Love's Labour's Lost
Jun. 26th, 2007 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidLast week I finally made it to ASP's last (bonus) show of the season, Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare, of course). I think of it as the silliest play in the canon, and it was particularly nice to have this lightness after the heaviness of the rest of the season (most recently, Titus Andronicus).
The space was the same as for Titus, in the basement of the Garage, in Harvard Square, but they set it up differently, with a thrust stage instead of in the round, and there weren't any obstructed seats. Obviously, some of the limitations of the space are constant, like the relatively low ceilings, but they completely changed what could be changed for the show.
The back of the stage had branching bits that had wigs and hats on every tip. Above, branches were woven into an open mat, with twinkly lights in. There were some interestingly-shaped lights above the hats and wigs, and that was pretty much it, other than a phonograph, a couple of plain benches, and stacks of venerable tomes here and there.
All six actors came out for a quick silly dance at the beginning of the show, all of them wearing those hairnets that keep hair from getting caught in wigs. By the end of the dance, they'd all had a chance to go to the back branches and put on the hat-wig combination that went with the first of their characters. I'd thought it wouldn't work to have so few people doing the show, and I was entirely wrong. Not everyone speaks in every scene, and while there were a few quick changes, most of them had plenty of time to switch. The interesting part for me was to realize that while the hat-wigs made part of the change, it was also to a greater extent voices and body language.
The division of roles:
Dumaine/ Costard the swain/ Rosaline
Berowne/ Katharine/ Holofernes the schoolteacher
Dull/ Don Armado the knight/ Boyet
Longaville/ Jacquenetta the maid/ Princess of France
King of Navarre/ Maria/ Nathaniel the curate
Moth
It was so much fun. Don Armado had ridiculously long rolled Rs (and a fun accent, particularly noticeable when he referred to the "huvenile"). The scene with the tree had the successive men hiding first behind the open branches at the back of the stage, then as part of the hatrack, then as the middle section of a bench (sat upon, of course). The 'Russians' came in wearing dark glasses and black leather coats, dancing to lounge music sung in Russian. And the show of the many worthies had each come out wearing a sort of short scapular with the name and an appropriate image on the front, and the "Navarre Country Day School" on the back. And so on. Interestingly, they played the scenes with Nathaniel and Holofernes having Nathaniel pining for Holofernes.
Everyone had great performances (even the boy playing Moth, though not quite to the same level). I was particularly impressed with Marianna Bassham (Dumaine/Costard/Rosaline), who I still think of as Ophelia from earlier this year.
I think of this play as weaker than most of the rest: the plot is sillier than most (that oath is just not feasible for active rulers!), and the ending is weak (you can't skip a year in a play? why not?) (or perhaps it's very modern, leaving it up to the viewer to decide whether the men will be able to live up to their promises this time). But this brought a bit more depth to it than I have seen before. Two thumbs up (as if I've seen anything by them that was anything less than excellent...).
They've announced next season's line up: Macbeth (Oct. 18-Nov. 18; all-female cast), Henry V (Jan. 10-Feb. 3; five-person cast), The Tempest (Mar. 20 - Apr. 13; creative team that made their fabulous Lear), and King John (June 5-29). If anyone wants to subscribe who hasn't before, if you mention my name as a referral, we both get a $10 gift certificate for their stuff (tickets or clothing/bookmarks/magnets/whathaveyou).
The space was the same as for Titus, in the basement of the Garage, in Harvard Square, but they set it up differently, with a thrust stage instead of in the round, and there weren't any obstructed seats. Obviously, some of the limitations of the space are constant, like the relatively low ceilings, but they completely changed what could be changed for the show.
The back of the stage had branching bits that had wigs and hats on every tip. Above, branches were woven into an open mat, with twinkly lights in. There were some interestingly-shaped lights above the hats and wigs, and that was pretty much it, other than a phonograph, a couple of plain benches, and stacks of venerable tomes here and there.
All six actors came out for a quick silly dance at the beginning of the show, all of them wearing those hairnets that keep hair from getting caught in wigs. By the end of the dance, they'd all had a chance to go to the back branches and put on the hat-wig combination that went with the first of their characters. I'd thought it wouldn't work to have so few people doing the show, and I was entirely wrong. Not everyone speaks in every scene, and while there were a few quick changes, most of them had plenty of time to switch. The interesting part for me was to realize that while the hat-wigs made part of the change, it was also to a greater extent voices and body language.
The division of roles:
Dumaine/ Costard the swain/ Rosaline
Berowne/ Katharine/ Holofernes the schoolteacher
Dull/ Don Armado the knight/ Boyet
Longaville/ Jacquenetta the maid/ Princess of France
King of Navarre/ Maria/ Nathaniel the curate
Moth
It was so much fun. Don Armado had ridiculously long rolled Rs (and a fun accent, particularly noticeable when he referred to the "huvenile"). The scene with the tree had the successive men hiding first behind the open branches at the back of the stage, then as part of the hatrack, then as the middle section of a bench (sat upon, of course). The 'Russians' came in wearing dark glasses and black leather coats, dancing to lounge music sung in Russian. And the show of the many worthies had each come out wearing a sort of short scapular with the name and an appropriate image on the front, and the "Navarre Country Day School" on the back. And so on. Interestingly, they played the scenes with Nathaniel and Holofernes having Nathaniel pining for Holofernes.
Everyone had great performances (even the boy playing Moth, though not quite to the same level). I was particularly impressed with Marianna Bassham (Dumaine/Costard/Rosaline), who I still think of as Ophelia from earlier this year.
I think of this play as weaker than most of the rest: the plot is sillier than most (that oath is just not feasible for active rulers!), and the ending is weak (you can't skip a year in a play? why not?) (or perhaps it's very modern, leaving it up to the viewer to decide whether the men will be able to live up to their promises this time). But this brought a bit more depth to it than I have seen before. Two thumbs up (as if I've seen anything by them that was anything less than excellent...).
They've announced next season's line up: Macbeth (Oct. 18-Nov. 18; all-female cast), Henry V (Jan. 10-Feb. 3; five-person cast), The Tempest (Mar. 20 - Apr. 13; creative team that made their fabulous Lear), and King John (June 5-29). If anyone wants to subscribe who hasn't before, if you mention my name as a referral, we both get a $10 gift certificate for their stuff (tickets or clothing/bookmarks/magnets/whathaveyou).