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magidThursday night I went to the ART production of Julius Caesar (Shakespeare). Pico review: don't go. The play does not require 3.5 hours. Or at least it shouldn't, and making it that long was a mistake. One of many, unfortunately (or rather, the result of many).
As the play started, there were six big white rectangles stanging on stage in a row, leaving perhaps half of the deeper-than-usual stage available. I admit, I sighed when I saw it: I seem to only end up at ART productions with big, blocky sets, all concept and avante-garde rather than actually setting place or tone. The play started, and it seemed that they'd set it in Hollywood in the 50s, all dressed up, hangers-on, and cameras clicking (that kept me thinking of the song Freeze Frame). It took a while to figure out that it was more Kennedy Camelot (basically). Which is all very well and good, but didn't really work the whole way through.
It lead to odd juxtapositions: some characters being killed by sword (well, extreme hugging. Which was odd in and of itself: sometimes there were hugs, and sometimes there were deaths, and the way to distinguish was whether there was blood afterward or not. If you're going to go to the extent of using that many blood capsules, it really isn't that tricky to use some vaguely pointed object to represent a blade.), while others were shot, by pistol or submachine gun. Um, no: choose one weapon, stick with that.
Or the introductory scene, when Caesar is offstage, being adulated by the crowds, being offered the crown, and so on. In this show, it sounded like there was a dinner party happening offstage, and the 'roars of the crowd' were laughter at some witticism, or applause for the music. It totally didn't work with the actual plot.
Oh, and that music? There was a trio (bass, guitar, vocalist) performing, and after the beginning scene, they came out and were by the side of the stage, singing sometimes between scenes, and sometimes in the middle, mostly bluesy things. The music itself was lovely, but there was no reason to insert it into this play.
There were a lot of other 'concepts' that someone had come up with, and apparently all thoughts had to be used. So, for instance, Brutus' young servant Lucius was onstage for the entire production, watching and interacting sometimes with the principals via ASL. I'm not sure why Lucius was that important (I believe he has only one line in the play, though he's addressed many times), and it did make it strange when the one line happened, after he'd been mutely signing the rest of the play.
And the actors could not speak their lines in regular candences. It dragged. I suppose it was supposed to be momentous or something, but all it did was let the audience age a bit more. This was compounded by how frequently they walked slowly across the extra-large stage, in slow-motion, actually. There was little rhyme or reason for when the slow motion would happen, nor did it add anything that I could see.
Not only were the words used oddly, but almost every time two (or more) people were having a conversation, they wouldn't face each other. Sometimes they'd both be facing the audience. Sometimes one would face the audience and the other would face the first's back. And so on. Which is reasonable to happen sometimes, but not every time. Again with the high concepts.
There were some odd sound effects. Not just the camera clicks, but whenever someone made a 'crown' sort of motion, there was a sound that perhaps was supposed to be meaningful, but all I heard was "oversized vacuum cleaner." Not quite what one thinks of with royalty.
Other things dragged me out of the story as well. In the murder scene, one character kept up a beat, to organized the choreography, which was just bizarre. Then everyone washed his hands in Caesar's blood... except one guy, who never went over to the body, and broke a blood capsule in his pocket or something. No. Really, no. And then at the very end of the scene, Caesar gets up and yells. Er, what?
There were two backdrops. The one in back was a larger-than-life photo of the audience part of the theater. And there was another that could rise and fall, an angled piece that was... two photos of the audience part of the theater (mirror images). At one point it was used to indicate the Senate, but again, it felt more like someone had this idea they'd thought cool, and never re-evaluated it. It wasn't used in most of the play, and having the orators facing the back of the stage meant that they had their backs to the audience, and the footlights on them were so bright and facing the audience that I had to use my program to block them as best I could.
And then there was the best 'idea' someone had: a car. Suspended hood-down above the stage. Why? I don't know. It was never used or referenced. All I could think of was Chappaquiddick, but that didn't seem particularly relevant to the battle at the end of the play.
If I hadn't already been familiar with this play, I'd've been fairly lost.
There were a few bright spots: the female characters got wonderful gowns, long gloves, and updos. Lucius at the end wore a Superman shirt and sparkly gold cape. And the music that didn't fit was at least quite good. Plus I got to spend time with a friend I haven't seen in a while, and snark with her :-)
As the play started, there were six big white rectangles stanging on stage in a row, leaving perhaps half of the deeper-than-usual stage available. I admit, I sighed when I saw it: I seem to only end up at ART productions with big, blocky sets, all concept and avante-garde rather than actually setting place or tone. The play started, and it seemed that they'd set it in Hollywood in the 50s, all dressed up, hangers-on, and cameras clicking (that kept me thinking of the song Freeze Frame). It took a while to figure out that it was more Kennedy Camelot (basically). Which is all very well and good, but didn't really work the whole way through.
It lead to odd juxtapositions: some characters being killed by sword (well, extreme hugging. Which was odd in and of itself: sometimes there were hugs, and sometimes there were deaths, and the way to distinguish was whether there was blood afterward or not. If you're going to go to the extent of using that many blood capsules, it really isn't that tricky to use some vaguely pointed object to represent a blade.), while others were shot, by pistol or submachine gun. Um, no: choose one weapon, stick with that.
Or the introductory scene, when Caesar is offstage, being adulated by the crowds, being offered the crown, and so on. In this show, it sounded like there was a dinner party happening offstage, and the 'roars of the crowd' were laughter at some witticism, or applause for the music. It totally didn't work with the actual plot.
Oh, and that music? There was a trio (bass, guitar, vocalist) performing, and after the beginning scene, they came out and were by the side of the stage, singing sometimes between scenes, and sometimes in the middle, mostly bluesy things. The music itself was lovely, but there was no reason to insert it into this play.
There were a lot of other 'concepts' that someone had come up with, and apparently all thoughts had to be used. So, for instance, Brutus' young servant Lucius was onstage for the entire production, watching and interacting sometimes with the principals via ASL. I'm not sure why Lucius was that important (I believe he has only one line in the play, though he's addressed many times), and it did make it strange when the one line happened, after he'd been mutely signing the rest of the play.
And the actors could not speak their lines in regular candences. It dragged. I suppose it was supposed to be momentous or something, but all it did was let the audience age a bit more. This was compounded by how frequently they walked slowly across the extra-large stage, in slow-motion, actually. There was little rhyme or reason for when the slow motion would happen, nor did it add anything that I could see.
Not only were the words used oddly, but almost every time two (or more) people were having a conversation, they wouldn't face each other. Sometimes they'd both be facing the audience. Sometimes one would face the audience and the other would face the first's back. And so on. Which is reasonable to happen sometimes, but not every time. Again with the high concepts.
There were some odd sound effects. Not just the camera clicks, but whenever someone made a 'crown' sort of motion, there was a sound that perhaps was supposed to be meaningful, but all I heard was "oversized vacuum cleaner." Not quite what one thinks of with royalty.
Other things dragged me out of the story as well. In the murder scene, one character kept up a beat, to organized the choreography, which was just bizarre. Then everyone washed his hands in Caesar's blood... except one guy, who never went over to the body, and broke a blood capsule in his pocket or something. No. Really, no. And then at the very end of the scene, Caesar gets up and yells. Er, what?
There were two backdrops. The one in back was a larger-than-life photo of the audience part of the theater. And there was another that could rise and fall, an angled piece that was... two photos of the audience part of the theater (mirror images). At one point it was used to indicate the Senate, but again, it felt more like someone had this idea they'd thought cool, and never re-evaluated it. It wasn't used in most of the play, and having the orators facing the back of the stage meant that they had their backs to the audience, and the footlights on them were so bright and facing the audience that I had to use my program to block them as best I could.
And then there was the best 'idea' someone had: a car. Suspended hood-down above the stage. Why? I don't know. It was never used or referenced. All I could think of was Chappaquiddick, but that didn't seem particularly relevant to the battle at the end of the play.
If I hadn't already been familiar with this play, I'd've been fairly lost.
There were a few bright spots: the female characters got wonderful gowns, long gloves, and updos. Lucius at the end wore a Superman shirt and sparkly gold cape. And the music that didn't fit was at least quite good. Plus I got to spend time with a friend I haven't seen in a while, and snark with her :-)
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-24 10:28 pm (UTC)*hugs you to death*
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Date: 2008-02-24 10:39 pm (UTC)*hugs you back*