The 39 Steps at the Criterion Theatre
This was an amazingly fun production based on the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same title. There are only four actors in the production, who play all the roles from the movie. The total number of characters is 139, so you can understand that these actors really have their hands full. This is some of my favorite theatre to watch. I love getting to see actors take on giant challenges and succeed through group ensemble work rather than narcissistic habits. Nothing was thrown out when adapting the film to the stage- not the car scene nor the chase on top of a train. Lighting effects and sound cues helped to fill out the action, which was usually very inclusive of the audience's sense of humor. For instance, when looking out the train window, the actor shook his head violently while saying his lines which made his lips flap about like in a strong wind. This theme kept up with people moving their hats and flapping their coats out behind them. Much of the action was very simple and created great pictures without the use of an obtrusive set. The two male extras were extremely valiant and entertaining, playing absolutely wonderful supporting roles throughout the show. At the climax of the show, all four actors are onstage when an arm comes from behind the curtain to shoot the 'bad guy'. The show halts entirely as the actors express confusion, concern and rage at the interference of a fifth person until three conclude its legitimacy and force the 'bad guy' to succumb to his fate and a very overacted and exaggerated death. This was a very entertaining and fun night. The 39 Steps was a great show to introduce us to London theatre, as it was the first show we had seen here.
The Antonioni Project at the Barbican Center
This was a very interesting production based on the 1960s movie trilogy by Michelangelo Antonioni. The play brings together characters and story lines from all the movies resulting in a pretty confusing plot line. It was easy to understand that the plot was not the biggest concern in this production within twenty minutes. The real focus of the production was the way in which it was presented. There were live actors on a blue screen stage and the performance was simultaneously acted, filmed, edited, subtitled and projected live. The use of onstage cameras, recorded greenscreen effects and image projection resulted in a very postmodern performance that invited the audience to think about the nature of live theatre and cinema and the way we receive them. The themes focused on the nature of love and long term relationships. The dialogue was spoken in Dutch, which made the inclusion of live subtitling very necessary. I had never been to a production like this, so it was very interesting albeit long at two and a half hours.
The Antonioni Project
Clybourne Park at Wyndham's Theatre
This was a very enjoyable play by American playwright Bruce Norris. The play deals with race relations in a suburban neighborhood between black and white in the 1950s and then generations later in modern times. The play centers around one home, which is sold by a white family to a black family in the 1950s and then sold by a black family to a white family in modern times. The same actors play the different characters in both time periods and experience conflicts from white adversity to black families populating the neighborhood to the arbitrary restraints and contradictions of modern political correctness. The play was a comedy and was very well done. The actors did great work in solidifying their characters and finding funny moments. The audience laughed uproariously and extendedly at a joke about vaginas and tampons. The joke was funny, but not that funny. I guess brits think vaginas are extremely hilarious.
Clybourne Park at Wyndham's Theatre
Lysistrata at Some University
I was thoroughly excited for this production after last year's period styles scenes, but I was thoroughly disappointed from the first opening sound cue which included gun shots. Little did I know that this was set in the Napoleonic wars, which I would have known had I paid the $5 for a program. I also did not know that it was being performed by the university's Greek and Roman Classics department. Fail. The phallus used in this production was an extreme understatement, if you get my drift. The men in this production were hilarious, since their costumes were obviously extremely uncomfortable. All the guys were wearing tights that were cut off below the knee, as well as knee high socks. As you can imagine, some of these guys were taller than others and suffered many annoying costume malfunctions when their socks would fall downward and their tights upwards. This resulted in many amusing moments of guys trying to fix their naked knees during the show. Priceless.
This Production Wasn't Good Enough For A Link-Look At This Puppy I Want Instead
An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre
This was a very enjoyable show. Though Oscar Wilde sometimes loses me with the wordplay, I really enjoyed this production. The main cast was absolutely delightful. Lord Goring was very much a good-natured, yet narcissistic bachelor that won the heart of the audience with a charming appearance and a well-played personality that was both earnest and flippant. The costuming and set for this production never ceased to amaze. I was positive that the giant golden, mirrored flats complete with staircase and two giant doorways would be the setting for the rest of the production, but I was very wrong. The scene changed as necessary, and I began to realize the elegant versatility of the set design. The set changed from a high-ceilinged ballroom, to Sir Robert's study, to Lord Goring's library and to a lounging room adjacent to a conservatory. Absolutely beautiful and purposeful every time. This production was very fun and extremely well done. The extra work at the beginning was not very good; however, if Lord Goring's butler had any more lines, I think the audience would have demanded he stay on stage as he was hilarious in his bit role.
An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville
Throats at the Pleasance Theatre
I had a very good time with this production, though I can't say the same for some of my fellow audience members. The play itself was a very hard style to swallow. The playwright, Gerald Thomas, used many modern conventions and pathways to create his work, which resulted in a lot of word and image associations and stream of consciousness writing. I would categorize this play as modern absurdist, though it was written with the dramatic intensity of an opera. The first fifteen minutes of the play is actually silent. The actors are introduced by entering onto a set dominated by a dinner table complete with a butler-like character and a bandaged head poking out of the center. The first scene is reminiscent of Warner Bros. cartoons and is accompanied by music written by John Paul Jones, the bassist of Led Zeppelin. The music continues once speaking begins, although it takes on more of an underscoring role throughout the rest of the play. The play's style reminds you of Samuel Beckett because of its use of words as a landscape and the macabre concepts used to build it. I would say that this play represented a kind of hell or afterlife where the rules of reality flew out the window. Instead, the world was dictated by changing groups of rules, which either dictated the play as a dinner party, a crucifixion or an apocalyptic wine guzzling. The characters are thrown about in the changing world of the play and often used as a medium for the playwright's own words. It often seemed to me as if Gerald Thomas's subconscious was being poured into the play and characters. It was much like a surreal dreamworld in which nothing and no one was held accountable for its reason, relation to current action or basis in reality. The script was very interesting, but the action and the characters seemed to lose individuality, purpose and specificity as the play went on. I blame this mostly on the actors rather than the play itself. Although the text becomes more wordy, and, as Zach said, more indicative of artistic masturbation, there are still many opportunities for creating riveting and conflicting action in that setting. I love this kind of theatre because it is a giant challenge for actors. I never would have accepted a role in this play with my current experience, as I would have been quite lost and required more direction than I would want. I do want to perform in theatre like this eventually, though. It's just very hard to move from doing extremely naturalistic works throughout high school and college to diving into a very juicy, subtextual script like this. I really liked that the theatre venue for this production was so small. It was very intimate and off-West End. The seating was general admission and made up of pew-style seating. Also, something to think about for actors: how would performing to a white fourth wall affect your work? In this production, there was a smoky, off-white scrim that covered the stage the entire time. Although the audience could see all the action because the stage was lit very well, the actors were faced with looking at an opaque white fourth wall for the entire production. I wonder if this makes playing more challenging or easier to accomplish. Perhaps it goes unnoticed and makes absolutely no difference at all.
Throats at Pleasance Theatre
