I went to three shows today. Really theatre binging now...
First up was The Tempest by Royal Shakespeare Company and Little Angel Theatre.
I loved this show!
Beautiful puppetry.
Exciting lighting and effects.
Lovely music - great live singing.
Big exaggerated acting - for kids theatre - but I actually thought it worked. It was alive and playful and fun.
Nice little theatre too. I want to have a theatre like that!
I felt like a kid (I was surrounded by them too). And then the actors came out at the end for questions! Really special. Simple and magical. My favourite so far!
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Then I went to a matinee of The Knot of the Heart at Almeida Theatre.
This wasn't my favorite production.
It was written by David Eldridge for the actress who played the main part. Apparently she wanted something dramatic to chew on But is that a good enough reason to write a play? I'm sure there was more, but it felt like drama created for the sake of it.
It was about a kids' TV star becoming a drug addict. The rich family has troubles. A mélodrama for rich people... I don't care!
You could hear old people saying "I know somebody that has a son with an alcohol problem, it's awful." The line in the play "this kind of thing doesn't happen to people like us" was a typical tell of the aim of the piece.
Performances were strong - good to watch acting chops. But it was just bla bla bla talking heads. No game, no lightness. Lots of addict drugged and out of control and alcoholic acting: Not that interesting. Just pushed.
Almeida Theatre
This theatre is Circa Theatre of London: a rich suburbs theatre. So the work was made for that audience and that's fine. I'm just not that audience. But give me something with magic and imagination. With surprise and fun. This could just be on TV. A Soap opera. So boring. The writer obviously just has a crush on the lead actress and so wrote a big juicy part for her. I hope she goes on a date with him!
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Finally, Hamlet at The National.
Wow! This is what Im talking about! Fantastic! £12 tickets for 3.5hrs of rock star Shakespeare.
Hamlet (Rory Kinnear, here wearing a TV with 'Villain' written on it, which he tagged on a wall earlier in the play) was totally alive and unpredictable. Great text work - clear and playing with the language with his mouth. In his body. We see him and his joy.
Such great acting from the whole cast (except Ophelia...Have a scene! Be with us! Don't be afraid! We want to love you!).
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Polonious stole the show, great timing, very funny. He would rant, then pause, and we would wait in silence. It was as if he'd forgotten his lines. He played with rhythm so well. We loved him. We loved him as the gravedigger too! |
The lighting and staging was awesome, a stellar cast. Exciting! Well paced, lots of changes. Energy. Chaos. Loved it.
Shakespeare and Chekhov is coming up next at Gaulier and I can't wait now. Going to learn some texts so I can work quicker. There's some good stuff in Hamlet! But I'd like to do something from The Tempest, with Rodrigo as Caliban! And Macbeth. Oh exciting! My love for theatre is growing more and more. I'm not only interested as an actor anymore. I'm interested in everything. Thinking like a director, and designer, and writer, and producer, and actor. Can I do all of these things? Pourquoi pas?
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