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magidLast night I went to a student production of Arcadia (Tom Stoppard), one of my most favorite plays. This was the first time I'd had time in the new Shapiro student center at Brandeis.
There was time enough before the play to meander the building. This building replaced Ford Hall, which was a big rectangular building, one of the two that were on the campus when it became Brandeis', rather than a medical school (the other being the Castle). Ford had a bunch of administrative offices in it, and some computers, and a hall used for final exams and plays, if the group was desperated enough: the stage was shallow, there was no backstage (the corridor behind the room works, right?), the acoustics sucked. The one show I worked there had the music being directed up in the balcony, which meant that the conductor had his back to the production the entire time... Not a wonderful building, by any means, but it did have one big advantage over the new building: parking. A whole parking lot grassed over. Not that it would've been as pretty, but that was convenient parking, between Sherman (kosher dining) and the theater. Ah, well. (Sudden thought: I wonder where campus police are now?)
So, the new building. It is obviously designed, and by someone who doesn't like right angles. The exterior has odd angles, lots of glass, no brick (that I could see, anyway. But it was dark.), about as different from the old Ford as it's possible to be. Inside, there is a main atrium area, crossed at different levels by walkways, and the love affair of non-right angles continues, as corridors branch, as do walkways, and even the landing on the stairs is a trapezoid. What I didn't care for was the deliberate use of oddness with no other point than the coolness factor. One corridor narrowed in the middle, abruptly, for no apparent reason. While there was seating about, there were many more blank open spaces that could've been nooks to chat if they had seating in them. And so on. Hillel doesn't seem to have an office in the new building; I assume they're still at Usdan. I wonder how the decision of who moved and who didn't was made.
The theater, like the rest of the building, had blond wood paneling. Unlike the rest of the building, here it was used in slightly irregular layers on the walls and ceiling, probably partly to help the acoustics, and partly to bring non-parallelism into the room, which needs to have a parallel footprint. I liked how the house lighting was fitted in behind the edges of these panels, which was bright enough, but not direct.
Rows are about 20 seats across, which is just long enough, if sitting in the middle, to wish that there was a closer aisle, though there isn't room for two more side ones, and a middle one would eat up the best seats. The seats start much farther from stage than I'm used to, and the steps shallower; I was just the right distance from stage, but not quite as high as I wanted to be (third row back was looking at the floor of the stage). It looked like a good lighting and sound system. The only other frustration was the air-conditioning, which was glacial. Not expected in October...
Arcadia is a wonderful, wonderful play, twining together ideas of mathematics, modeling the world, and academic rigorousness. Scenes from two different centuries play out in the same space, and form a whole. Just lovely.
This production was strong enough not to keep the script from shining through, but there were a number of things that kept it from full potential. Noakes came across woodenly, and a couple of the other small parts weren't done to their fullest. The actors hadn't figured out how to wait for the laughter to stop before continuing dialogue. A couple of the women's dresses didn't fit the actors well at all, enough so that it distracted me. Little lighting glitches here and there.
There were time issues: starting 20 minutes late and doubling the length of intermission did not win points with me; it's not a short play, though it never feels long while it's happening. And for a show which has only small prop changes between scenes, they took a lot of time.
Not the production's issue: the audience (mostly undergrads) seemed compelled to clap every time the lights went down for a scene change.
However, the play's wonderfulness came through; it was a wonderful way to spend an evening.
There was time enough before the play to meander the building. This building replaced Ford Hall, which was a big rectangular building, one of the two that were on the campus when it became Brandeis', rather than a medical school (the other being the Castle). Ford had a bunch of administrative offices in it, and some computers, and a hall used for final exams and plays, if the group was desperated enough: the stage was shallow, there was no backstage (the corridor behind the room works, right?), the acoustics sucked. The one show I worked there had the music being directed up in the balcony, which meant that the conductor had his back to the production the entire time... Not a wonderful building, by any means, but it did have one big advantage over the new building: parking. A whole parking lot grassed over. Not that it would've been as pretty, but that was convenient parking, between Sherman (kosher dining) and the theater. Ah, well. (Sudden thought: I wonder where campus police are now?)
So, the new building. It is obviously designed, and by someone who doesn't like right angles. The exterior has odd angles, lots of glass, no brick (that I could see, anyway. But it was dark.), about as different from the old Ford as it's possible to be. Inside, there is a main atrium area, crossed at different levels by walkways, and the love affair of non-right angles continues, as corridors branch, as do walkways, and even the landing on the stairs is a trapezoid. What I didn't care for was the deliberate use of oddness with no other point than the coolness factor. One corridor narrowed in the middle, abruptly, for no apparent reason. While there was seating about, there were many more blank open spaces that could've been nooks to chat if they had seating in them. And so on. Hillel doesn't seem to have an office in the new building; I assume they're still at Usdan. I wonder how the decision of who moved and who didn't was made.
The theater, like the rest of the building, had blond wood paneling. Unlike the rest of the building, here it was used in slightly irregular layers on the walls and ceiling, probably partly to help the acoustics, and partly to bring non-parallelism into the room, which needs to have a parallel footprint. I liked how the house lighting was fitted in behind the edges of these panels, which was bright enough, but not direct.
Rows are about 20 seats across, which is just long enough, if sitting in the middle, to wish that there was a closer aisle, though there isn't room for two more side ones, and a middle one would eat up the best seats. The seats start much farther from stage than I'm used to, and the steps shallower; I was just the right distance from stage, but not quite as high as I wanted to be (third row back was looking at the floor of the stage). It looked like a good lighting and sound system. The only other frustration was the air-conditioning, which was glacial. Not expected in October...
Arcadia is a wonderful, wonderful play, twining together ideas of mathematics, modeling the world, and academic rigorousness. Scenes from two different centuries play out in the same space, and form a whole. Just lovely.
This production was strong enough not to keep the script from shining through, but there were a number of things that kept it from full potential. Noakes came across woodenly, and a couple of the other small parts weren't done to their fullest. The actors hadn't figured out how to wait for the laughter to stop before continuing dialogue. A couple of the women's dresses didn't fit the actors well at all, enough so that it distracted me. Little lighting glitches here and there.
There were time issues: starting 20 minutes late and doubling the length of intermission did not win points with me; it's not a short play, though it never feels long while it's happening. And for a show which has only small prop changes between scenes, they took a lot of time.
Not the production's issue: the audience (mostly undergrads) seemed compelled to clap every time the lights went down for a scene change.
However, the play's wonderfulness came through; it was a wonderful way to spend an evening.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 07:52 pm (UTC)(I've even been on campus regularly, and I have no idea about so many of these buildings. Feh.)