Measure for Measure
Apr. 13th, 2005 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidLast Thursday I went to the ASP production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.
Wow. Extremely wonderful, even making Mariana (my least favorite character) almost understandable.
Their last production was in the Old South Meeting House. This one was in the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center, in the South End, another place I hadn't been to before. It's an interesting space. Off to the right of the lobby is an art gallery, which had a display of oil paintings. Nice, but nothing that called my name. The main space has a stage a couple of feet above the audience space, plus a balcony on three sides. The railing is lovely curling metalwork, looking very old compared to the modern spiral staircase going up to it on one side. On either side wall are large stained glass windows in 'church' shapes, pairs of pointed arches topped with a circle, though the actual pictures were of the arts, not the bible.
In this show, though, they didn't use the stage. At least, they didn't use the stage as a stage, but as more seating. The main 'audience' area included a square stage set on the diagonal, two steps up from the floor. Around it were arranged little tables with tea lights, each with three chairs. Behind them, along the stage, there was seating in rows, and there was additional seating in the balcony (some at little tables), though not in the middle of the balcony, since that was where the musicians were.
The music was great, feeling more like music to dance to at a club than classical, featuring bass and guitar (and perhaps some keyboards?). It definitely set the scene for a rather more adult show than I'd anticipated.
It was officially set in Vienna, "today". Which meant that the pimps and tarts looked exactly like that, except that the tarts had matching bright red pleated skirts. If you can call that short a piece of fabric a skirt, that is... The teenagers behind us enjoyed the beginning of the show particularly, as the cast caroused (or should I take the 'c' off the beginning of that?). Nobles were in nice suits, and so on. The friars were still in their robes, presumably partly because the rare friar still is, and partly because it's harder to disguise oneself without it.
The actors were excellent, pulling us into the story, despite it's implausibility. (I don't know why this one seems so weird when, say, The Tempest doesn't. Or perhaps that it's supposed to be reasonably real, and it doesn't feel so to me). The twists and turns of all the stories came together, though I did feel for Lucio at the end, jerk though he is (or perhaps I was dazzled by John Kuntz' acting, or shiny rainbow silver shirt, or dice rings :-).
(OK, I started this post a couple of days ago, and it's time to get this out of the backlog.)
To sum up: six thumbs up, ten if you count the boss and her husband.
Wow. Extremely wonderful, even making Mariana (my least favorite character) almost understandable.
Their last production was in the Old South Meeting House. This one was in the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center, in the South End, another place I hadn't been to before. It's an interesting space. Off to the right of the lobby is an art gallery, which had a display of oil paintings. Nice, but nothing that called my name. The main space has a stage a couple of feet above the audience space, plus a balcony on three sides. The railing is lovely curling metalwork, looking very old compared to the modern spiral staircase going up to it on one side. On either side wall are large stained glass windows in 'church' shapes, pairs of pointed arches topped with a circle, though the actual pictures were of the arts, not the bible.
In this show, though, they didn't use the stage. At least, they didn't use the stage as a stage, but as more seating. The main 'audience' area included a square stage set on the diagonal, two steps up from the floor. Around it were arranged little tables with tea lights, each with three chairs. Behind them, along the stage, there was seating in rows, and there was additional seating in the balcony (some at little tables), though not in the middle of the balcony, since that was where the musicians were.
The music was great, feeling more like music to dance to at a club than classical, featuring bass and guitar (and perhaps some keyboards?). It definitely set the scene for a rather more adult show than I'd anticipated.
It was officially set in Vienna, "today". Which meant that the pimps and tarts looked exactly like that, except that the tarts had matching bright red pleated skirts. If you can call that short a piece of fabric a skirt, that is... The teenagers behind us enjoyed the beginning of the show particularly, as the cast caroused (or should I take the 'c' off the beginning of that?). Nobles were in nice suits, and so on. The friars were still in their robes, presumably partly because the rare friar still is, and partly because it's harder to disguise oneself without it.
The actors were excellent, pulling us into the story, despite it's implausibility. (I don't know why this one seems so weird when, say, The Tempest doesn't. Or perhaps that it's supposed to be reasonably real, and it doesn't feel so to me). The twists and turns of all the stories came together, though I did feel for Lucio at the end, jerk though he is (or perhaps I was dazzled by John Kuntz' acting, or shiny rainbow silver shirt, or dice rings :-).
(OK, I started this post a couple of days ago, and it's time to get this out of the backlog.)
To sum up: six thumbs up, ten if you count the boss and her husband.
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-13 11:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-13 11:27 am (UTC)Thank you. Looking forward to Caesar...
no subject
Date: 2005-04-14 02:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-15 03:36 am (UTC)