The Winter's Tale

I loved it. The more I think about it, the more I enjoyed it. I'm going to stand by my opinion. I haven't read any reviews, no one else I know has seen it (yet). 

I say all this because the big G gets quite a bit of gruff from theatre folks in the city. There's a TON of theatre, and I would love to see it. But not too many companies do shows on Sunday nights. Anyway, the Big Blue Palace is a source of contention for some and not for others.

Before we dive into my "review," I'm going to give you some background factoids.

SOME BACKGROUND FACTOIDS:

1. I had a pretty bad cold.
2. I popped some DayQuill for the second time that day 1 half-hour before the show.
3. I had a cheap ticket (it was a Facebook discount).
4. My seat was in the fourth row on the stage right side of the thrust.
5. I was sitting next to a director or designer or coach of some kind. I'm not sure who; but it was clear they were part of the production/creative team from the papers I spied. (I did everything I could to see the notes, but anymore staring and I would have been given strange looks. I should have just asked him what his role was. Of course, he darted up the stairs at intermission and at the top of the show. Needless to say, I realized I was a bit self conscious about how I was taking in the play. That went away once I figured out just what the heck was going on).
6. I went by myself. (I have no shame in this)
7. I have never seen nor read the play.
8. The only information I know about the play is as follows: it has the famous stage direction "Exit, pursued by a bear"; people have a difficult time labeling it (is a tragedy? is it a comedy? is it something else all entirely?)
9. Prior to seeing the play, the actor playing Odysseus mentioned that at its core, the play is about jealousy and that it's pretty odd. He admitted to not knowing a whole lot beyond that.

I mention all these bits because A) I'm having fun writing this and B) I feel like I have an unusually "objective" reading on the text. 

This review/whatever you want to call it contains spoilers about the story and this specific production.

Here we go:

The basic story is that Leontes (King of Sicily) is married to Hermione. His good friend, brother (?) (Polixenes) is seen "canoodling" with his wife (my word). Leontes gets jealous over the assumed affair (that is NOT happening), throws his wife in jail, and sends his wife's newborn daughter out of the country. This tears the kingdom apart.  There's a lot of shouting, sobbing, and death at the end. It's a whirlwind of action. And it'd brutal.

The woman playing Paulina was stunning. She pleaded for her case brilliantly. I'm sorry I'm not giving any context for this character. But she's rooting for truth and hoping to alleviate the situation (but to no avail...until the very, very end).

Leontes orders Antigonus to take the child away (he was hellbent on killing her...). So Antigonus goes to Bohemia, says farewell to the newborn (this was one of the most touching and beautiful moments of the show) in the middle of a terrible storm. He leaves with her some royal papers explaining her royal birth and lineage.

[This is when the bear enters, chasing Antigonus offstage and mauling him to death]

After the storm, a lowly shepherd discovers the young girl and takes it as his own (thinking it's the work of the fairies). This is when directorial magic happens:

Up until now, the baby was this little bundle in purple cloth. As the shepherd begins to unravel the wraps, a young woman appears on stage opposite a young man. It's so clear that time passes and she ends up falling in love with this young lad. There's no text or anything. And BAM, it's intermission.

(SIDE NOTE: when the shepherd began unraveling the cloth bundle, a woman shrieked behind me. She must have though the baby was going to be flung onto the floor or something. But I wasn't fooled. I thought this was a brilliant move of sharing that this tale is far from over)

Up until now, the set has been this stark, icy blue gray. There's not much set (aside from the wall/door unit far upstage). It's cold and uncomfortable.

But then we travel to Bohemia.

This little girl (Leontes' daughter, named Perdita) is the adopted daughter of the shepherd.
She's in love with Polixenes' son, Florizel. This lad has no business loving a common country bumpkin, but he says "screw it."

Polixenes hears word of his son's recent strange behavior, disguises himself, and enters this flower/party/thing (just short of a marriage) in the heart of Bohemia. The set is full of flowers, color, strange 60s costumes, debauchery, dancing, music, and fun!

ANYWAY, through a turn of events Florizel and Perdita end up on a ship to Sicilia to escape from Polixenes (because love conquers all and everything). The shepherd remembers Perdita's royal lineage and manage to get on the same ship).

TO MAKE AN ALREADY LONG STORY LONGER:

Everyone's identity and family is unveiled. There's a whole bout of forgiveness and restoration (and a really weird statue-coming-to-life moment that I won't even begin to explain). People get married. ALL IS WELL!!

This has a weird combination of standard Shakespearean tragedy and comedy blended in one doozy of a play. It spans over 16 years.

I was really only lost a couple times. The very beginning took a while. I was really working to figure out what was going on. I'm sure this is the case with most folks. But once I got locked in with the drama, I was pretty much there the whole time. 

The Guthrie did something very clever at the beginning. Before the play even started, the company is on stage for a New Year's Eve party. People are just dancing with a kind of lounge singer. It's festive and fun and gives a great promise of a large scope. Because once the play starts, it gets rather bleak pretty quickly. Leontes is consumed with paranoia. It poisons him (love the "spider in the cup" lines).

I'd say with the exception of a few actors, everyone gave dynamic, honest performances.

I had a bit of trouble hearing at some points. Whenever actors had their back directly to me, it got a bit lost. I have (and hope) to assume that if I were a bit higher up, that wouldn't be an issue. It wasn't so bad, but I strained to hear more than once.

The set, costumes, lights, and sound were very striking and iconic even. I would say more, but I've been writing this for a long time and need to get to bed.

Overall, I really did love the production. The play is risky and unbalanced in the sense of most Shakespeare that I've ever seen. But I think this production handles it well when it's all said and done.

I WILL SAY, HOWEVER, that the statue stuff at the end was so lost on me. Hermione (apparently) dies, but then Paulina makes a statue of her. But then it comes to life. Somehow she was in hiding (I assume), but I didn't quite get the rationale behind the restored life. I'm going to have to do some more digging. I think I was so obsessed with seeing if Hermione would move while she was a statue, that essential text was gone. I totally went to a place of "how does she do that?!" because she didn't move at all (until she "came back to life"). So, maybe it's my own fault?

I am also going to look at the role of the shepherd's son for some comedic monologues. I doubt they're in verse, which is too bad because that's what most people want to hear when you use Shakespeare for auditions. But that seemed like a nice role to examine. That's a nice bonus, anyway.

This post is kinda incoherent, but I want to post anyway.

I really should just go to bed. I'm beat. We've done 6 performances of The Odyssey this week. We have two left. We had two shows both today and yesterday. About 5 cast members have this same cold/throat thing. I can only imagine it's going to get worse and proliferate. I just had a cold at the beginning of the month. I was just feeling like I had gotten over that. And now it's something else.

Grrrrr.

I'm sleeping in tomorrow.

Then, I have some major, major work to do.

I also have some projects that have just been sitting on my back burner and they are never going to get done.
I have to make time for them. I have to squeeze in what I can when I have some given moments. I can't wait for an "extra" couple hours. I need to learn how to balance, coordinate, and integrate whenever I can.

For example, I want to write a blog post about this poetry press launch I went to on Tuesday. It was phenomenal, and I've been undergoing this new realization about my life as a writer. I've been wanting to write more and reflect more--have more of a conversation with what I'm taking in--whether it be an art opening, a poetry reading, a play, a book, etc. I also want to be more active with writing (of many natures) and with the various communities I'm involved in.

I may start doing that for a new website (I'm not creating it, mind you). I think I'm going to be joining a group of arts bloggers who will talk about the arts in the region and the projects they're working on. It's going to be a unique collective. I don't know many other details beyond that. I'm thinking some kind of reflection on something like this poetry reading at a rowdy Irish bar in St. Paul would be the perfect kind of experience to share via a blog post.

This kind of work (I'm not explaining this frustration as best as I want right now. Remember: I'm exhausted, but I want to get some words out there) is good for me. But it's also work. It's personal and I'm not getting paid, but it's still work. And I enjoy it.

I claim full responsibility for how insane this post may be

I'm a little restless right now.
I'm also a little hungry.
I can't decide if I want to scrounge around the house for food
OR
take advantage that I'm in the Twin Cities and get some great eats.

Of course, I'm not rolling in the dough.
So the SMART thing would be to just eat what I have.
It's pretty bland though.

Now, remember, I did say I was restless.

So maybe getting out of the house would be a good thing.
This means boots, slush, cold car, driving.
So maybe that wouldn't be a good thing.

But it's been a productive day.
Maybe I'll get some takeout.
Maybe I'll go see Black Swan.
Maybe I'll grab some moderately priced Thai food, come back, and do some reading and/or writing.

Then, I can watch the new Sherlock series from Netflix!
(It's good. I've only seen the first episode, but I'm hooked)

Decisions, decisions.

I've worked pretty hard today.
Had an early student matinee.
Scrounged up some lunch.
Did some journaling.
Was able to get quite a bit of work done.
I even had a great "gra'schooau rehearsal"
I just made up that term.
It's slang for "grad school audition."
Coining slang provides a casual, but official terminology.
I just made that up too.

I mean, we're in the 12 day countdown.
But who's counting?
I wasn't until 20 seconds ago.

But it's getting down to the wire.
The steeds are ready to race.
I could drop a lot more cliches if you'd like,
but you get the picture.

The Odyssey's just begun

I'm working on an official website. I screwed up with my domain, and I don't have the energy to deal with it/fix it right now. In any case, I've opened The Odyssey.

You can read a preview/feature about adapting the hundreds of pages of the epic poem in to a 2-hour production here.

Here's a photo of the Cyclops that I help maneuver. I'm in the right of the picture, holding the left arm and keeping Odysseus at bay. This was a photo from one of our dress rehearsals. The Cyclops' eye doesn't just have a big X in the middle of it. It actually looks like an eye now. But I think it gives a good indication.

People really seem to enjoy the show.

We're doing an 8-show week starting Tuesday:

Tuesday - Student Matinee
Wednesday - Student Matinee
Thursday - Student Matinee, Evening Show
Friday - Student Matinee, Evening Show
Saturday - Evening Show
Sunday - Matinee

I'm getting a bit tired just thinking about that. But that's how the biz goes and I'm just fortunate that the cast is a blast to work with (and hang out with afterwards).

I'm not sure about reviews. I don't think any have been published. I haven't really had a stakes in a big-time press review before, and this could be the first chance that I would (IF they mention the ensemble work in the show, which is likely because this show is all about ensemble and collaboration).

In other news, I'm starting to really get things together for grad school auditions. There's not a whole bunch left for me to work on other than reviewing my pieces and printing off my resume, getting copies of my transcripts, etc.

I also have a TON of office work to do. I'm telecommuting the whole time while I'm up in St. Paul. This means that I'm essentially working from home via the Web, and it's proved to be a daunting task. I find I'm able to get more work done in coffee shops, but that can be expensive (all those little dollars sure do add up).

Even though things are on the stressful side, I'm more than content with the projects and company I've got, and that's a wonderful thing.

Tech Week

I just completed my first 10-of-12 rehearsal ever.

10-of-12 means you rehearse for 10 hours in the span of 12. We had a 2-hour dinner break about midway through. I'd say half the cast (or so) went to a Thai place, and it was delicious and it was fun to hang with them (and chat above a whisper--which is what we'd been doing in the wings all day).

This show is technically epic. The play is episodic in nature. We don't have scene changes, we have transitions. The set doesn't really change, so all the locales in the Odyssey are signified by costumes, lights, and sound (and "living" set pieces--which you kind of have to see to believe). It's a cool combo of high-tech and low-tech at the same time. (For example, the sailors in Odysseus' crew create the boat with their bodies, shields, and other props)

Given those circumstances, tech has become an arduous process. I'm pretty sure I heard that there were over 40 cues the stage manager had to call within the first five minutes of the play.

We'll get through it all. I'm slightly concerned about the element of costumes (which has yet to be added). I have some quick changes that I'm not quite sure are possible, but I've decided to not worry about that until I have to. Other actors have WAY more complicated changes than me. But I'm not worrying about it.

I think there are some really cool effects. Four of us ran a new move in the very opening of the show (where we create the prow of a ship that is going over large waves and then comes crashing down)--this is all with our bodies, and nothing else--think "Cirque du Soliel-lite." Anyway, after we did the rep, the rest of the cast and our movement choreographer genuinely "oohed" and "awed". I hope there's a way I can see a bit of video footage or something to see how it all looks (same with puppeteering for Polyphemus, the cyclops), but that's unlikely.

In the end, I have to trust the design, direction, and the audience.

Our first preview is on Friday!

I better get ready for today's 12 - 9:30 call. We get a 90-minute break somewhere. I don't think today will be as demanding. My responsibilities are very Act 1-heavy, and I have less to do in Act 2. That's good, because I have some marketing deadlines to meet for Monday....