Last night I caught a production of the Duchess of Malfi at the Old Vic. What a magical theatre, I can just imagine so much acting royalty having graced that stage. I was lucky to snag a front row 12 pound ticket so I was right up in the action. This was a BIG production. Huge, glorious, dark and creepy set. Looked like a medieval castle, all lit with candles and reaching all the way up beyond the extremely high proscenium arch. There were two additional levels that were cross overs/balconies above the main stage. All this being said, their use of the set was relatively simple. Towards the end of the play they made it snow onstage, which I wasn’t sure why, it sort of came out of knowwhere, but other than that, just candles and the movement of people in space. They used masks, and the metaphor of a masquerade for the beginning of the play, some beautiful choreography. Apparently this is one of the most performed plays of the period outside of Shakespeare’s cannon. The actors were clear, and very strong I just wasn’t sure of the play itself. Basically the Duchess is a widow and her brother says she can not get re-married (something to do with the blood line, I didn’t quite catch the reason in the beginning of the play). However she falls in love and does marry someone and has three kids with him. The brother finds out and has her captured and eventually murdered (this is 45 minutes before the end of the play-our heroine is now gone) so we end up watching the brother and his remorse, along with the people he entangled in the mess of killing the Duchess, etc... that’s sort of a quick and dirty summary, but regardless as intriguing the production was, I wasn’t uber fond of the story. Nothing pulled me in. Maybe I’m tired of all these plays about people obsessing about their blood line/power with all the histories I’ve been catching. I’m excited to see more at the Old Vic though, definitely a magical venue.
King John was a lovely piece of theatre. Not knowing the story at all I was curious as to how much I would enjoy this production, being in a language I don’t understand. The Armenian theatre company approached the play with humour and “play” in all the right places. They used suitcases for much of the “Set” and played with the idea of traveling players (which they are) coming to the Globe to put on this play. Some of it seemed false, but I still enjoyed it because they were clearly enjoying themselves and had a sense of play which is more than most of the Histories are. Acknowledge that half of your audience doesn’t speak your language and helping them along I find is the most satisfying of the plays I’ve seen thus far at this festival. At one point a women clapped after someone said something and they actor looked at her and said “thank you”’, the audience roared with applause. He acknowledged a live moment. It was special. I’m UBER excited for Lear tomorrow, not only because it’s Lear, but because its the Belarusian Free Theatre a company who aren’t allowed to perform in their own country. Should be a special event!
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