(no subject)

[skygiants]

Man, believe it or not, I actually get to post about really really good theater today! That being Theater for a New Audience's production of Merchant of Venice, which obopolsk and I went to see via magic-four-dollar-tickets last night.

Merchant is definitely not my favorite play - is there anyone whose favorite play it is? I'm really curious about this, actually; I think it's really interesting, but a near-impossible play to love - but this was the kind of production that reminds you why the problem plays are really, really worth it to stage, and overall just some of the best Shakespeare I've seen in a really long time. The attention to detail in the production was just fantastic. Anti-Semitism obviously still takes the main stage, but the direction and the choices deliberately highlighted a lot of the other issues that many productions try to skim over. Some things that impressed me:

- the setting of the play is modern or near-future, and the entire set of Antonio's friends (including Bassanio, Lorenzo and Gratiano) were played as exactly the kind of smarmy status-obsessed financial district fratboys that you run into everywhere in New York. Seriously, I felt like I went to college with some of these guys.
- Nerissa was played by a black actress, and during all the scenes with the Prince of Morocco, it's Nerissa you're watching - and her silent reaction when Portia tosses off her line about "let all of his complexion choose me so" is pretty gutting
- . . . except for the times when you're watching Balthasar's hilarious silent flirtation with the Prince of Morocco's bodyguard. The dude who played Balthasar was a complete scene-stealer, by the way. He had like two lines in the whole play and my eyes were on him every time he was on stage just to appreciate the glory of his patiently long-suffering face. But anyway, I mention that flirtation especially because . . .
- this was definitely a much more explicitly queer production than I expected! I mean, Merchant of Venice is already a textually slashy play, and this production had the slash ramped up to ELEVEN, and the part that really impressed me is how very deliberately they did that, and without making it a joke - Portia's face when Bassanio kisses Antonio during the trial scene packs almost as much of a punch as Nerissa's during the Prince of Morocco scene. The end definitely does not heteronormatize the play, and resolves nothing.
- on a different note, Jessica's actress did a really amazing job of showing her emotional conflict throughout the whole show. You could see the tension in her whenever she was onstage, and none of her scenes with Launcelot were played for comedy.
- Which isn't to say it wasn't a funny production! I was laughing out loud through a lot of it (and not just at Balthasar, although, may I say again: SCENE-STEALER.) But it was funny in the way Merchant should be funny, where the comedy is always balanced on that uncomfortable knife-edge that might slice into you at any moment.
- Okay, this has nothing to do with any serious issues at all, but just in terms of staging, a bunch of the scenes where someone calls in their buddy or partner or whatever and has a conversation with them and then sends them away again were conducted via cell-phone. This is something I've never seen in a modernized Shakespeare before, which in retrospect I find shocking. Why don't more productions do this? It works so well!
- Relatedly, I would like to buy the costume designer a drink. So many excellent details! The fake moustaches! Bassanio's tie! Lorenzo and Jessica standing around awkwardly in bathrobes during the super awkward final scene!

Ahhhh I was going to segue from here into a booklogging post about some plays I have read recently, but it seems I have spent too long talking about Merchant of Venice so I will end it up here and save that post for later. I did not expect to have so many feelings about this play! But basically, I am pretty sure that this production is going to be the one that any other will have to beat, for me - and if you're in NYC and have a free night over the next week or so, I would definitely suggest it is worth your while to check the production out. (It's here until March 13th! You still have time!)

Comments

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

I am thrilled to hear about this! I wish I could see it!

[skygiants]

Oh, and the other thing I didn't even mention in the review - the playbill was packed with critical commentary on both the play and on contemporary anti-semitism. Which is, again, something I feel like I never see, and something I LOVED. Note to directors and dramaturgs: DO THIS MORE.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

Noted! I think we often err on the side of not packing the playbill so as not to a)overwhelm the reader and b) put off the casual theatre goer. That's why more critical companies like OSF publish a separate guide that contains the critical information.

[skygiants]

Oh, interesting! I don't think I've been to a production where there was a separate critical guide available - or if there was I didn't know about it. I will have to keep an eye out for things like that.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

OSF publishes a full season program and a full season critical guide in addition to playbill one-sheets for each show. It really, I think, fills the need without scaring off the theatregoer who's just looking for a little culture and not a broad academic outlook. OTOH, I think that kind of material SHOULD be available to everyone, regardless of wanting to pay for it. Which is also why some companies are moving into having critical information available online. For me, while I absolutely believe that dramaturgy should be taking the internet by storm, I think it's problematic not to have the material available at the moment when you're seeing the show. If one has to think about it when one gets home or the next day or whenever, I feel like it gets less and less likely that one will look at it at all.

[skygiants]

They're not mutually exclusive, either! Another thing I really liked about this production - when I went to the website, they had youtube videos up of the rehearsal process, and of the three female leads talking about their characters. Which last bit was especially awesome because it meant I could be certain that some of the dynamics I thought I was seeing, and was giving the director and the cast credit for, was absolutely intentional.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

Oh for sure. I'm all for doing both, I don't necessarily like to privilege one over the other, especially in privileging the internet.

[mercuriazs.livejournal.com]

waaaaaait, where is this website? :O

[skygiants]

It is here!

[skygiants]

And man, now I am listening to the first rehearsal one - which I had not seen yet, just the one with the ladies of the cast - and I am so delighted, because the director is saying everything I thought he was saying and am so glad to be proven right about!

"The way that the numbers are stacked, I think Shakespeare is telling us about what the new crowd is - to be young, to be male, to be white, to be straight, to be Christian, and to be prosperous is the goal in this world, and everybody else is made fun of, everybody else is excluded one way or the other." I think I am a little bit in love with this director.

[skylilies.livejournal.com]

ohhh man this one sounds really interesting! i love well done modernizations;;

[skygiants]

It was definitely one of the most integrated-feeling modernizations I've ever seen. I feel like adding tech to Shakespeare can feel very 'pastede on yay!' but in this case it all made perfect sense within the play and didn't jar with the language at all. (Portia's chests were laptops! The keys were little portable hard drives! IT WORKED SO WELL.)

[wickedtrue.livejournal.com]

Oooh! This production is coming up to Boston later in the month, and I've been staring at all the ads for in curiosity. I have been leery of stage shows lately since it seems I am NEVER ALLOWED to see a good theatre show in or from NYC EVER AGAIN.

Hmm! May be I will enlist the Bostonians to go see it with me. ADVENTURES!

[skygiants]

GO SEE IT. I am serious. BREAK THE CHAIN. (Seriously, this production is like the polar opposite of that Othello we saw. Coherent vision! Integrated directorial choices! No inexplicable pools of water! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS.)

[wickedtrue.livejournal.com]

(WHY WAS DESDEMONA 30? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? Putting her in a pool at the end doesn't work EITHER!)

I am trying to convince someone to tag along with me in April!

[skygiants]

(AND WHY DID SHE SOUND LIKE SHE'D BEEN SMOKING FOR TWENTY YEARS? I still don't understand anything about that Desdemona's casting at all. AT ALL.)

When you see it you must tell me your thoughts afterwards!

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I already forgot about the bathrobes! The cell phones were definitely my favorite, but the bathrobes were a close second.

[skygiants]

The bathrobes were SUCH A BRILLIANT DECISION. Everything about the costume design, really - I mean, I think it's easy for modernized costume design to all sort of blend together without standing out, but in this case every choice was just so excellent!

[mercuriazs.livejournal.com]

There is nothing that is not amazing about your description of this play. :DDDD

[skygiants]

It was SO GOOD. I had almost forgotten how amazing a really good production of Shakespeare could be!

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

...I am experiencing an increasing desire to move to New York.

[skygiants]

COME TO US. We have theater! And cookies!

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

And those limited release foreign films! And Chinatown!


Honestly at this point there is very little stopping me from declaring that I'm moving to New York or Philadelphia after I graduate other than that I'd really like to have a job lined up before incurring that expense.

[skygiants]

As a former Philadelphia and current NYC native, I fully endorse this decision . . . not to sound like a creeper or anything. >.>

I can bribe you with four-dollar tickets to random exciting stuff!

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

I think I need to try to start networking with the family I have in the areas. I seem to be making up for the fact that I've become entirely uncertain about what I want to do by becoming very set on where I want to be uncertain!

You always make such compelling arguments!

[skygiants]

Hahaha, these were also pretty much exactly my feelings on graduating college lo these three many years ago!

I do try. >:D >:D >:D

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

My main issue is that I see most of these people at most once a year, so it is kind of awkward asking them for things. (Not that I would find it easier to ask them for things if I saw them frequently. I am terrible at taking advantage of connections.)

Temptress!

[skygiants]

(Oh man, me too. Networking! WHY ARE YOU SO HARD.)

For the record, if you have questions or anything you think I could help with, feel free to use me as a resource! If I am going to be an east coast temptress, it seems the least I can do.

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

(SO HARD.)

Ah, thank you so much! I think for now my next step is talking to Career Services, since I have...no idea how to job search. But I will keep your offer of EXPERT REGIONAL ADVICE in mind!