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magidI went to see Shahrazad (Tawfiq al-Hakim) at the Loeb Ex this weekend. It's a play set in the aftermath of the 1001 Nights, after Shahryar has stayed married to Shahrazad, and has lost his bloodlust. All should be fine, happily ever after and all that.
Except, of course, that it's not. Exactly why it's not is, unfortunately, not quite clear. The king may be mad. Or he may be caught up in existential angst, in a world-weary way that reminded me of Kohelet (aka Ecclesiastes). Or he may be dealing with a strange relationship with his wife. Or all of these to some extent. The play felt like it was a cross between Kohelet and The Cherry Orchard, another play that drives me batty with people talking but never getting around to changing anything. I'm not sure how much of my dislike is a function of the translation; I assume there are nuances and references that were lost, perhaps setting it in a more poetic place than I saw this as being. I don't know. All I know is that I didn't care for the play.
This was not helped by some of the actors being incredibly weak. One just ran clearly through his lines without any emotion, while another's accent was so strong that his lines said too quickly and not loudly were pretty much impossible to understand. Costuming was uneven; the serving girls and witch had period-ish garb, and a few of the men had turbans, but the queen should not have been in a corset, for instance.
The one bright spot: the belly dancing and a short silks piece. None of these were amazing, just solid, but they were well done, and a relief from a play that felt like it went on far too long. Oh, and the music (sound in general) was good too.
This turned out to be my least favorite Loeb Ex production ever. Even Albanian Softshoe had more to recommend it. I'll just look forward to the possible excellence of next semester's plays (which include one of my favorites, Arcadia, so there is much to look forward to :-).
Except, of course, that it's not. Exactly why it's not is, unfortunately, not quite clear. The king may be mad. Or he may be caught up in existential angst, in a world-weary way that reminded me of Kohelet (aka Ecclesiastes). Or he may be dealing with a strange relationship with his wife. Or all of these to some extent. The play felt like it was a cross between Kohelet and The Cherry Orchard, another play that drives me batty with people talking but never getting around to changing anything. I'm not sure how much of my dislike is a function of the translation; I assume there are nuances and references that were lost, perhaps setting it in a more poetic place than I saw this as being. I don't know. All I know is that I didn't care for the play.
This was not helped by some of the actors being incredibly weak. One just ran clearly through his lines without any emotion, while another's accent was so strong that his lines said too quickly and not loudly were pretty much impossible to understand. Costuming was uneven; the serving girls and witch had period-ish garb, and a few of the men had turbans, but the queen should not have been in a corset, for instance.
The one bright spot: the belly dancing and a short silks piece. None of these were amazing, just solid, but they were well done, and a relief from a play that felt like it went on far too long. Oh, and the music (sound in general) was good too.
This turned out to be my least favorite Loeb Ex production ever. Even Albanian Softshoe had more to recommend it. I'll just look forward to the possible excellence of next semester's plays (which include one of my favorites, Arcadia, so there is much to look forward to :-).
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Date: 2008-01-16 01:27 am (UTC)And, after Shahrazad, the mind has amazingly low expectations. I'm sure there were some good ideas in there somewhere, but I kept worrying as to whether we really were meant to laugh or not.
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Date: 2008-01-16 01:43 am (UTC)And yes, Albanian Softshoe exists. It was the bizarre one with hot popcorn falling from the rafters during intermission, plus impressive use of cardboard (first half) and packing peanuts (second half).
One of the Harvard papers had a glowing review of this production, I think because they were caught up in all the existential questioning being "deep." I still don't understand whether it was supposed to be overly philosophical or some humor or what, either.
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Date: 2008-01-16 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-16 02:56 am (UTC)