Last night I saw an “HD simulcast” of Julie Taymor’s 2014 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was definitely the best version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream I have ever seen and among the best plays I have ever seen. It made me think about the play in a way I never had before.
I really liked how the cast was so racially diverse (Oberon, Helena, Hippolyta, and Snout were all played by black actors). The acting was wonderful, and I was impressed by how comfortably and naturally the actors spoke the Shakespearean language. The show was moving, beautiful, and very funny, too.
The choreography was really interesting and effective, and at times very dancelike. The beautiful lighting and projections were a big part of the show as well. The costumes definitely had a very Julie Taymor-ish feel, and reminded me of her Broadway production of The Lion King. Oberon’s costume made him look like an African king, Titania’s reminded me of the White Witch from the Narnia movies, Peter Quince’s players all looked like modern, working-class people, which I really liked. (And I loved Bottom’s New York accent). The faeries were all played by children, which had a really nice effect. Also, for comic effect, some lines were added. One notable example is when, in the play within the play, Pyramus tries to speak through the chink in the wall (played by Tom Snout), but Thisbe is gone. Pyramus yells “Curs’d be thy stones for thus deceiving me!” and bangs his fist on the wall (hitting Snout in the knee). In this production, when that happens, Snout cries out in pain “son of a bitch!” Also, when Peter Quince and his players are all singing sadly because Bottom has disappeared, Snout, who is black in this production, starts ad-libbing some R&B-style music (“Oh, Lord!”).
I’m really glad I went to see this production, and found it really inspiring and well-done.
Some images from the show can be found here: https://www.google.com/search?q=julie+taymor+midsummer&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=913&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoA2oVChMIgu61q7CpyAIVCT0-Ch056QEf#imgrc=_
(I saw this production in Spaulding Auditorium at the Hopkins Center on October 3.)
And with this comment, "The costumes definitely had a very Julie Taymor-ish feel, and reminded me of her Broadway production of The Lion King," you have surpassed the teacher.
I was part of a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream when I was in eighth grade, so I find lots of your descriptions very interesting. I really like what you said about the cast, and can understand why you enjoyed the diversity of the cast, and how the faeries were all played by children (I agree--that seems like it would have been a good touch). I like your descriptions of the costumes; I can really imagine what you're talking about (also, thanks for including a link to the pictures). I think being able to see those was really cool, since when I did this in eighth grade, our production wasn't able to give the feel of grandeur that this play deserves. I also like how you mention how the actors were able to comfortably speak the Shakespearean language, because that is something that the people in my production struggled with, and I hope that helped you to enjoy the play more, and also understand it. I personally enjoy your coverage of Peter Quince's players, as I played Nick Bottom (and I really wish I could have seen the New York accent). I can imagine how hilarious some of their lines must have been. Your description of this performance was very well described, so thanks for sharing.
I have read A Midsummer Night's Dream one year ago but I cannot remember some of it. I understand it is nice to have a diverse cast and they all speak Shakespearean language well. I like how you relate each actor's costume to some other characters you know and some movies you have watched. You compare the added lines to the original version detailedly. It is really helpful you put the link up there and I searched it. The lighting is kind of cold feel and it really impressed me I really like it. Actors are fit into every scene under the cool lighting and they have really good postures. I would love to see this production.
On September 26, 2015, I went to see the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet perform at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College. This was not the first dance show that I had been to at the Hopkin Center, but it was the first contemporary ballet show that I have seen on that stage. There are mainly two different types of ballet. There is classical ballet and there is contemporary ballet. Classical ballet is all about technique, lines, and how you dance with a group and by yourself. Contemporary ballet is classical ballet combined with modern, a style that is more down to earth and the movement and shapes that are created.
The show consisted of three dances with a fifteen minute intermission in between the two middle pieces. There were ten dancers, six women and four men. As the curtain rose on the first dance, I notice the lighting was done in a way that it seems like the light was coming from the sides and beneath the dancers instead of from the top, like it had been in so many other pieces that I have seen. A young woman ran onto the stage. In silence, she began to move in a strangely athletic way; a way that made me sort of uncomfortable to look at. The moves were quirky and I got the feeling that where I wondered if this was how the dance was supposed to go. Making the audience feel uncomfortable is something that some choreographers use to draw the audience in.
The second piece was titled Silent Ghost. In this piece there was lots of contrast. In some moments all of the dancers would be dancing in unison, in other moments they would all be doing something different, and in other times they would dance in a cannon, where one person or group of people starts a phrase and another person or group of people start the same phrase a little later. My favorite thing about this piece was that close to the beginning of the piece, there was this moment when all of the dancers went from dancing in a cannon to one by one forming a line and breathing heavy with the music. Once they were all there, they waited awkwardly for a few more measures, and then continued on with the piece. That moment was one that struck me as unexpected and perfectly normal at the same time. When I watch dance, I try to find the bigger message in the piece. When watching this piece, it reminded me of parents who are taking care of a baby, and through the piece, the baby grows up. That may not be the real message that the choreographer was going for, but it was one that I could picture very clearly.
The last piece was different from any other piece in the show. In the first two pieces the costumes were a greyish blue color. In the last dance, they were wearing all read with a little gold embroidery here and there. The music also was louder and less gentle than in the first two pieces. This dance was more athletic than the other two pieces, and as I watched it, it made me want to get up on stage and dance with them. The strength and muscularity was so apparent not just by how their bodies looked, but also by the kinds of movements that they were doing. I have been dancing since third grade, and in that time I have seen many dance performances. Yet in this piece there were lifts that I can not picture how one would go about doing.
This summer I went with my mom to Jacob’s Pillow, a dance center located in Becket, Massachusetts. There I saw a performance done by Ballet BC. That was the very first contemporary ballet performance that I had been to and when I saw this at Dartmouth, it reminded me of the show at Jacob’s Pillow. They both had a different style from one another, but they shared some of the things that I find amazing about dance. One thing that I find amazing is when dancers do a step or a phrase that make the audience want to leave the audience and so dance on the stage. Pulling the audience is something that I think is important in choreography.
I thoroughly enjoyed this performance and hope that I get to go to more dance shows in the future.
On Friday, I attended the lecture given by Dr. Gary Aston-Jones, a psychologist visiting Dartmouth from Rutgers University. His lecture was entitled “Unraveling Brain Circuits for Drug Seeking and Demand”, and described how different levels of activity from certain neurons affect an addicted person’s desire to obtain and use drugs. Many of the studies he referenced were performed on rats, and I had even heard of a few of them from health class.
The lecture was held in a classroom in Dartmouth’s psychology building, and was primarily populated by students and middle-aged men. Actually, now that I think about it, there were very few women there at all, including students and community members. A professor introduced Dr. Aston-Jones by telling us a little about the work he’s done in the psychological community, and mentioned a few facts about Dr. Aston-Jones’ personal life. I was interested to discover that the doctor had attended the same university as my dad did.
As soon as Dr. Aston-Jones began his lecture, I understood why many of the attendees were students, presumably focused on psychology, as I could barely comprehend a single word he was saying. There were a few familiar words, learned from our drug addiction unit in health last year, but I couldn’t help feeling like the only way one sentence would make sense would be if all the ones before it had made sense, and they didn’t. When we left, I thought again about some of the things he said, and realized that it wasn’t necessary that I understood every term he used. I gathered the overall idea, and was able to enjoy myself despite not knowing what orexin antagonists and DREADDs are. Attending this lecture was a good experience for me to have because I was able to what a college-type lecture is like without the pressure of needing to perfectly retain the information for a test or a report. Dr. Aston-Jones was engaging and precise, and it was clear he was both passionate and informed about what he presented. The lecture was only about an hour long, which seemed like the perfect amount of time for me. It occurred to me afterward that perhaps it would’ve been more beneficial for me to go to a lecture about a subject I am especially interested in, but I decided that it’s sort of nice to just be thrown into unknown territory once in awhile, because it’s a good thing to teach yourself how to be comfortable with just not knowing sometimes.
Last thursday, November 5, I saw the Beaux Stratagem In live simulcast at the Black Family Center for the Arts. It was quite probably the best play I have ever seen, but also when I look back at it, had a lot more meaning and subtext than I had originally perceived. The Beaux Stratagem was written by George Farquhar in 1707, a time when divorce and marriage, the main themes of the play, was viewed very strictly.
While this play is comedy, it is about divorce, and at the time, this was a controversial issue. In this play, two men (Mr. Aimwell and Mr. Archer) who have squandered their fortune, meet two women wealthy women (Dorinda and Ms. Sullen), one of whom is married. After a series of hijinks, the suitor confronts the husband, and the couple divorce by consent, an act that was almost unthought of at that time. If there was a divorce, it would probably be the husbands doing, for that matter, they had to pay dowries to even marry in the upper classes.
However the proactive nature of the play is not prevalent in the opening scenes. Early on in the play, it appears to be a gentlemanly farce with no more message than be careful what you wish for, and doubly cautious what you drink, but as the comedy gets funnier, and the plot gets thicker, the meanings get deeper. There are classist undertones as one might expect from a British comedy about the upper class, and a strong feminist attitude from the two leading ladies that is sometimes lacking in literature at the time.
The casting of this play was amazing, and while programs were not handed out, I was eventually able to find out the names of the leading actors. Samuel Barnett as Mr. Aiwell had amazing stage presence, and the eye was always attracted to him. He projected an air of effortless superiority that was the hallmark of the true English gentleman. Susannah Fielding portrayed Ms. Sullen extremely well. Despite what the name implies, she brought a bright and vivacious attitude to the role, and her timing and delivery of her lines added much to the performance.
Although I expected a stiff stereotypical english gentry comedy, I was surprised at the outset by the “common” aspects. THe curtain rose to a song by an apparent drunk, and as I mentioned, the classist undertones were rife from the outset. There was a surprising amount of singing for a play, but it lacked the big musical numbers that would make it a musical. The choreography was amazing, blending different dance such as jigs and waltzes into the same song.
I enjoyed every aspect of this play, and I has taught me more than any other play to date, and will inspire me in my own writing and performing.
On October 13, I went to a Dartmouth Lecture that was entitled “Psychological and Brain Sciences” online. This name instantly got my attention, because the topic itself is something I am interested in. Given this broad caption, I was unsure of what to expect. There are so many subjects within this field of sciences, but in any case, I was excited to gain a greater understanding of the brain’s functions. My prediction however, was quite off.
The lecture was given by Gary Aston-Jones: a specialist in neurosciences and brain health. The projected title on the screen read, “Unraveling Brain Circuits for Drug Seeking and Demand.” We were given an overview of what the lecture would entail, and to my surprise, I was struggling to piece together any of the points that were being given. Within the first few sentences, I could tell that this was meant for students who may also be specializing in this field, along with a variety of adults that were attending. I quickly felt the pressure to do note taking, yet found it impossible to record anything. I tried to consume the main points of each slide, though I wasn’t confident that my translations were even near correct. Each slide was a new challenge to decipher. The general lecture seemed to be about how different areas of the brain will influence one’s motivation for drug use. Dr. Gary Aston-Jones also pointed out certain cues that altered this motivation, giving us examples through statistics gathered from feeding drugs to mice. For instance, he shared an experiment where mice would tap a dispenser in its cage to receive a small dose of methamphetamine. The mice would rapidly tap this dispenser, but as time went on, the dose became smaller and smaller. They would receive a shock in between every few portions, though as the proportions decreased, the amount of shocks increased. Therefore, the mouse was getting much less of a reward compared to the beginning, even though they were doing more work and the punishment was greater. Dr. Gary Aston-Jones made the analogy that drugs are playing a similar role in our economy. While this is mainly the extent of what I actually learned, it was interesting to see intense material being spoken so comfortably. Even from the few students who asked questions in the end, I couldn’t help but feel that they were all speaking a different language. I loved to see the passion exchanged between the audience and the speaker.
Even with the little information I could understand throughout this lecture, I still appreciated the experience. I liked being in the lecture room environment, as it gave me an insight into what parts of college may be like. I was also given a satisfying sense at the end, due to the amount of attentiveness I had to maintain. Even having said this, I may have gotten a greater take away had I attended a lecture that was better suited for my interests and age group. But nonetheless, I think it was beneficial to be challenged.
A couple weeks ago I saw an “HD simulcast” of National Theatre Live’s production of Hamlet, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, Ciarán Hinds as Claudius, Leo Bill as Horatio, Jim Norton as Polonius, Anastasia Hille as Gertrude, Sian Brooke as Ophelia, Karl Johnson as the Hamlet’s Father/Gravedigger, Matthew Steer as Rosencrantz, Kobna Holdbrook Smith as Laertes, and Sergo Vares as Fortinbras, (I should probably stop now or the cast list will take up half of my blog post).
It was different for me than seeing other Shakespeare productions in that I didn’t know the play, and aside from seeing The Lion King (if that counts), I had no experience with it before I went to the performance. I never before realized what the famous “To be or not to be” speech was actually about, and I’ll definitely think about it differently from now on when I hear references to it. Though it’s hard to compare a play as intense as Hamlet to Shakespeare’s comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream or As You Like It, I think this is my new favorite Shakespeare play. It was interesting to watch this play while in the middle of reading Romeo and Juliet.
From a technical aspect, this show was also pretty incredible. The special effects were stunning and incredibly dramatic—the use of lighting, projections, smoke, ashes, fire, wind, etc. The set was amazing, too, as was the staging. The music added a lot of drama to the production, and I thought it was very fitting.
The acting in this production was definitely the best of any Shakespeare production I’ve ever seen—particularly Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet, Ciarán Hinds’ Claudius, and Anastasia Hille’s Gertrude. It didn’t take more than the first scene for me to forget they were speaking in Elizabethan language, and I found myself crying at several points in the play. (That doesn’t happen to me very often.)
Seeing such a high-quality production of this play, often called Shakespeare’s greatest (I would agree with that sentiment), was a wonderful experience, and I found it to be really powerful. I would highly recommend that any Shakespeare fans go and see it when it returns to the Hop this January.
THE TRAILER CAN BE VIEWED HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3S4dXuKXx0
(I saw this production the Loew Auditorium at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College on October 29.)
I went to Norwich Congregational Church last night and attended a lecture about Shakespeare there. The professor is from Dartmouth College and has spent much time on researching Shakespeare. He talked about Shakespeare’s first folio––Cymbeline. There were a lot of characters in that play and he said it was a resemble of rest Shakespeare’s plays. It had a lot of same plots as other Shakespeare’s plays and it was a combination of tragedy and comedy. Shakespeare had a huge amount of vocabs in his plays. The professor used Bible as an example. 7000 words for Bible and 27000 words for Shakespeare. Cymbeline was the king and he made a lot of bad judgements until the last scene. The major conflict in this folio was between a couple–– Posthumus and Imogen. Posthumus was banished and wrong persuaded by Iachimo that Imogen had untraced him just like Shakespeare’s other plays. He wanted to kill Imogen and he thought he did. There were lots of deaths involved in this play and lots of revelation at the last scene. Posthumus and Iachimo acknowledged their deceiveness and everyone figured out everyone did not die. Finally four people stopped the Roman army to fight with Britain. It is Shakespeare’s Christmas play because it has a happy ending. The professor said he usually uses this folio as final review for his students because you could find other plays in this one and it is extremely long.
Lulu, good for you for taking this on. It sounds like it was a pretty "involved" lecture and not necessarily easy to understand. But it sounds to me like you did make sense of it. I especially liked the detail that it was Shakespeare's Christmas play because it has a happy ending. That's kind of interesting!
Last night I saw an “HD simulcast” of Julie Taymor’s 2014 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was definitely the best version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream I have ever seen and among the best plays I have ever seen. It made me think about the play in a way I never had before.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how the cast was so racially diverse (Oberon, Helena, Hippolyta, and Snout were all played by black actors). The acting was wonderful, and I was impressed by how comfortably and naturally the actors spoke the Shakespearean language. The show was moving, beautiful, and very funny, too.
The choreography was really interesting and effective, and at times very dancelike. The beautiful lighting and projections were a big part of the show as well. The costumes definitely had a very Julie Taymor-ish feel, and reminded me of her Broadway production of The Lion King. Oberon’s costume made him look like an African king, Titania’s reminded me of the White Witch from the Narnia movies, Peter Quince’s players all looked like modern, working-class people, which I really liked. (And I loved Bottom’s New York accent). The faeries were all played by children, which had a really nice effect. Also, for comic effect, some lines were added. One notable example is when, in the play within the play, Pyramus tries to speak through the chink in the wall (played by Tom Snout), but Thisbe is gone. Pyramus yells “Curs’d be thy stones for thus deceiving me!” and bangs his fist on the wall (hitting Snout in the knee). In this production, when that happens, Snout cries out in pain “son of a bitch!” Also, when Peter Quince and his players are all singing sadly because Bottom has disappeared, Snout, who is black in this production, starts ad-libbing some R&B-style music (“Oh, Lord!”).
I’m really glad I went to see this production, and found it really inspiring and well-done.
Some images from the show can be found here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=julie+taymor+midsummer&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=913&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoA2oVChMIgu61q7CpyAIVCT0-Ch056QEf#imgrc=_
(I saw this production in Spaulding Auditorium at the Hopkins Center on October 3.)
And with this comment, "The costumes definitely had a very Julie Taymor-ish feel, and reminded me of her Broadway production of The Lion King," you have surpassed the teacher.
DeleteI was part of a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream when I was in eighth grade, so I find lots of your descriptions very interesting. I really like what you said about the cast, and can understand why you enjoyed the diversity of the cast, and how the faeries were all played by children (I agree--that seems like it would have been a good touch). I like your descriptions of the costumes; I can really imagine what you're talking about (also, thanks for including a link to the pictures). I think being able to see those was really cool, since when I did this in eighth grade, our production wasn't able to give the feel of grandeur that this play deserves. I also like how you mention how the actors were able to comfortably speak the Shakespearean language, because that is something that the people in my production struggled with, and I hope that helped you to enjoy the play more, and also understand it. I personally enjoy your coverage of Peter Quince's players, as I played Nick Bottom (and I really wish I could have seen the New York accent). I can imagine how hilarious some of their lines must have been. Your description of this performance was very well described, so thanks for sharing.
DeleteI have read A Midsummer Night's Dream one year ago but I cannot remember some of it. I understand it is nice to have a diverse cast and they all speak Shakespearean language well. I like how you relate each actor's costume to some other characters you know and some movies you have watched. You compare the added lines to the original version detailedly. It is really helpful you put the link up there and I searched it. The lighting is kind of cold feel and it really impressed me I really like it. Actors are fit into every scene under the cool lighting and they have really good postures. I would love to see this production.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOn September 26, 2015, I went to see the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet perform at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College. This was not the first dance show that I had been to at the Hopkin Center, but it was the first contemporary ballet show that I have seen on that stage. There are mainly two different types of ballet. There is classical ballet and there is contemporary ballet. Classical ballet is all about technique, lines, and how you dance with a group and by yourself. Contemporary ballet is classical ballet combined with modern, a style that is more down to earth and the movement and shapes that are created.
ReplyDeleteThe show consisted of three dances with a fifteen minute intermission in between the two middle pieces. There were ten dancers, six women and four men. As the curtain rose on the first dance, I notice the lighting was done in a way that it seems like the light was coming from the sides and beneath the dancers instead of from the top, like it had been in so many other pieces that I have seen. A young woman ran onto the stage. In silence, she began to move in a strangely athletic way; a way that made me sort of uncomfortable to look at. The moves were quirky and I got the feeling that where I wondered if this was how the dance was supposed to go. Making the audience feel uncomfortable is something that some choreographers use to draw the audience in.
The second piece was titled Silent Ghost. In this piece there was lots of contrast. In some moments all of the dancers would be dancing in unison, in other moments they would all be doing something different, and in other times they would dance in a cannon, where one person or group of people starts a phrase and another person or group of people start the same phrase a little later. My favorite thing about this piece was that close to the beginning of the piece, there was this moment when all of the dancers went from dancing in a cannon to one by one forming a line and breathing heavy with the music. Once they were all there, they waited awkwardly for a few more measures, and then continued on with the piece. That moment was one that struck me as unexpected and perfectly normal at the same time. When I watch dance, I try to find the bigger message in the piece. When watching this piece, it reminded me of parents who are taking care of a baby, and through the piece, the baby grows up. That may not be the real message that the choreographer was going for, but it was one that I could picture very clearly.
The last piece was different from any other piece in the show. In the first two pieces the costumes were a greyish blue color. In the last dance, they were wearing all read with a little gold embroidery here and there. The music also was louder and less gentle than in the first two pieces. This dance was more athletic than the other two pieces, and as I watched it, it made me want to get up on stage and dance with them. The strength and muscularity was so apparent not just by how their bodies looked, but also by the kinds of movements that they were doing. I have been dancing since third grade, and in that time I have seen many dance performances. Yet in this piece there were lifts that I can not picture how one would go about doing.
This summer I went with my mom to Jacob’s Pillow, a dance center located in Becket, Massachusetts. There I saw a performance done by Ballet BC. That was the very first contemporary ballet performance that I had been to and when I saw this at Dartmouth, it reminded me of the show at Jacob’s Pillow. They both had a different style from one another, but they shared some of the things that I find amazing about dance. One thing that I find amazing is when dancers do a step or a phrase that make the audience want to leave the audience and so dance on the stage. Pulling the audience is something that I think is important in choreography.
I thoroughly enjoyed this performance and hope that I get to go to more dance shows in the future.
So cool. Sounds like you saw a great show!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOn Friday, I attended the lecture given by Dr. Gary Aston-Jones, a psychologist visiting Dartmouth from Rutgers University. His lecture was entitled “Unraveling Brain Circuits for Drug Seeking and Demand”, and described how different levels of activity from certain neurons affect an addicted person’s desire to obtain and use drugs. Many of the studies he referenced were performed on rats, and I had even heard of a few of them from health class.
ReplyDeleteThe lecture was held in a classroom in Dartmouth’s psychology building, and was primarily populated by students and middle-aged men. Actually, now that I think about it, there were very few women there at all, including students and community members. A professor introduced Dr. Aston-Jones by telling us a little about the work he’s done in the psychological community, and mentioned a few facts about Dr. Aston-Jones’ personal life. I was interested to discover that the doctor had attended the same university as my dad did.
As soon as Dr. Aston-Jones began his lecture, I understood why many of the attendees were students, presumably focused on psychology, as I could barely comprehend a single word he was saying. There were a few familiar words, learned from our drug addiction unit in health last year, but I couldn’t help feeling like the only way one sentence would make sense would be if all the ones before it had made sense, and they didn’t. When we left, I thought again about some of the things he said, and realized that it wasn’t necessary that I understood every term he used. I gathered the overall idea, and was able to enjoy myself despite not knowing what orexin antagonists and DREADDs are. Attending this lecture was a good experience for me to have because I was able to what a college-type lecture is like without the pressure of needing to perfectly retain the information for a test or a report. Dr. Aston-Jones was engaging and precise, and it was clear he was both passionate and informed about what he presented. The lecture was only about an hour long, which seemed like the perfect amount of time for me. It occurred to me afterward that perhaps it would’ve been more beneficial for me to go to a lecture about a subject I am especially interested in, but I decided that it’s sort of nice to just be thrown into unknown territory once in awhile, because it’s a good thing to teach yourself how to be comfortable with just not knowing sometimes.
Last thursday, November 5, I saw the Beaux Stratagem In live simulcast at the Black Family Center for the Arts. It was quite probably the best play I have ever seen, but also when I look back at it, had a lot more meaning and subtext than I had originally perceived. The Beaux Stratagem was written by George Farquhar in 1707, a time when divorce and marriage, the main themes of the play, was viewed very strictly.
ReplyDeleteWhile this play is comedy, it is about divorce, and at the time, this was a controversial issue. In this play, two men (Mr. Aimwell and Mr. Archer) who have squandered their fortune, meet two women wealthy women (Dorinda and Ms. Sullen), one of whom is married. After a series of hijinks, the suitor confronts the husband, and the couple divorce by consent, an act that was almost unthought of at that time. If there was a divorce, it would probably be the husbands doing, for that matter, they had to pay dowries to even marry in the upper classes.
However the proactive nature of the play is not prevalent in the opening scenes. Early on in the play, it appears to be a gentlemanly farce with no more message than be careful what you wish for, and doubly cautious what you drink, but as the comedy gets funnier, and the plot gets thicker, the
meanings get deeper. There are classist undertones as one might expect from a British comedy about the upper class, and a strong feminist attitude from the two leading ladies that is sometimes lacking in literature at the time.
The casting of this play was amazing, and while programs were not handed out, I was eventually able to find out the names of the leading actors. Samuel Barnett as Mr. Aiwell had amazing stage presence, and the eye was always attracted to him. He projected an air of effortless superiority that was the hallmark of the true English gentleman. Susannah Fielding portrayed Ms. Sullen extremely well. Despite what the name implies, she brought a bright and vivacious attitude to the role, and her timing and delivery of her lines added much to the performance.
Although I expected a stiff stereotypical english gentry comedy, I was surprised at the outset by the “common” aspects. THe curtain rose to a song by an apparent drunk, and as I mentioned, the classist undertones were rife from the outset. There was a surprising amount of singing for a play, but it lacked the big musical numbers that would make it a musical. The choreography was amazing, blending different dance such as jigs and waltzes into the same song.
I enjoyed every aspect of this play, and I has taught me more than any other play to date, and will inspire me in my own writing and performing.
Sounds like a great night, Alex. Glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteOn October 13, I went to a Dartmouth Lecture that was entitled “Psychological and Brain Sciences” online. This name instantly got my attention, because the topic itself is something I am interested in. Given this broad caption, I was unsure of what to expect. There are so many subjects within this field of sciences, but in any case, I was excited to gain a greater understanding of the brain’s functions. My prediction however, was quite off.
ReplyDeleteThe lecture was given by Gary Aston-Jones: a specialist in neurosciences and brain health. The projected title on the screen read, “Unraveling Brain Circuits for Drug Seeking and Demand.” We were given an overview of what the lecture would entail, and to my surprise, I was struggling to piece together any of the points that were being given. Within the first few sentences, I could tell that this was meant for students who may also be specializing in this field, along with a variety of adults that were attending. I quickly felt the pressure to do note taking, yet found it impossible to record anything. I tried to consume the main points of each slide, though I wasn’t confident that my translations were even near correct. Each slide was a new challenge to decipher. The general lecture seemed to be about how different areas of the brain will influence one’s motivation for drug use. Dr. Gary Aston-Jones also pointed out certain cues that altered this motivation, giving us examples through statistics gathered from feeding drugs to mice. For instance, he shared an experiment where mice would tap a dispenser in its cage to receive a small dose of methamphetamine. The mice would rapidly tap this dispenser, but as time went on, the dose became smaller and smaller. They would receive a shock in between every few portions, though as the proportions decreased, the amount of shocks increased. Therefore, the mouse was getting much less of a reward compared to the beginning, even though they were doing more work and the punishment was greater. Dr. Gary Aston-Jones made the analogy that drugs are playing a similar role in our economy. While this is mainly the extent of what I actually learned, it was interesting to see intense material being spoken so comfortably. Even from the few students who asked questions in the end, I couldn’t help but feel that they were all speaking a different language. I loved to see the passion exchanged between the audience and the speaker.
Even with the little information I could understand throughout this lecture, I still appreciated the experience. I liked being in the lecture room environment, as it gave me an insight into what parts of college may be like. I was also given a satisfying sense at the end, due to the amount of attentiveness I had to maintain. Even having said this, I may have gotten a greater take away had I attended a lecture that was better suited for my interests and age group. But nonetheless, I think it was beneficial to be challenged.
Sorry it was a little "too specialized" for you right now. But maybe someday it will all make sense!
DeleteA couple weeks ago I saw an “HD simulcast” of National Theatre Live’s production of Hamlet, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, Ciarán Hinds as Claudius, Leo Bill as Horatio, Jim Norton as Polonius, Anastasia Hille as Gertrude, Sian Brooke as Ophelia, Karl Johnson as the Hamlet’s Father/Gravedigger, Matthew Steer as Rosencrantz, Kobna Holdbrook Smith as Laertes, and Sergo Vares as Fortinbras, (I should probably stop now or the cast list will take up half of my blog post).
ReplyDeleteIt was different for me than seeing other Shakespeare productions in that I didn’t know the play, and aside from seeing The Lion King (if that counts), I had no experience with it before I went to the performance. I never before realized what the famous “To be or not to be” speech was actually about, and I’ll definitely think about it differently from now on when I hear references to it. Though it’s hard to compare a play as intense as Hamlet to Shakespeare’s comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream or As You Like It, I think this is my new favorite Shakespeare play. It was interesting to watch this play while in the middle of reading Romeo and Juliet.
From a technical aspect, this show was also pretty incredible. The special effects were stunning and incredibly dramatic—the use of lighting, projections, smoke, ashes, fire, wind, etc. The set was amazing, too, as was the staging. The music added a lot of drama to the production, and I thought it was very fitting.
The acting in this production was definitely the best of any Shakespeare production I’ve ever seen—particularly Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet, Ciarán Hinds’ Claudius, and Anastasia Hille’s Gertrude. It didn’t take more than the first scene for me to forget they were speaking in Elizabethan language, and I found myself crying at several points in the play. (That doesn’t happen to me very often.)
Seeing such a high-quality production of this play, often called Shakespeare’s greatest (I would agree with that sentiment), was a wonderful experience, and I found it to be really powerful. I would highly recommend that any Shakespeare fans go and see it when it returns to the Hop this January.
THE TRAILER CAN BE VIEWED HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3S4dXuKXx0
(I saw this production the Loew Auditorium at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College on October 29.)
Rent the Mel Gibson version if you liked this one!
DeleteI went to Norwich Congregational Church last night and attended a lecture about Shakespeare there. The professor is from Dartmouth College and has spent much time on researching Shakespeare. He talked about Shakespeare’s first folio––Cymbeline. There were a lot of characters in that play and he said it was a resemble of rest Shakespeare’s plays. It had a lot of same plots as other Shakespeare’s plays and it was a combination of tragedy and comedy. Shakespeare had a huge amount of vocabs in his plays. The professor used Bible as an example. 7000 words for Bible and 27000 words for Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteCymbeline was the king and he made a lot of bad judgements until the last scene. The major conflict in this folio was between a couple–– Posthumus and Imogen. Posthumus was banished and wrong persuaded by Iachimo that Imogen had untraced him just like Shakespeare’s other plays. He wanted to kill Imogen and he thought he did. There were lots of deaths involved in this play and lots of revelation at the last scene. Posthumus and Iachimo acknowledged their deceiveness and everyone figured out everyone did not die. Finally four people stopped the Roman army to fight with Britain. It is Shakespeare’s Christmas play because it has a happy ending.
The professor said he usually uses this folio as final review for his students because you could find other plays in this one and it is extremely long.
Lulu, good for you for taking this on. It sounds like it was a pretty "involved" lecture and not necessarily easy to understand. But it sounds to me like you did make sense of it. I especially liked the detail that it was Shakespeare's Christmas play because it has a happy ending. That's kind of interesting!
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