I Hate Theatre

[Gaendaal]

Do we have a theatre (or theater, if you prefer) thread? I had a search but couldn't find anything...

Rather than talking about specific writers or directors, I thought it might be fun to have a 'now watching' style thread to talk about plays (in a loose sense) that people have seen recently.

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I saw the National Theatre's experiment in broadcast theatre last night, where their production of Racine's 'Phèdre' (in Ted Hughes' translation) was transmitted live from London to 150 cinemas around the world. I imagine that there was a large sigh of relief from everyone involved when the pretty hefty technical endeavour came off successfully!

The play itself was immediately striking - a starkly divided stage, half swathed in shadow and half sizzling under the Mediterranean sun, and this division is mirrored by the themes throughout the play as hidden desires are exposed to the often horrified gaze of loved (and hated) ones.

However, this split is also evident in the players' ability. Helen Mirren is excellent in the title role and exudes deranged emotion from every pore, her dance along the edge of reason and insanity absolutely harrowing. Dominic Cooper is a pouty but effective Hippolytus, quick to burst into frustrated anger that dominates the stage. For me, though, the babbling Oenone (Margaret Tyzack) felt like she'd stepped from a Miss Marple novel rather than the well-meaning yet unintentional bringer of doom that she should be and Stanley Townsend's Theseus stomps around the stage, bellowing as if he's been possessed by his own most famous victim, but it all feels a bit hammy, frankly, especially against the subtle effectiveness of Helen Mirren (looking like Bill Bailey channeling Brian Blessed didn't help, I'm afraid).

For me, the emotional turmoil of Phèdre herself is by far the most effective element of the play. Her monologues are involving and show a deeply layered character whereas the others become somewhat droning, almost unnecessary, at times. The reality of the character is, for me, also contrasted by the absurdity of the play as a whole (at least to my jaded eye), with all the switchbacks and recourse to invisible powers (and, of course, the denial of personal responsibility) every Greek tale should have.

I enjoyed the play, ultimately, but many of the problems I have with it come down to my opinion of classical tragedy as a whole. Unless played pitch-perfect, the inevitability of destiny for the characters can make them feel as if they're running on rails and making pre-planned, unrealistic pronouncements.

On the technical aspects of the endeavour, I thought it worked well. Watching a play on a screen isn't as new an experience as it's been touted but the logistics of making sure the cameras reflect the action without dictating audience attention worked well, I thought. A few too many close-ups, perhaps, but that's understandable.

I'd be interested to see how the Australian viewers felt, watching a play first thing in the morning!

(As an aside, should this be in a different section? I wasn't sure whether the I Hate Reviews section should be just for music or even whether this is an actual review thread...?)

[Gaendaal]

Well, seems like no-one goes to the theatre...

I managed to catch tickets to the Edinburgh International Festival's flagship performance of Faust, directed by Silviu Purcarete and performed entirely in Romanian, and fully admit to being captivated from start to finish.



'Freely adapted', as the company say, from Goethe's original it's hard to talk about the scale of this production without making it sound overblown and weighty, which it most certainly isn't, as it incoporates elements of physical theatre, startling stage design, circus acrobatics and (*ahem*) fork-lift truck driving...

Opening with Ofelia Popii's impish and androgynous Mephistopheles croaking out a wager with his/her boss before progressing through Faust's infatuation with Gretchen (made disturbingly paedophilic in this version), his descent into Hell and the eventual culmination of both their destinies the play rarely pauses for breath. The hundred strong cast allows for both individual characters and broad-brush choruses to be fully realised, especially in the play's defining break through theatrical confines (which is impossible to talk about with ruining the surprise), but never swamps the superb performances by Popii (whose vocal capabilities left me speechless) or Ilie Gheorghe's aging Faust. The staggeringly kinetic set design only adds to this, allowing a sense of dusty, academic dislocation along with a handful of genuinely oppresive scenes that pierce the dreamlike nature of much of the play.

It's rare for a story as well-known as Faust to be re-invigorated in such a fashion but I think this has been more than achieved here. I'd put this on a par with possibly my favourite theatre experience, Sean Mathias' production of Waiting For Godot with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, although for different reasons. Outstanding.

[walto]

Saw 23-year old playwright's "Dry Land" the other day. Harrowing and somewhat graphic play about a DIY abortion on a high school locker room floor. Well acted.

Here's a review from the Globe:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theate ... story.html

And here's something about the playwright:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theate ... story.html

Next week, we'll see Winnie Holzman's new play, "Choice." Holzman wrote the book for the musical "Wicked" with Steven Schwartz and was the main writer for the TV series "My So-Called Life."

Here's something on that:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theate ... story.html

[walto]

Really liked Choice, the Holzman play, which was ALSO ABOUT ABORTION. (WTF?) Very witty, moving, and well acted, especially by Madeline Wise who I'm pretty sure I've seen before in something, but I'm not picking up what from her IMDB page.



Not blonde in this, though.

[Steve Minkin]

Saw the 2015 Broadway production of The King and I in San Francisco today, at the old Golden Gate Theater. Wonderful! Fabulous sets, voices, production. This was my first stage role, maybe 1954, summer camp, I played the crown prince. Know the show by heart, although the stage version contains a song that wasn't in the film and I'd never heard before, "Western People Funny." Quick funky dinner at an open air bazaar/ bar/set of restaurants on Market Street http://www.thehallsf.com/#about

and an easier than expected commute back north, all made for a great date!

[walto]

We went to a Moth storytelling "grand slam" about a week ago. A lot of NPRish politically correct stories about overcoming sexual assaults or racism, but two stories by semi-celebrities were good and not so predictable. One was by Richard Dreyfuss's daughter, the other (and best one) was by NYer funny person and novelist Kate Greathead.

[Steve Minkin]

Very entertaining and stimulating show at The Luther Burbank center with Radiolab's Jad Abumrad and avant-garde cellist Zoe Keating. Wide ranging discussion covering, among other things, Stuart Kauffman's 'Adjacent Possible' (been pushing the idea for a year), probability theory and creativity (very interesting!), Wagner's leitmotifs, the shape of other NPR shows, which animals see the best rainbows (the mantis shrimp), etc.





Zoe's "Sun Will Set" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfdPtNf7c4Y

[Piano Mouth]

bump

Who knew I would end up writing scripts for plays for high school aged kids to perform about Chinese fables. I'm going to need some recommendations on some brilliant plays with heavy dialogue. I read Phaedre over the weekend and thought that was good.