Shakespearean Geekery
Feb. 6th, 2011 12:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedPart, the First
It's been a hectic week, what with (unspectacular) snow days and the usual work craziness. But Thursday I took the time to attend my first National Theatre Live screening. They were broadcasting a Donmar production of King Lear starring Derek Jacobi, and since I could afford neither the time nor the money for a trip to London or New York to see the production (though the NYC dates were tempting) this was my one chance to see it.
I've never really liked Lear. I've seen a few productions--with John Wood, Nigel Hawthorne and Christopher Plummer as Lear--but the best of them struck me as no more than all right, and the worst (John Wood's) just came across as silly. (The director for the Wood's production had chosen to place a giant, spinning, open-ended box in the centre of the stage, a bit of design that I'm sure was meant to be significant, but mostly seemed infuriatingly dumb.) So, I came to Jacobi's Lear hopeful, but wary.
It was utterly fantastic.
In part, I'm sure it's just because I'm older and the play has more resonance for me now. I've seen my father begin to succumb to cognitive problems, and then lost him. I have multiple friends dealing with failing parents. The problems of aging and mortality are far more real than when I saw it for the first time at the age of twenty. (Much as one is not supposed to like them, I even had some empathy, if not sympathy, for Regan and Goneril.)
But more than that, this was the sort of production I adore: stripped down staging, clear verse speaking, and emotional depth. The stage was bare, and the stage, backdrop and surrounding walls were made up of white, mottled wood. During the storm scene, the lighting was dimmed and lighting was visible through the boards of the floor and backdrop, an eerie and effective technique.
Jacobi was of course fantastic. His rages against Cordelia, and then his less than kind daughters were epic, and his reunion with Cordelia at the end was touching in the extreme. It actually made me cry, which is a difficult thing for a Shakespeare production to do. But the best scene, I think, was the mad scene on the heath. That scene tends to bring out the worst shouty tendencies in a lot of actors, but for this production both actor and director went in the opposite direction. When Lear spoke his lines, the lighting would freeze, the sounds of the storm would fade, and Jacobi would whisper his lines. It gave the effect of hearing the troubled thoughts of a man on the breaking point.
Lear's still never going to be my favourite Shakespeare, but this production has definitely turned my opinion on it.
Here's the poster for the production:
And there's a lovely interview with Jacobi on the Guardian's website here.
Part, the Second
The other morning, the sweetie nearly did me in.
Sweetie: You know Ralph Fiennes is doing a film of Coriolanus, right?
Me: What!?
Those of you who know me well, probably know that Coriolanus is one of my favourite plays by Shakespeare, right up there with Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry V. (Yes, I like my Shakespeare rather on the martial side.) So the news that Mr. Fiennes, for whom I've been accumulating a lot of respect in the last few years, was doing a film version is, shall we say, relevant to my interests.
But the Sweetie didn't stop there.
Sweetie: I think Gerard Butler is in it, too.
Me: ::emits high pitched, eardrum-piercing squeal:: ::stops and catches breath:: Is he playing Tullus Aufidius? He's got to be playing Tullus Aufidius.
As it turns out, Mr. Butler is playing Tullus Aufidius, enemy, and slashy foil, to Fiennes' Caius Martius Coriolanus. And there's more casting goodness: Brian Cox is playing Menenius, Coriolanus' friend and mentor, and Vanessa Redgrave is playing Volumnia, Coriolanus' war-mongering mother. (For the record, it's not that I think Mr. Butler is the best actor ever. But he's very easy on the eyes, and the sort of brutish performance he mustered in a visually pleasing bit of tosh like 300 bodes very well for his Tullus Aufidius.)
The good news (for me) doesn't end there. Fiennes has updated the story to the modern age, setting it all in an Iraq/Afghanistan sort of conflict. I have a real fondness for modern day productions of Shakespeare, and this looks to be a really interesting fit of story and setting.
The film is set to premiere at the Berlin film fest, and I'm hoping it plays Toronto. Soonish.
In the meantime, have a few pics:
Tullus Aufidius looks skeptically at Caius Martius.
Tullus Aufidius faces down Caius Martius in a knife fight. Is it wrong that the thought of two guys knife fighting strikes me as totally hot?
Fiennes directing Butler.
Can. Not. Wait.
It's been a hectic week, what with (unspectacular) snow days and the usual work craziness. But Thursday I took the time to attend my first National Theatre Live screening. They were broadcasting a Donmar production of King Lear starring Derek Jacobi, and since I could afford neither the time nor the money for a trip to London or New York to see the production (though the NYC dates were tempting) this was my one chance to see it.
I've never really liked Lear. I've seen a few productions--with John Wood, Nigel Hawthorne and Christopher Plummer as Lear--but the best of them struck me as no more than all right, and the worst (John Wood's) just came across as silly. (The director for the Wood's production had chosen to place a giant, spinning, open-ended box in the centre of the stage, a bit of design that I'm sure was meant to be significant, but mostly seemed infuriatingly dumb.) So, I came to Jacobi's Lear hopeful, but wary.
It was utterly fantastic.
In part, I'm sure it's just because I'm older and the play has more resonance for me now. I've seen my father begin to succumb to cognitive problems, and then lost him. I have multiple friends dealing with failing parents. The problems of aging and mortality are far more real than when I saw it for the first time at the age of twenty. (Much as one is not supposed to like them, I even had some empathy, if not sympathy, for Regan and Goneril.)
But more than that, this was the sort of production I adore: stripped down staging, clear verse speaking, and emotional depth. The stage was bare, and the stage, backdrop and surrounding walls were made up of white, mottled wood. During the storm scene, the lighting was dimmed and lighting was visible through the boards of the floor and backdrop, an eerie and effective technique.
Jacobi was of course fantastic. His rages against Cordelia, and then his less than kind daughters were epic, and his reunion with Cordelia at the end was touching in the extreme. It actually made me cry, which is a difficult thing for a Shakespeare production to do. But the best scene, I think, was the mad scene on the heath. That scene tends to bring out the worst shouty tendencies in a lot of actors, but for this production both actor and director went in the opposite direction. When Lear spoke his lines, the lighting would freeze, the sounds of the storm would fade, and Jacobi would whisper his lines. It gave the effect of hearing the troubled thoughts of a man on the breaking point.
Lear's still never going to be my favourite Shakespeare, but this production has definitely turned my opinion on it.
Here's the poster for the production:
And there's a lovely interview with Jacobi on the Guardian's website here.
Part, the Second
The other morning, the sweetie nearly did me in.
Sweetie: You know Ralph Fiennes is doing a film of Coriolanus, right?
Me: What!?
Those of you who know me well, probably know that Coriolanus is one of my favourite plays by Shakespeare, right up there with Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry V. (Yes, I like my Shakespeare rather on the martial side.) So the news that Mr. Fiennes, for whom I've been accumulating a lot of respect in the last few years, was doing a film version is, shall we say, relevant to my interests.
But the Sweetie didn't stop there.
Sweetie: I think Gerard Butler is in it, too.
Me: ::emits high pitched, eardrum-piercing squeal:: ::stops and catches breath:: Is he playing Tullus Aufidius? He's got to be playing Tullus Aufidius.
As it turns out, Mr. Butler is playing Tullus Aufidius, enemy, and slashy foil, to Fiennes' Caius Martius Coriolanus. And there's more casting goodness: Brian Cox is playing Menenius, Coriolanus' friend and mentor, and Vanessa Redgrave is playing Volumnia, Coriolanus' war-mongering mother. (For the record, it's not that I think Mr. Butler is the best actor ever. But he's very easy on the eyes, and the sort of brutish performance he mustered in a visually pleasing bit of tosh like 300 bodes very well for his Tullus Aufidius.)
The good news (for me) doesn't end there. Fiennes has updated the story to the modern age, setting it all in an Iraq/Afghanistan sort of conflict. I have a real fondness for modern day productions of Shakespeare, and this looks to be a really interesting fit of story and setting.
The film is set to premiere at the Berlin film fest, and I'm hoping it plays Toronto. Soonish.
In the meantime, have a few pics:
Tullus Aufidius looks skeptically at Caius Martius.
Tullus Aufidius faces down Caius Martius in a knife fight. Is it wrong that the thought of two guys knife fighting strikes me as totally hot?
Fiennes directing Butler.
Can. Not. Wait.
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 01:50 pm (UTC)I'm not a big Lear fan but I admit your description and my like of Jacobi would send me to the theatre too. The set sounds like something I'd appreciate. As it is, living here, there is little theatre to run and see, unfortunately. :(
Thanks, P!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 02:45 pm (UTC)http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive
You get the best of British theatre pushed right to your movie screen. It was a pretty good experience overall. Not as good as being in the theatre, of course, but not bad.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 04:01 pm (UTC)I think it was Daniel Day Lewis as Macbeth in the Manchester Royal Exchange.. which was mind-blowingly good but waaaay too many moons ago.
Mmmm.. I am not so sure about an updated Coriolanus - even if it does have Fiennes the Magnificent in it. I am one who likes her Shakespeare as was - corsets and costumes galore.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 05:27 pm (UTC)DDL in Macbeth must have been awesome. That's another play I'm not overly fond of, but I did see one great production of it, with Antony Sher in the title role.
I do like traditionally staged Shakespeare just fine, but I have to admit that the productions that have stuck with me have mostly been either modern dress or, in the case of an especially fine eastern-influenced Pericles, most definitely non-Elizabethan.
I don't see nearly as much theatre as I used to, but fortunately the Stratford festival is only two hours away, so I try to get to at least one production a year. (Sally is driving up from Michigan this summer and we're taking in a cross-dressing version of Richard III. Should be a trip.)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 07:22 pm (UTC)Well it works for me as well, and I have to say that casting is fantastic. I'll be keeping an eye out for that as well especially as I don't think I have ever seen Coriolanus performed *thinks* in fact I definitely haven't, must fix that!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 07:26 pm (UTC)I've seen four quite excellent productions, which may make it the Shakespearean play I've seen the most.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 07:32 pm (UTC)I think the Shakespearean play I have seen the most is Taming of the Shrew, oh and Othello (which I admit it my favourite).
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 08:06 pm (UTC)Lear is difficult... It's one of Shakespeare's few plays where he gives the mind no place to rest, no character to fully empathize with. It tends to be a play where it will rise above itself due to a particular performance -- not always the role of Lear, John Hurt's Fool steals the Olivier version -- but never be quite satisfactory. I'd put Othello in the same group.
I've never been hugely drawn to or repelled by Coriolanus but this filmed version does look really interesting.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 02:36 am (UTC)I can't wait to see Fiennes' Coriolanus. It has the look of something that will either be a revelation, or a glorious train wreck.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 09:21 pm (UTC)Jacobi's performance sounds amazing!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-07 02:39 am (UTC)I'm planning on seeing the Frankenstein as well, though they haven't gone on sale yet, and they're also selling out quite quickly. I'll be keeping my finger crossed that I manage to get the tickets, especially since I've got four friends who are up for going.