer number of times it is repeated, and then the joke is not funny, the incredulous repetition is. I also think there is only room for a joke to be done twice before requiring a different effect. Contemporary audiences are Johnny on the spot to call a joke.
All that said, the show resonated with the same jokes over and over again. My grandfather suggested we leave at the half, and had we not been sitting in the front row, I would have agreed.
I am curious, however, for the show seemed heavily based on improvisation. I would be interested to read the original script to see if the physicality is contained in the script or if that was the director's call...
Play nice.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
"36 Views"
by Naomi Iizuka
I'll say, from the start, that I am a huge fan of Ms. Iizuka. I find her plays poetic and beautiful, strange and mesmerizing. I envy her ability to create a world that doesn't feel like a play, like a theatre. Her plays are almost effortless in their way to provide a sense of reality, one that fades away at will.
This play is my least favorite of her works. I LOVED LovED loved "Polaroid Stories" and really enjoyed "Skin", but this piece didn't have the edge she normally conveys. It felt more mature, less punchy. Perhaps that's good, perhaps I'm a little immature for the world. I want Skinhead boy and contemporized mythology for a world that has lost its sense of the past. A world where Paris Hilton is considered a god and worshiped the way Aprhodite once was. It's a strange place we live in, and I need to stop this rant here...
The best part of this play was the incorporation of non-traditional elements into Occidental style theatre. In this case, it was the appropriation of kabuki techniques into the play, which, in my mind, blew me away. I love the meta-theatricality of the piece, the costume reveals, the scene changes. She does it in a beautifully artistic way, a way I imagine I'll steal in the near future... ;)
This is certainly a play worth reading, and, if you can, seeing.
by Naomi Iizuka
I'll say, from the start, that I am a huge fan of Ms. Iizuka. I find her plays poetic and beautiful, strange and mesmerizing. I envy her ability to create a world that doesn't feel like a play, like a theatre. Her plays are almost effortless in their way to provide a sense of reality, one that fades away at will.
This play is my least favorite of her works. I LOVED LovED loved "Polaroid Stories" and really enjoyed "Skin", but this piece didn't have the edge she normally conveys. It felt more mature, less punchy. Perhaps that's good, perhaps I'm a little immature for the world. I want Skinhead boy and contemporized mythology for a world that has lost its sense of the past. A world where Paris Hilton is considered a god and worshiped the way Aprhodite once was. It's a strange place we live in, and I need to stop this rant here...
The best part of this play was the incorporation of non-traditional elements into Occidental style theatre. In this case, it was the appropriation of kabuki techniques into the play, which, in my mind, blew me away. I love the meta-theatricality of the piece, the costume reveals, the scene changes. She does it in a beautifully artistic way, a way I imagine I'll steal in the near future... ;)
This is certainly a play worth reading, and, if you can, seeing.
"The Host"
I can't quite think of a film that has made me as bored as this one.
It's a shame, too, as I really had some high hopes for it. From the previews, it looked like the kind of movie I seem to like a lot, the horror comedy.
While the special effects, to be more specific, the creature effects, were stunning, there seemed to be exceedingly poor pacing and continuous incongruities within the world that had been created.
And that, my friends, brings about a topic which preys heavily on my mind, and that is the notion of reality. How far do writers need to extend the boundaries of reality, of believability? The actions of the mutated creature in "The Host" seemed to be incongruent with the manner I thought a creature should act. It just didn't make sense. I believe, if you, or me or one, is proposing a world that is NOT this one, then the world needs to abide by the rules one establishes.
The confusion, in part, comes when the two worlds, the new world and the "real" world, exist along very close lines. The ultimate moment of this comes, for me, in the movie "Resident Evil". An elite group of soldiers comes crashing through some windows, all decked out in gear and gasmasks. Right before they enter the contaminated facility, the soldiers remove their masks. Now, I understand the concept of the director wanting the audience to see the actors... But in terms of the movie, it makes no sense. Why would the soldiers remove their protective gear going into the dangerous area? It violates the reality of the film. At least to me.
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It's a shame, too, as I really had some high hopes for it. From the previews, it looked like the kind of movie I seem to like a lot, the horror comedy.
While the special effects, to be more specific, the creature effects, were stunning, there seemed to be exceedingly poor pacing and continuous incongruities within the world that had been created.
And that, my friends, brings about a topic which preys heavily on my mind, and that is the notion of reality. How far do writers need to extend the boundaries of reality, of believability? The actions of the mutated creature in "The Host" seemed to be incongruent with the manner I thought a creature should act. It just didn't make sense. I believe, if you, or me or one, is proposing a world that is NOT this one, then the world needs to abide by the rules one establishes.
The confusion, in part, comes when the two worlds, the new world and the "real" world, exist along very close lines. The ultimate moment of this comes, for me, in the movie "Resident Evil". An elite group of soldiers comes crashing through some windows, all decked out in gear and gasmasks. Right before they enter the contaminated facility, the soldiers remove their masks. Now, I understand the concept of the director wanting the audience to see the actors... But in terms of the movie, it makes no sense. Why would the soldiers remove their protective gear going into the dangerous area? It violates the reality of the film. At least to me.
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The Green Show
If you happen to find yourself in Ashland during the summer months, try and head downtown in the evening hours to catch the free entertainment presented by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
It's primarily music and dancing, usually with themes that correspond to the show going on in the Elizabethan that night.
Tonight's show was quite good. Not dead good, not smashing, not really deserving of much in the way of positive British adjectives (certainly not the top of the pops "the dog's Bullocks) but it was more often entertaining then not, and the themes in it were easily relatable to the show it was prefacing, "Taming of the Shrew." (And in a serious shout out to Spence, remember performing that play with Andrew on KUPS?)
The performance did make me think about the nature of acting in dance. There were three female dancers, and they all displayed different levels of facial involvement. One had two expressions, smiling and constipated. The blonde had a few more available, but they still seemed like they were stock images pulled from a binder or something. The final dancer was actually reacting to the events and stimuli around her, and I will admit readily, it made her absolutely shine as a dancer.
On that note, I really have to say that, the more I'm exposed to dance, the more I like it, and find myself entranced by it. I'll leave it there for now.
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It's primarily music and dancing, usually with themes that correspond to the show going on in the Elizabethan that night.
Tonight's show was quite good. Not dead good, not smashing, not really deserving of much in the way of positive British adjectives (certainly not the top of the pops "the dog's Bullocks) but it was more often entertaining then not, and the themes in it were easily relatable to the show it was prefacing, "Taming of the Shrew." (And in a serious shout out to Spence, remember performing that play with Andrew on KUPS?)
The performance did make me think about the nature of acting in dance. There were three female dancers, and they all displayed different levels of facial involvement. One had two expressions, smiling and constipated. The blonde had a few more available, but they still seemed like they were stock images pulled from a binder or something. The final dancer was actually reacting to the events and stimuli around her, and I will admit readily, it made her absolutely shine as a dancer.
On that note, I really have to say that, the more I'm exposed to dance, the more I like it, and find myself entranced by it. I'll leave it there for now.
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