Troilus and Cressida
May. 16th, 2012 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidLast weekend I ushered for ASP's Troilus and Cressida, staged at Suffolk University's Modern Theatre. I'd never seen (nor read) the play, so I had no idea what I was going to get.
It's a very odd play for Shakespeare. The title characters feel more like a subplot than center stage, which is all about the Trojan War, seven years in, when everyone is weary of the fight, but determined to keep their honor. It starts in the middle of the war, and ends there, with nothing truly resolved. It felt like a slice of the Iliad in Shakespearean English (early fanfic?), with a lot of male posturing. It was interesting to see the Trojans visiting the Greek camp during a ceasefire; I can't imagine that happening (especially with such high-level personages) today, and I can't help but think that we're diminished by this (in real wars, but also in virtual ones, such as USian partisan politics these days....). Also interesting were the sexual politics, especially around Achilles, who had his local (male) lover as well as his (female) lover at home, and this was seen as two distinct things, fitting different niches in one's own needs, as well as in society's eyes. Being a war-based play, there aren't a lot of women, and the few there are, mostly aren't... good role models (two-timing Helen, possibly two-timing Cressida, ignored prophetic Cassandra).
By the end of the play, there's been little death, with only honorable Hector killed by Achilles' Myrmidons after Hector declined to kill Achilles earlier in the day. And there's no weddings either. I suppose I'd call it more historical than anything else. Still, it's unclear to me what Shakespeare wanted people to take from it; since it apparently wasn't performed in his lifetime, perhaps it wasn't clear to him either. And I'm not alone in this either (Wikipedia's article).
That said, this was an interesting production. It was in the round, the set being a number of large blocks, moved as needed. There were weapons decorating the sides of the balconies, and a Greek-style helmet and breastplate handing above the stage in a spotlight. The rest was carried by the actors, most of whom played multiple roles, Greek and Trojan. The female characters had dresses with vaguely period lines/details, but the male characters had much more modern dress (except doddering old Priam), though the weapons were not at all recent. They definitely played up the homoerotic scenes, and the comedic interludes (which had a far greater reference to STDs than I would have ever guessed likely). I wish I'd stayed for the talk-back session after the show, but the AC had been on so high, and the show ran longer than I anticipated (almost 3 hours with intermission), and I had other things to do. Getting more thoughts, information, and reactions would have been a good thing.
It's a very odd play for Shakespeare. The title characters feel more like a subplot than center stage, which is all about the Trojan War, seven years in, when everyone is weary of the fight, but determined to keep their honor. It starts in the middle of the war, and ends there, with nothing truly resolved. It felt like a slice of the Iliad in Shakespearean English (early fanfic?), with a lot of male posturing. It was interesting to see the Trojans visiting the Greek camp during a ceasefire; I can't imagine that happening (especially with such high-level personages) today, and I can't help but think that we're diminished by this (in real wars, but also in virtual ones, such as USian partisan politics these days....). Also interesting were the sexual politics, especially around Achilles, who had his local (male) lover as well as his (female) lover at home, and this was seen as two distinct things, fitting different niches in one's own needs, as well as in society's eyes. Being a war-based play, there aren't a lot of women, and the few there are, mostly aren't... good role models (two-timing Helen, possibly two-timing Cressida, ignored prophetic Cassandra).
By the end of the play, there's been little death, with only honorable Hector killed by Achilles' Myrmidons after Hector declined to kill Achilles earlier in the day. And there's no weddings either. I suppose I'd call it more historical than anything else. Still, it's unclear to me what Shakespeare wanted people to take from it; since it apparently wasn't performed in his lifetime, perhaps it wasn't clear to him either. And I'm not alone in this either (Wikipedia's article).
That said, this was an interesting production. It was in the round, the set being a number of large blocks, moved as needed. There were weapons decorating the sides of the balconies, and a Greek-style helmet and breastplate handing above the stage in a spotlight. The rest was carried by the actors, most of whom played multiple roles, Greek and Trojan. The female characters had dresses with vaguely period lines/details, but the male characters had much more modern dress (except doddering old Priam), though the weapons were not at all recent. They definitely played up the homoerotic scenes, and the comedic interludes (which had a far greater reference to STDs than I would have ever guessed likely). I wish I'd stayed for the talk-back session after the show, but the AC had been on so high, and the show ran longer than I anticipated (almost 3 hours with intermission), and I had other things to do. Getting more thoughts, information, and reactions would have been a good thing.