Les Contes Fantastiques (Marcel Marceau)
Oct. 4th, 2004 07:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magid.
.
[gesture post, no transcription available
0700 10/04/04]
Last night I went to see Marcel Marceau and La Nouvelled Compagnie de Mimodrame Marcel Marceau at the ART.
The first half of the show was all Marceau, in the style of Bip, with other performers merely holding up the banners naming each segment (beautifully dressed, with lovely hats, frequently. I had much hat envy, even though I'd have little occasion to wear such confections.).
First was The Creation of the World, which was Genesis through the banishment from Eden, as he became water, and plants, creeping things, animals, Adam and the snake, Adam and Eve. Then The Public Garden, which is a huge number of people one might find in a park. I think my favorite was the two little old ladies sitting on a bench, one of them knitting and nattering, the other agreeing and leaning on her cane. The Hands involved hands describing music; I found this the least compelling. The Lion Tamer had Bip trying to train some rather recalcitrant lions to jump through a hoop. Being scared of them didn't help, I'm sure. Next was Bip as a Street Musician, which was incredibly sad, as the violinist is first drowned out by an oompah band, then bullied into giving up his earnings, then his instrument injured, and he's forced to play cymbals in the oompah band. [There was another skit here; I'm blanking on it right now. *grumble* You'd think the program would list all these, but no.]. The Mask Maker is wonderful, as he tries on a number of his creations. It's incredibly impressive to show someone frustrated by not being able to get a 'happy' mask off.
It's amazing how quiet a theater of hundreds of people can be. Sometimes there was music, but other times, just movement on stage, unaccompanied by any sound at all.
The second half of the show was three longer pieces, done by the whole company. The Wandering Monk is based on a Japanese fable, The Masquerade Ball set in 19th century Italy, and The Tiger is set in ancient China. Each told an interesting story, of a haunted village, of an ugly girl becoming beautiful for an evening, of a man becoming tiger after losing a court case to keep his child. And yet, I was left with questions after each one, perhaps because I wasn't familiar with the stories already. Still, they were lovely to see, each using different styles of movement to help set the place and time. I started thinking about the boundaries between mime and dance, since these pieces had so much more choreographed movement, as well as acrobatic moments (It showed up how much less agile the 80-year-old Marceau is in comparison to his younger colleagues, which hadn't been apparent at all in the first half, except perhaps for a slight bend in his spine.). Dance also tells a story, but usually in a slightly less direct sort of way. This was closer to the narrative, the movement there to show a bit more of the plot, not just the emotional tone (For instance, the townspeople watering fields in the first story, for instance, as the ones who were field laborers in a moment's change became the trickles of water soaking into the earth). Perhaps mime is between acting and dance on movement performance spectrum? I don't know.
The stories used shadows on a scrim at the back of the stage to help set the story, showing a full moon, or pattern of branches, etc. Which was nice, but also distracting at times, when I saw moire patterns on it, which immediately made me think to send this proof back to the printer...
At the end, standing ovations for a master of his art. I'm glad he's working with so many younger performers to strengthen mime as an art form.
.
[gesture post, no transcription available
0700 10/04/04]
Last night I went to see Marcel Marceau and La Nouvelled Compagnie de Mimodrame Marcel Marceau at the ART.
The first half of the show was all Marceau, in the style of Bip, with other performers merely holding up the banners naming each segment (beautifully dressed, with lovely hats, frequently. I had much hat envy, even though I'd have little occasion to wear such confections.).
First was The Creation of the World, which was Genesis through the banishment from Eden, as he became water, and plants, creeping things, animals, Adam and the snake, Adam and Eve. Then The Public Garden, which is a huge number of people one might find in a park. I think my favorite was the two little old ladies sitting on a bench, one of them knitting and nattering, the other agreeing and leaning on her cane. The Hands involved hands describing music; I found this the least compelling. The Lion Tamer had Bip trying to train some rather recalcitrant lions to jump through a hoop. Being scared of them didn't help, I'm sure. Next was Bip as a Street Musician, which was incredibly sad, as the violinist is first drowned out by an oompah band, then bullied into giving up his earnings, then his instrument injured, and he's forced to play cymbals in the oompah band. [There was another skit here; I'm blanking on it right now. *grumble* You'd think the program would list all these, but no.]. The Mask Maker is wonderful, as he tries on a number of his creations. It's incredibly impressive to show someone frustrated by not being able to get a 'happy' mask off.
It's amazing how quiet a theater of hundreds of people can be. Sometimes there was music, but other times, just movement on stage, unaccompanied by any sound at all.
The second half of the show was three longer pieces, done by the whole company. The Wandering Monk is based on a Japanese fable, The Masquerade Ball set in 19th century Italy, and The Tiger is set in ancient China. Each told an interesting story, of a haunted village, of an ugly girl becoming beautiful for an evening, of a man becoming tiger after losing a court case to keep his child. And yet, I was left with questions after each one, perhaps because I wasn't familiar with the stories already. Still, they were lovely to see, each using different styles of movement to help set the place and time. I started thinking about the boundaries between mime and dance, since these pieces had so much more choreographed movement, as well as acrobatic moments (It showed up how much less agile the 80-year-old Marceau is in comparison to his younger colleagues, which hadn't been apparent at all in the first half, except perhaps for a slight bend in his spine.). Dance also tells a story, but usually in a slightly less direct sort of way. This was closer to the narrative, the movement there to show a bit more of the plot, not just the emotional tone (For instance, the townspeople watering fields in the first story, for instance, as the ones who were field laborers in a moment's change became the trickles of water soaking into the earth). Perhaps mime is between acting and dance on movement performance spectrum? I don't know.
The stories used shadows on a scrim at the back of the stage to help set the story, showing a full moon, or pattern of branches, etc. Which was nice, but also distracting at times, when I saw moire patterns on it, which immediately made me think to send this proof back to the printer...
At the end, standing ovations for a master of his art. I'm glad he's working with so many younger performers to strengthen mime as an art form.
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You don't say!
Date: 2004-10-04 07:13 am (UTC)It sounds like a great show! It's amazing - and wonderful! - that he's still performing.
Re: You don't say!
Date: 2004-10-04 07:21 am (UTC)(The show is playing through Saturday, btw. And I think there's an online discount, too.)
no subject
Date: 2004-10-04 09:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-04 09:24 am (UTC)Sudden thought: I wonder whether mime would be a different sort of art to someone who mostly communicates in Sign...? As in, why doesn't he just speak up, as it were? Or perhaps the beauty of the motion transcends this.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-04 10:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-04 12:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-05 06:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-05 07:10 am (UTC)(though I don't see why you'd need corn husks to see the show! ;-)
(wasn't sure if it could be deferred on plastic or something)
no subject
Date: 2004-10-05 07:23 am (UTC)