Across Weirdish Wild Space

I don’t know what it is, but ever since seeing Macbeth with Patrick Stewart, my expectations of what I deserve to see when I go to see Shakespeare have been radically altered (yes, Jean-Luc starring in the direction in that play was that good ).

It’s not enough that someone throws a few interesting stage directions, or in this case a third dimension, to the production by putting Cirque du Soleil-esque netting overhead and allowing people to bounce down with bungees from overhead. There has to be an internal consistency to the play, an addition of something not seen before, a compelling take on its direction.

First off, though, the lead was absolutely fantastic even if he did have to spend the entire post-intermission running around in his undewear. And despite the addition of scatological farce after the intermission (and I did really love the way the intermission happened, with people being herded out, with the house livery screaming at them), he did an astounding job as Timon. Apemantus is also surprisingly good in his role as gadfly and critic of Timon and his Fool like ways.

And Timon is interesting for a lot of reasons. It’s one of Bill’s problem plays, plays that his most serious scholars have difficulty reconciling with the rest of his works. It’s darkness suggests it being written around the time of Lear, but there is no record of it ever being performed. And in fact, some doubt that the bard wrote it at all. It is, nevertheless, an interesting, dark and satirical take on the subject of a man who gives away all to his friends and is denied by them in his time of need and becomes a misanthrope because of it.

But overall, the entire production, really seemed designed more for critics’ enjoyment than the audience, and the experimental takes on different parts of the play (the ersatz vultures, for instance) just kinda fell flat for me overall.

Still, worth it for the excellent lead and Apemanus and as always, good to see one of Bill’s irregularly performed plays showing the round wooden ‘O’ in any case.

Professional theatre critics are already hailing this as one of the best productions of Macbeth ever, so I won’t waste time gushing with superlatives here, but it is quite simply, not just the best production of Macbeth I’ve ever seen, but the best Shakespearean play I’ve ever seen, period. It rocks. Just pony up the money for the best tickets that won’t break you, splurge on this, and go… You won’t be sorry.

Rupert Goold’s production is extraordinary. Everything Bill was trying to evoke with this play; the hesitancy, compulsion and attraction of the will to power, the horror of the supernatural, regicide and being outside of the natural order and questions about being fated to fall yet free to choose are all almost perfectly illustrated in this take on the play which is the freshest interpretation of Shakespeare I’ve seen in a long, long time.

While I had originally questioned the idea of a Russian, and obviously Stalinist setting for the play, the starkness and minimalism it allows the set to get away with and the fact it actually amplifies the emphasis of the play and fits so amazingly well with the dominant themes of tyranny and leadership really makes me think it was a brilliant directorial call. It evokes this creepily dystopian 1984 that seems at once both alien and disturbingly comfortable on Orwell’s home turf. Though occasionally sounding a bit strange when someone says they’re off to Fife or London when it feels like you should be hearing St. Petersburg, it really works.

Another thing which I have to say, not only sorts well with our proximity to Halloween, but something that never came off for me in any other film or stage production of Macbeth is the sheer creepiness and inherent supernatural horror of the play. Here it is totally nailed. I actually had goosebumps at parts of the play and the emphasis here on it, I think, is one of the reasons the play is being raved over.

The Weird Sisters are omnipresent throughout the play as part of the household retinue and lend that air of supernatural foreboding that I think adds so much to this production of the play. So too, Banquo’s ghost is handled masterfully and creatively which I’ve always felt is one of the hardest scenes in the entire play to pull off, especially when you know it’s coming… Here, it creeps you the hell out. As well as the way it is used to reflect the mental torment of the king (not to mention the sheer style is takes to put the intermission there), it is a masterstroke of artistic direction.

There are so many new ideas thrown into the traditional interpretation of Macbeth here, while still maintaining an absolute fidelity to its core, that I just can’t help but be awed by its brilliance. All of it works and all of it contributes a freshness to the play that really is a new line drawn in the sand for other Shakespearean productions to attempt to match, let alone exceed.

The performances are simply amazing throughout the entire cast. Patrick Stewart as Macbeth is incredible in being both murderous and yet human and delivers his soliloquies with conviction and force (and getting him is a masterstroke of marketing). Lady Macbeth is also pretty amazing with the tension between who wears the pants in the family alternating between the first acts and the later with her exhortations early on giving way to her somnambulating hand washing and the chasm that grows between her and her husband. Banquo and particularly Macduff also completely knock it out of the park as well.

This production epitomizes why London’s West End is the spiritual and intellectual heart of the world’s theatre community and it is my fervent hope we see a lot more productions of this character, quality, style and thought there in the future.

In high school, I was a victim of a sweeping wave of political correctness that spread over middle Canada. Cloaked as concern, prudish, naked and paternalistic conservatism did things like prevent The Merchant of Venice from being taught in school due to its anti-Semetic and rascist overtones.

As such, I had never read or seen the play performed until tonight, and so it was kind of strange, considering I also took Shakespeare for a year in Uni.

The strange thing about the Globe’s production, as excellent as it is for stage production, acting and sheer enjoyability, is that the central tension of Merchant and something every director needs to come to grips with is this : You need to make a call on Shylock.

Somehow, The Globe this season manages to avoid this. Comedic emphasis and elevation of the minor plots and consequences around the central plot seem to almost take precedence over it, and while it makes Merchant a much less darker and frankly more fun play, you leave the production feeling a little unfulfilled because of it.

Perhaps that’s what the Director was aiming for… that in a modern world of systemic racism and we have bread and circuses to keep us entertained that perhaps racism is all the worse for still being present, but unresolved and going virtually unnoticed, despite its distastefulness and effects. I’d like to think that… that would be almost sublime. But for some reason it never comes across like that. Shylock, while well played, lacks a decision and the play seems poorer for it despite being an excellent evening out. Should the Merchant even be fun ?

The sad fact is, I’m poorly positioned to critique. Having not read it in my academic days, I’m going to have to go back and pore over it myself before deciding if it’s a harsh critique or not.

Still, well worth the ticket price and still one of the best values in London for the theatre.

Intellectual and cultural stimulation was a big reason behind the move to London. Even so, I’ve been very good at avoiding the West End since I arrived. Perhaps it’s the slew of musicals that seems to infest the place and barely worthy above reality TV (my favourite object of scorn right now, a “Lords of the Rings” musical… um, yah… ).

That changed last night when a friend asked me to go see The Woman in Black, a Victorian ghost story. I have to admit I was kind of expecting it to be a little bit camp as I really wondered how scary a play could actually be. Still, it’s run for 28 years and been seen around the world, so off I went.

The simple answer is : really freaking scary.

Considering I’ve just seen a bunch of lost-in-the-woods/slasher/gore horror films, I was actually shocked at how genuinely this play made me (literally) jump in my seat and the fact that it did, rather sadly, give me goosebumps in places. It uses simple, old-fashioned eerie creepiness, sound effects and sense of place to weave a believable Ringu-esque tale of eldritch haunting.

So, definitely recommended if you want to up the class on an evening. Was great fun and well worth the ticket prices.

Bourne’s Swan Lake has met with rave reviews for nearly 10 years since it was launched in London nearly a decade ago because of his decision to cast men as the dancers instead of the traditionally female swans and change the story from the sorcerer who curses Odette to be a woman by night and swan by day.

Launched here in London back in 1995, it is deeply English with its obvious allusions to the Royals, their imagined life and scandals and the pressures of being the honorific for the nation complete with paparazzi flashbulbing their every shortcoming.

Pretty obviously, the elements of homosexuality and unfulfilled, doomed or unrequited love throughout the production are very strong and expressed pretty powerfully through the relationship of the King of the Swans and the Prince as well as with his relationship with the Queen Mother, but handled amazingly sensitively considering the variety of the audience they need to play to, not a few of which are Royalists of the first degree. Oh, and the costuming has to be amongst some of the best I’ve ever seen in a contemporary ballet production as well (not that I’ve seen that many.. )

The dancing was deeply impressive and expressive and it’s well worth the tickets if you can get them.

And yes, it is a lot of fun saying you can’t stick around for the late meeting because (best said with a poshy English accent) “I have tickets for the ballet… ”... :-)

Very strong performances by the women, particularly Paulina, Antigonus’ wife…

Interestingly, one of the volunteers at the Bard told me this bit of trivia which I’m not sure if it’s true, but is charming nonetheless. Apparently, the only piece of stage direction that Shakespeare ever provided in his plays was in The Winter’s Tale when Antigonus, urged on by the king under pain of death to save the child, abandons the king’s rightful daughter in Bohemia, and at the end of his siloloquay.

Act III, scene iii. Exit, pursued by a bear.

Personally, I was a little disappointed no real bear took out Antigonus. Considering how many we have around here, I’m sure they could have been a little more creative. We are on the west coast after all. bears abound. And they did a fantastic job with the lightning effects which actually made you jump when they went off.

I’m constantly shocked at how good the BotB has been. A Winter’s Tale despite the problems it presents manages to hold its own in the quartet of plays.

I have to admit I was looking forward to seeing this. Troilus and Cressida is hardly ever produced, I had never read it in any of the Shakespearean classes I’d taken and it is widely considered one of Shakespeare’s most problematic plays. In fact, for over a century it was never performed at all.

The Studio Stage has an interesting rendition as they’ve chosen a civil war period to stage the production on a thrust stage. The Southern accents took a little getting used to (in fact, I heard a snooty British couple seated next to us complain on the way out at intermission) and it was a bit of a stretch (even for me who I think is a little more informed about the Iliad than most) to keep all the characters straight but the play really does manage to come off.

The interesting (and problematic) part of the play is that Shakespeare chose a medieval story about two lovers torn asunder by a prisoner exchange and then having the woman turn to the arms of one of her captors and put it alongside the political machinations and stalemated battle of Troy and all the characters therein. Depending on who you ask it is a tale of thwarted ambitions but for me, the far more interesting thing is the situation where two nations are entrenched in a war where the sides remember why it started but both are fighting for the symbolic resemblance of the original transgression and slogging it out even though the real point of the war is long past contention.

The really interesting part is how the war is driven by the personalities of those involved and even the petty lowly machinations of each side in trying to gain a slightly upper hand. Ulysses for instance, comes off as a petty ,vile, Machiavellian schemer in this play. Manipulating Ajax to shame Achilles into taking the field to fight for the Greeks.

A particularly poignant play considering the current situation in Iraq (WMDs anyone ?) at the moment.

OK, I take it all back. Yes, I kvetched about the fact I would be seeing, yet another rendition of AMND. I’ve seen it 5 times (I think). This would be the sixth.

This version was by far the best I’ve ever seen. Besides the strong comedic performances (Puck and Bottom were absolutely top notch and Helena and Oberon were extremely strong also), the added direction and updating with music and the great occasional riff “beats” really made the play. And not just in the polite, “laugh because it’s Shakespeare and clever” kind of way. The play was really funny. Seriously, laugh out loud funny (um… I may have even snorted, I was laughing so hard).

Have to hand it to BotB, they’ve really pulled off a serious coup on this one. And I liked it enough that I’m going to see all the other plays, not just Troilus and Cressida as I’d originally planned.

One small criticism though… the Mainstage actually opens onto this great backdrop tot he mountains in the distance behind the players. While really, really nice, when the bright sun started to set, it made the lighting on the stage a bit problematic (at least for me). However, considering how little sunshine we’ve had so far this summer, probably not something they need to bother themselves about.

If you’re thinking about going and reading this, buy them. You won’t be disappointed.