Mon - October 10, 2005

Macbeth Technical Rehearsals 

We are continuing to rehearse Macbeth at Sweet Briar College. We had two tech rehearsals Saturday, and one last night. There is a surprising amount of complexity to the tech in this show - smoke, fog, drums, trumpets, torches, lots of mood lighting, thunder and lightning, and of course the apparitions.
We had our ups and downs - the acting is in pretty good shape, but some of the tech did not quite work last night. I'm not happy with the apparitions. What I wanted was a big puff of smoke erupting from the cauldron, with a gobo shining on the smoke. So far, the smoke is less than overwhelming, the gobo has not arrived, and the voices have to be re-recorded.
I have this idea in this production to have a kind of graveyard on the apron, and each time one of Macbeth's victims is killed, a robed figure brings a skull out and places it on one of the stones. We want to make an eerie light, toll a bell, and light each skull on the stones from below. It should look good, if we ever get it right, but last night they seemed to bring a light up on the wrong skull each time. Tonight we begin dress rehearsals, so we add blood to the Macbeth/Macduff fight, and we add specialty make-up for the witches and Banquo. Most of the costumes were added this weekend, so all the little problems with costumes and wigs are pretty well solved. There is still a lot of painting to do, and the light cues and sound cues are not all correct, yet. We'll see how it goes tonight. 

Posted at 08:57 AM    

Wed - October 5, 2005

DAH Theatre Workshop 

On Monday we hosted Jadranka Andjelic and Electra Behrens of the DAH Theatre Company, located in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The did a fascinating workshop for our students. They started the students moving to music, then they paired them up and had them move with bamboo sticks balanced by pressure on their hands, forcing them to move together at exactly the same distance. Next, they had to do the same with the bamboo sticks on their hips. After that, they introduced the second bamboo stick, and finally they made the students sing a favorite song while moving to two bamboo sticks.

Here is Elecrta, on the left and Jadranka, on the right.

Jadranka works with Doreen McVeigh.



Jadranka addressing the students.


Jadranka watches them work.



Lynn Kable working with Electra





Mary Susan Sinclair-Kuenning moving with her bamboo stick, while Jadranka watches.


Mary Susan and Electra


 

Posted at 09:20 AM    

Thu - September 29, 2005

More Macbeth Rehearsals

We are continuing to rehearse Macbeth at Sweet Briar College. Last night we worked on the two fights; the first is between Young Siward and Macbeth, and the second is between Macduff and Macbeth. The fight choreographer, John Paul Scheidler , came down from Staunton last night (he is a member of the Blackfriars company, and I saw him perform Laertes in Hamlet last summer, which I wrote about here).
I had written to him about the dramatic story that wanted the fights to tell:

Here is what I have in mind dramatically for the two fights.
The first is between Macbeth and Young Siward. I would like Young Siward to be full of adolescent energy and enthusiasm, but way over her head. Lots of swinging about to little effect, while Macbeth moves little, parries easily, waits for Young Siward to tire herself, then ruthlessly kills her. The fight should not last long, and it should look very mismatched.
The fight beween Macduff and Macbeth I want Macbeth to start out extremely confident, thinking he is charmed and can't lose, so while Macduff starts out by charging him, Macbeth at first drives him back and even disarms him - overconfidence lets him give Macduff another chance, even maybe so much confidence as he says "I bear a charmed life" etc, that he opens himself up so that Macduff draws blood on his arm at "untimely ripped". This makes Macbeth - who we are playing as extremely superstitious - lose his will to fight initially - and even kneeling and offering his sword in surrender at "I'll not fight with thee". But Macduff, who does not want Macbeth's surrender goads him by calling him a coward until Macbeth decides to go down fighting, regains fury if not confidence, then the fight goes more evenly for a time but slowly Macduff drives Macbeth upstage until Macbeth is trapped upstage, and eventually does something to give him a chance to duck out of an upstage archway.

The fights that he choreographed last night were fascinating to watch - Scheidler was an excellent teacher - very clear, very energetic, very patient. He emphasized safety over and over, teaching them to always make eye contact to ensure their partner is clear before making any moves, always show with the point the direction you will be going, and always breathe - don't hold your breath - so you do not tire unnecessarily.

The fight with Young Siward starts with Young Siward charging Macbeth, who draws blood on her leg then pushess her to one side, pursues her, hits her in the jaw with the pommel, knocking her down onto a platform, then goes for the kill by driving the sword downward. He showed them how to do this so that the pommel never actually touches her, and Macbeth covers the tip of the sword with his hand during the kill, so there is never actually any danger. It was very well staged, and should be an exciting fight, while remaining safe to the actors.
Then he choreographed the Macbeth-Macduff fight. It was in four stages - the first stage has Macduff come to Macbeth, center, who diverts the energy to the side making Macduff end up to stage left. Macbeth moves in, engaging him and taking his sword, while Macduff retreats further left. Macbeth disdainfully drops Macduff's sword, allowing him to regain it while Macbeth walks away with his back to Macduff up a short stairway. The second stage goes from Macduff following up, feinting to one side while drawing blood on Macbeth's arm on the other side. Macbeth loses heart, offers to surrender. The third stage starts with Macduff goading Macbeth to fight from atop the two foot platform - Macbeth engages him on the stairs and fights his way up, but Macduff manages to grab Macbeth's wounded arm and squeeze it, causing Macbeth to retreat to the upper platform. The final stage begins when Macduff engages Macbeth on the stairs, Macbeth manages to parry downward, giving him time to duck out the archway ahead of Macduff, who follows out. Because there are no walls, we can see Macduff raise his sword for the kill (only his arm and sword are visisble) and hear Macbeth cry out as the fight ends.

Posted at 09:38 AM     Read More  

Tue - September 27, 2005

Macbeth rehearsals

I am about halfway through rehearsals for Macbeth, which I am directing at Sweet Briar College. We are in the parts I like the best, experimenting to find interesting moments in very small portions of the text. One that we found the other day was in the scene where Macbeth (played by Jon Robertson) casually asks Banquo (played by David Zimmerman) if if he is going riding, then invites - really commands - Banquo to return for dinner at the palace. We tried it many ways, but finally struck real gold by having Banquo be aware that Macbeth was planning something, and warning Macbeth that he would have his eye on him. Of course, Banquo underestimates just how ruthless Macbeth is. This allowed Macbeth to to get to the next place, an emotional outburst against Banquo with seems to be fueled by both guilt and jealousy.
Last night we played with a couple of scenes - Act 1 scene 4 where Duncan (played by Mark Forman) surprises everybody by naming Malcolm as heir. We tried emphasizing the surpise by having Macbeth nod his head as if in expectation that Duncan will name him, and have Malcolm as surprised as any one. We also played with a moment in Act scene 3 - the scene the murder is discovered - by having Macbeth hesitate before swearing to join the others in finding out who is responsible.

Posted at 09:32 AM    

Fri - July 22, 2005

Hamlet at the Blackfriars

Khris Lewin as Hamlet

I went to see Hamlet at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia on Wednesday, July 20. It is always interesting to see a play in this theatre because there is always a premium on the language - everyone always knows exactly what they mean and there is always a close bond with the audience. Staged well and performed well, this play, like so many others I have seen here (or in the Globe in London which has a very similar dynamic with the audience) was tight, imaginative and fun. Lewin's Hamlet emphasized the madness and de-emphasized the depression. This made for a manic Hamlet, rather than a depressive one - truly an exciting performance to watch. Also good was John Harrell - who has a real comic gift - playing the self important Polonius and the foppish Osric.
I do think that approach - a good and even necessary one for this theatre - does tend to sacrifice some of the deeper questions raised by this play. Hamlet is certainly descending into madness in this production, but a kind of entertaining madness - I never felt that this Hamlet was very dangerous and he seemed more angry than depressed about his situation. All in all, a good, entertaining performance done skillfully and imaginatively.
I have seen this play several times in the last few years but so far the best I've ever seen is Trevor Nunn's terrific Hamlet with Ben Wishaw, which managed to show us a deeply troubled and dangerous young man - you were not sure who he was going to kill - Claudius or himself or maybe some innocent bystanders, but you knew he was going to kill somebody.

Posted at 07:41 PM    

Fri - July 15, 2005

Guys and Dolls

On July 2, 2005 I went to see Guys and Dolls at the Coeur D'Alene Summer Theatre in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. This is a very well run operation, with a nice facility (on the campus of North Idaho Community College) and some fine actors.
Like many people, I have seen this play many times, including the University of Arizona, the University of Montana, and the National Theatre of Great Britain, and I have always liked it, so it is not surprising that I liked this one, too. The score is very strong, with some great numbers and memorable characters. The approach was frankly theatrical, a good choice, with two dimensional scenery, characters played up as caricatures, costumes with bright stripes. The play was well staged and for the most part well choreographed (although I did wonder why nobody rolled dice in "Luck Be a Lady" until the very end of the number). Sarah had a lovely voice, and some really fine acting was turned by Nicely Nicely.

Posted at 08:42 PM     Read More  

Wed - April 7, 2004

I Am My Own Wife, by Douglas Wright

Pulitzer Prize Winner Doug Wright

photo by Aubrey Reuben

Doug Wright won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Dram for his play I Am My Own Wife. I wrote about the review when it opened here.

The Times coverage:

DRAMA: 'I Am My Own Wife' by Doug Wright
"I Am My Own Wife" is based on the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (née Lothar Berfelde), a soft-spoken but tenaciously gender-bending biological male who died in 2002 at 74. Her lifelong obsession -- Mahlsdorf preferred to be thought of as female -- was the preservation of furniture and household relics, mostly from the 1890's. The play largely follows Charlotte as she endured the cruel repressions of the Nazis and the Communists, and her harrowing tales of survival through the eras of the Gestapo and the Stasi, the East German secret police, are nothing short of breathtaking.
• Review: 'I Am My Own Wife' (Sept. 21, 2002)
• Show Details
• Putting a Guy Into a Frock Takes Teamwork (Dec. 17, 2003)

Terry Teachout raved over it here :

Everything about "I Am My Own Wife" is outstanding, from Moisés Kaufman’s limpid direction to the deceptively simple stage design of Derek McLane. But the real hero of the evening is Mr. Wright, who hides nothing from the audience, not even his still-powerful longing to idealize Charlotte. "I need to believe in her stories as much as she does," he admits—yet he pays us the supreme compliment of letting us make up our own minds about this complex creature, instead of telling us what progressive minds ought to think.

I have not seen this play or even read it yet - but it's on my list.

Posted at 02:20 PM     Read More  

Sun - April 4, 2004

Fri - April 2, 2004

Sly Fox opens on Broadway

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Richard Dreyfuss, left, and Eric Stoltz in "Sly Fox."

Sly Fox, Larry Gelbarts adaptation of Ben Jonson's Volpone, opened on Broadway to mixed reviews. Ben Brantley says it just doesn't have the same energy that the original production had:

What's crucially missing is the anarchic energy that would carry all the dialogue — from the tasteless groaners to the neo-Jonsonian aphorisms — before it. The performances need to be drawn with the same gargoylish strokes, so that the characters all seem to swim in — and be shaped by — the same toxic waters.

Here is the production information:

SLY FOX

By Larry Gelbart; directed by Arthur Penn; sets by George Jenkins and Jesse Poleshuck; costumes by Albert Wolsky; lighting by Phil Monat; sound by T. Richard Fitzgerald and Carl Casella; wigs by Paul Huntley; technical supervision, Teckeneally Inc.; fight staging, B. H. Barry; associate producers, Aaron Levy, Jill Furman, Debra Black and Peter May; production stage manager, Marybeth Abel; general manager, Peter Bogyo. Presented by Julian Schlossberg, Roy Furman, Ben Sprecher, Michael Gardner, Jim Fantaci, Cheryl Lachowicz, Christine Duncan and Nelle Nugent, by arrangement with Andrew Braunsberg. At the Ethel Barrymore Theater, 243 West 47th Street, Manhattan.

WITH: Richard Dreyfuss (Foxwell J. Sly/Judge), Eric Stoltz (Simon Able), Bob Dishy (Abner Truckle), René Auberjonois (Jethro Crouch), Bronson Pinchot (Lawyer Craven), Rachel York (Miss Fancy), Elizabeth Berkley (Mrs. Truckle), Professor Irwin Corey (Court Clerk), Nick Wyman (Captain Crouch) and Peter Scolari (Chief of Police).

Posted at 07:21 PM     Read More  

Fri - March 12, 2004

Thu - March 11, 2004

King Lear reviewed by Ben Brantley

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Christopher Plummer in the title role of "King Lear."

Ben Brantley of the New York Times has given King Lear, directed by Jonathan Miller and performed by Christopher Plummer, a rave review:

Throughout Jonathan Miller's engrossing production of Shakespeare's bleakest tragedy, which opened last night, Mr. Plummer bestrides the boundary between being and nothingness with a brightness sure to stun even longtime admirers of this superb actor. This is an organically complete Lear whose end is glimpsed in his first majestic appearance and whose last, broken moments pulse with fleetingly recovered strength. Bringing a whisper of infirmity to Lear at his most confident and a glow of grandeur to him at his most abject, Mr. Plummer creates a portrait for the ages, drawn in self-consuming fire.

This production was originally staged at the Stratford Ontario Festival in 2002 - and Brantley feels that it has transferred well. This is a play I know well - I saw Robert Stephens in Lear at RSC (in this production they covered the stage with paper, underneath it was painted red, so after the storm got wet, it gradually revealed more and more of the red beneath it), and I saw it once at Virginia Commonwealth University. It featured a female Lear, who was good, but an odd futuristic production concept that did not really work, I also directed it once at Sweet Briar College.

KING LEAR

By William Shakespeare; directed by Jonathan Miller; sets by Ralph Funicello; lighting by Robert Thomson; costumes by Clare Mitchell; composer, Berthold Carrière; sound by Scott Anderson; stage manager, Brian Scott; general manager, Adam Siegel; production manager, Jeff Hamlin. Presented by the Lincoln Center Theater, under the direction of André Bishop and Bernard Gersten, in association with the Stratford Festival of Canada. At the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center.

WITH: Christopher Plummer (King Lear), Domini Blythe (Goneril), Lucy Peacock (Regan), Claire Jullien (Cordelia), Ian Deakin (Duke of Albany), Stephen Russell (Duke of Cornwall), Benedict Campbell (Earl of Kent), James Blendick (Earl of Gloucester), Brent Carver (Edgar), Geraint Wyn Davies (Edmund), Barry MacGregor (Fool), Paul O'Brien (King of France), Guy Paul (Duke of Burgundy) and Brian Tree (Oswald).

Links
Internet Broadway Database
Christopher Plummer

Posted at 08:58 AM     Read More  

Mon - March 8, 2004

The Goat or Who is Sylvia by Edward Albee

I read this play today. I am not at all sure that I fully understand it. I suspect that it may take several readings and some careful thinking to do so. It is the story of a famous architect, at the top of his career, who starts behaving oddly - he can't remember things, seems troubled. He has a terrific marriage, though, he and his wife seem so much on the same wavelength that they easily share thoughts. But it turns out that what troubles Martin is that he has fallen in love with a goat - not just having sex but a full blown obsessive affair. He is not sorry, he does not think it is wrong - in fact he thinks that nobody can understand it really. When a friend he confides in writes a letter to his wife, she confronts him. This is the real meat of the play - she tries mightily to understand it but it is just too humiliating and weird. She decides to hurt him as he has hurt her, and ends up killing the goat and dragging it onstage.
At first it seems like a parody of a midlife crisis, but then it raises a host of troubling thoughts. Isn't this the way people used to react about men who fell in love with other men? How well can we really know other people? How easy is it to have everything about our lives turned upside down? How can he really believe he is in love - and how can anybody else really know? This play reminds me of A Delicate Balance where a couple just kind of falls off the existential cliff.
Some links:
Albee Biography
Geocities
Gradesaver
IBDB

Posted at 09:02 PM     Read More  

Fri - February 27, 2004

Wed - February 25, 2004

Sun - February 22, 2004

Lost in Translation

Nancy and I rented Lost in Translation last night. I thought it had both good and bad points. The good - there are many evocative images of alienation. One of my favorites was right in the beginning, when Bill Murray as the movie star Bob Harris arrives in Tokyo and is driven through Tokyo. It looks both familiar and completely alien at the same time - so much like Times Square, but the messages are of course unreadable in Japanese. When he passes a huge billboard with his own face on it, in the middle of all these strange messages, the mixture of the familiar and utterly strange is beautifully evoked. The other moment I liked was when Scarlett Johansson's character (I don't remember the name) went to a temple in Kyoto and saw a wedding. Again, completely alien but also strangely recognizable. It has some very nice moments of cultural dissonance - Japanese tv is baffling, and the talk show is so strange it counts as a surreal moment from planet Mars.
On the other hand, it does not really go anywhere. Two people alienated from their lives, meet in a strange city and have a brief moment of understanding, then go back to their lives. Ultimately, I find this a little thin to hang a whole movie on. I really liked her earlier movie The Virgin Suicides which was both evocative and had a strong story. Maybe she is a better director than writer.

Posted at 09:24 PM     Read More