MACBETH- Polish
The first of my 26 or so plays of the ‘Globe to Globe’ festival. This production felt very “European”... it’s funny, even though I haven’t seen a lot of European productions, it made sense to me. I was expecting it to be a lot more graphic, with all the warning signs of “extremely mature content”... there was barely any blood. Interesting idea having the drag queens be the witches. I’m trying to think of a modern equivalent. How does a director, when setting Macbeth in modern times, equate the fear and power that “witches” had during the reign of King James. I’ve heard it compared to an equivalent of the “Blair Witch Project” or “The Exorcist”, in terms of impact and literally scariness/effectiveness on the audience. This production had a lot of comedy, which I appreciated. The Polish actors sure know how to scream. In a good way. They did not shy away from jumping off the cliff when it came to trying to access the true anguish these characters are feeling. This production made me think of the effect of war on the men and women who are directly involved. It started out with drag queens roaming the ‘pit’ and Macbeth and Banquo sitting on two lazy-esque-boy chairs texting on their iphones. Wearing track suits, these two looked like a bunch of deadbeats. They’ve been ravaged by war, and now they are pathetic, and have no purpose in life. Lady M was stuck in bed and suffering from depression. Until... the Macbeths receive news from the King that he has become thane of Cawdor.. then things change. My only problem was that the “prophesy” of the Witches/Drag Queens came when Macbeth and Banquo were at a night club and it was sort of a “toast” from the witches... didn’t seem to effect Macbeth at first. In this instance I wasn’t sure if the drag queen idea worked.
Two Gentlemen of Verona -Shona (Zimbabwe)
The ‘Two Gents’ Production of Two Gentlemen of Verona fit so well into the Globe, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was performed by two actors, or that it was in the language Shona, I would have thought it was a home grown Globe production itself. These two actors portrayed all the characters. Simply. No huge caricatures, but just the right amount of vocal/physical adjustment to make them crystal clear. All the had was a clothes line across the stage with a few small costume pieces which they switched for the various characters. They played and had fun with the audience, while still keeping the heart of this romance. It felt poignant being a romance about lovers being separated when one goes off to a foreign land, as I have just arrived in London, far away from my boyfriend, home, friends. They really captured the Globe spirit in this production as they used the audience, addressed them frequently, went into the crowd and even at one point brought some people on stage. Of course we were all playing along, we all felt that we were safe in their hands. The other thing that was amazing was that I understood so much. The story was crystal clear. It’s funny how humour is all in the rhythm as I found myself laughing at jokes when I had no clue what was actually said. These performers were wonderful. The heart of the Shona language is so visceral when they speak, one can’t help but feel they understand what’s going on. Beautiful.
Henry VI part I - Serbian
Good times at the Globe tonight. What I’m loving about seeing all of these plays in languages that I don’t understand, is I’m really getting a good sense of the story. There is no pressure for me to “get it”, and yet I find myself following along just fine. This production was interesting in that they had a huge metal round table int he middle of the stage and they used it in many ways, breaking it apart, turning the various parts sideways/upside down, all the while the actors stayed on stage the whole time and changed simple costume pieces to change characters. Still a good 10-15 or so men (and one woman-Joan of Arc) in the cast. It didn’t have a lot of movement on the stage (perhaps because if the huge table). It didn’t distract me during the performance though, and all seemed to fit well into the Globe. Great acting. Seems to me the play is full of “meetings” about alliances. People wanting other peoples land, or manipulating people to switch sides, or trying to convince other people of their right to land/the throne/etc... men fighting over land. Joan of Arc is an interesting character. She was very well done. I found the main thing about this play was that it didn’t pull at my heart strings. I didn’t really empathize with many of the characters, not because of the acting, but because I wasn’t sure what they were fighting for. Why did they want control of various lands, why did they want other people on their side... power?... but is there more? Hmmm... intriguing. Makes me want to see an English version of the full play to see if there are subtleties I’m missing within the various scenes. Part 2 and 3 tomorrow!
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