Travesties
Apr. 29th, 2008 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidI keep hearing this as a Bee-Gees song in my head. Argh!
Thursday I went to see Travesties (Tom Stoppard) at the BCA, put on by the Publick Theater. I think this is the first year they're staging shows that aren't during the summer (at the amphitheater by the Charles). I wonder how different it feels for the director, Diego Arciniegas.
The play is set in Zurich during the Great War (aka World War I). There were a number of famous personalities there at the same time: writer James Joyce, revolutionary Lenin, and Dadaist Tristan Tzara. Also, Henry Carr was in the British Consulate there. The play weaves these characters together in a work about revolution, class struggle, art and the meaning thereof, all in the memories of Henry Carr, which put them into a frame that is frequently based on The Importance of Being Earnest. It's fascinating to see Stoppard's weaving of something wholly new out of so many factual parts. As with some other Stoppard works, he uses scenes that repeat with different permutations, which I rather like.
The stage went back much farther on one side than the other, which felt strangely off-balancing for a little while. The cosuming was reasonably period-esque (though I believe James Joyce would not have been wearing plaid shorts under his kilt, if he wore a kilt in Zurich), and the lighting was reasonable, except for the three spotlights off on one side, lined up vertically, which were quite visible to about half the audience, and uncomfortably so.
I found the wide range of accents a bit confusing at times, though I got the gist of most lines anyway. There was an amazing singing scene based on Earnest that was incredibly funny. And it's always interesting when there's real food in a live production (in this case, crustless cucumber sandwiches, tea cakes, and other biscuits), though it occurred to me that no Passover-observing Jew could have taken a few of the roles, eating chametz on Pesach!
I enjoyed it, though it's not going to become a favorite Stoppard play.
P.S. This was in the old BCA space, the theater that is not the black box, and they've put in fixed seating that is well padded, rather like an upscale movie theater. Nice.
Thursday I went to see Travesties (Tom Stoppard) at the BCA, put on by the Publick Theater. I think this is the first year they're staging shows that aren't during the summer (at the amphitheater by the Charles). I wonder how different it feels for the director, Diego Arciniegas.
The play is set in Zurich during the Great War (aka World War I). There were a number of famous personalities there at the same time: writer James Joyce, revolutionary Lenin, and Dadaist Tristan Tzara. Also, Henry Carr was in the British Consulate there. The play weaves these characters together in a work about revolution, class struggle, art and the meaning thereof, all in the memories of Henry Carr, which put them into a frame that is frequently based on The Importance of Being Earnest. It's fascinating to see Stoppard's weaving of something wholly new out of so many factual parts. As with some other Stoppard works, he uses scenes that repeat with different permutations, which I rather like.
The stage went back much farther on one side than the other, which felt strangely off-balancing for a little while. The cosuming was reasonably period-esque (though I believe James Joyce would not have been wearing plaid shorts under his kilt, if he wore a kilt in Zurich), and the lighting was reasonable, except for the three spotlights off on one side, lined up vertically, which were quite visible to about half the audience, and uncomfortably so.
I found the wide range of accents a bit confusing at times, though I got the gist of most lines anyway. There was an amazing singing scene based on Earnest that was incredibly funny. And it's always interesting when there's real food in a live production (in this case, crustless cucumber sandwiches, tea cakes, and other biscuits), though it occurred to me that no Passover-observing Jew could have taken a few of the roles, eating chametz on Pesach!
I enjoyed it, though it's not going to become a favorite Stoppard play.
P.S. This was in the old BCA space, the theater that is not the black box, and they've put in fixed seating that is well padded, rather like an upscale movie theater. Nice.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 02:07 pm (UTC)Yeah..theatre's one of those professions that makes being observant really difficult. Working on holidays is just the beginning of the dilemmas any frum actor faces; it's why, although American Theatre has a strong Jewish presence, nine times out of ten, it's a completely secular presence.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 02:12 pm (UTC)Theater really doesn't work well for frum people, outside some community groups. This felt like an additional layer: there are many Jews who aren't strict Sabbath/holiday observers who do avoid chametz on Pesach.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 01:53 am (UTC)Did you go? What did you think?
dutiful, responsible person icon. sorta. *g*
Date: 2008-05-04 02:03 am (UTC)Alas, I didn't go. I took a good look at the task list, at the overcommittedness for this weekend(SOS, charity thing and dinner Sunday) and faced the "*sigh* better just look for the script somewhere." Sorry.
Really want to read it now.
Re: dutiful, responsible person icon. sorta. *g*
Date: 2008-05-04 03:49 am (UTC)