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So this was a rather interesting trip. Was I pleased about the 9 AM departure? Can't say that I was. But what were you expecting.
So as I said, there was a 9 AM departure time from The Albert. Luckily the bus picked us up right there, so we didn't have to get up and go to Victoria or anything like that. So we spent about two hours sleeping (well, I slept, I don't know what everyone else did) and, since I guess it's a cool place to go and we'd be bored running around Stratford for too long (so not likely) we stopped at Warwick Castle. <history> Parts of it date back to the Normans, and belonged to the Nevilles for awhile, including Richard Neville, "the kingmaker." It passed to George Plantagenet (the Duke of Clarence), and it was fabulous. I fell into a group with Sarah, Jamie, Megan, Katie, John, and Christian. It was good fun.
( Pictures! )
So yeah. After that, we packed back up in the bus and headed the last six miles to Stratford. We were staying at two different bed and breakfasts (YES). The Forget-Me-Not (where I stayed) and The Quilt and Croissant (I am so not kidding you). We were dropped off there and then just sort of were left to our own devices as long as we were at the theatre for Twelfth Night by the time the show started. So we (Jamie, Megan, Christian and I) gallavanted.
( Stratford-on-Avon gallavanting. )
So... Twelfth Night... was in Russian (with subtitles), an all male troupe, and TOTALLY AWESOME. I find that the more I read and see Shakespeare the easier it is for me to get into the mode that I need to be in to understand it and get the rhythm of the show, and while I don't mean to sound condescending (but this is totally going to), I don't think other people have quite developed that. It's definitely not easy, but this show was probably a good one to see because... well, we were pretty well stopped from being bogged down in the language because we didn't understand the language. The subtitles didn't show every single line, it changed only every few to important lines so that we knew what was going on. The rest was up to the actors and they did a fantastic job.
I have to say that had we not gone in prepared for an all male cast in Russian, people probably wouldn't have liked it as much and been totally resistant to the entire experience. (I didn't say that in class, of course, I think my opinions on Coriolanus [later!] were already considered somewhat unpopular.) The man who played Viola/Cesario was... well he was wonderful, I have no more words. And I did a total double take when Sebastian entered down stage left about two seconds after Viola left up stage right. I was like, "DAMN that is one speedy man, I want him... wait, SEBASTIAN!" XD I'm a nerd. And the comedy was spot on, so I was laughing like a loon for most of it. Olivia was also spectacular. I have to say that the men who were being women were the best part, probably. I think the best thing about these plays is that we're not pressured to take it SO SERIOUSLY. It doesn't matter if Viola makes a convincing man, because she's not a woman. If that makes any sense. :x Sir Toby and Sir Andrew were the absolute best acting drunks I have ever seen. Feste was hilarious, partly because he's the fool and that's his job and partly because he looked like the Emcee in Cabaret. Malvolio was... oh man. XD We'd discussed how to play him in class because of his threat at the end whether or not he should be able to be taken seriously, and if he is meant to be taken seriously then how does that fit in a comedy that's supposed to end happily and... oh dear. He was FANTASTIC. He did his letter finding/reading scene and he was crying and just so worked up that I really felt bad for him, and then he was dragged off and I felt terrible for him. When he came back at the end, he was serving drinks and just being sort of benign. Which was sort of odd for him to just brush off the joke they played on him, but then! Once everyone had a drink in their hand and was dancing to that food of love, he stepped forward and declared to the audience that he would have his revenge.
I stood for them. They deserved it.
Only two disappointments:
1. When Sebastian lead Viola on in a dress in the very end, his hand was on top and if she was a lady her hand should have been. :\ Of course, maybe that was a whole gender bending thing that the director was going for, but it bugged me.
2. Sebastian put his shirt back on to chase Olivia to the chapel to be married. Was it REALLY necessary? No. No, it was not.
So after that, we went to the Dirty Duck/the Black Swan for dinner. (Apparently what it's called depends on which way you're walking down the street.)
( Dinner at the Dirty Duck. )
After that, we went back to our respective beds and breakfasts and went to bed. When we woke up in the morning - surprise, surprise - there was breakfast. Our bus driver picked us up again at 9:30 and we made a whirlwind tour of important Shakespeare places.
( Holy Trinity Church, Mary Arden's house, Anne Hathaway's cottage, and the birthplace. )
Now, Coriolanus... I have joked about it being one of Shakespeare's "B-sides" and... you can consider my words eaten. The production itself was not the best production of anything I've ever seen, design wise it was a little mish mashed, but I enjoyed myself. It was fun to watch. I enjoyed the political intrigue and story itself. Not to mention Coriolanus himself. He was INTENSE and so hardcore and when in the political arena, not very sympathetic. He was kind of a nasty guy, actually. But privately (as in in the private sector, not the public one) I felt badly for him, what with the mother, wife, and child business. I wanted to give him a hug. The battle scene was especially great becausehe didn't have a shirt on he really got into it, and was all blood smeared and. Oh, it was fun. FUUUUUUN. He just had a voice that... it was like dark chocolate. XD
The space wasn't very inviting, it was... big, and not a very intimate space. That's not usually much of an obstacle for me, but there was something about this theatre that was just weird. OH AND MENENIUS was played by the guy who plays King Francis in Ever After. XD At first I wasn't sure that it was him but he was very familiar to me, and then Allison said that it was him and I was like OH YEAH. XD The design was weird. The set was huge and a motor that moves the stuff broke down so they had to stop the performance while they fixed it (theatre SNAFU, d'oh). That in itself wasn't really a bad thing, it was the costumes that made me do a double take. They were part Elizabethan and part Roman. I don't really know what they were going for, but it didn't work for me. And there was this one part where balloons were brought on to show the peace of Rome after Coriolanus left, and... I don't know. It was weird. And not even weird in a way that worked for me. It was a non sequiter. Nothing really meshed, I felt like the designers were attending different production meetings, or communicating through a game of telephone or something.
So overall I really enjoyed it. Of course, maybe, as we discussed in class, my love of the show was enhanced by my knowledge of the political system of the Republic... but I doubt it. I'd be interested in going back to see another production, or reading the play, or something. It was an interesting show.
After Coriolanus, it was time to leave.
( Goodbye, Stratford! )
So as I said, there was a 9 AM departure time from The Albert. Luckily the bus picked us up right there, so we didn't have to get up and go to Victoria or anything like that. So we spent about two hours sleeping (well, I slept, I don't know what everyone else did) and, since I guess it's a cool place to go and we'd be bored running around Stratford for too long (so not likely) we stopped at Warwick Castle. <history> Parts of it date back to the Normans, and belonged to the Nevilles for awhile, including Richard Neville, "the kingmaker." It passed to George Plantagenet (the Duke of Clarence), and it was fabulous. I fell into a group with Sarah, Jamie, Megan, Katie, John, and Christian. It was good fun.
( Pictures! )
So yeah. After that, we packed back up in the bus and headed the last six miles to Stratford. We were staying at two different bed and breakfasts (YES). The Forget-Me-Not (where I stayed) and The Quilt and Croissant (I am so not kidding you). We were dropped off there and then just sort of were left to our own devices as long as we were at the theatre for Twelfth Night by the time the show started. So we (Jamie, Megan, Christian and I) gallavanted.
( Stratford-on-Avon gallavanting. )
So... Twelfth Night... was in Russian (with subtitles), an all male troupe, and TOTALLY AWESOME. I find that the more I read and see Shakespeare the easier it is for me to get into the mode that I need to be in to understand it and get the rhythm of the show, and while I don't mean to sound condescending (but this is totally going to), I don't think other people have quite developed that. It's definitely not easy, but this show was probably a good one to see because... well, we were pretty well stopped from being bogged down in the language because we didn't understand the language. The subtitles didn't show every single line, it changed only every few to important lines so that we knew what was going on. The rest was up to the actors and they did a fantastic job.
I have to say that had we not gone in prepared for an all male cast in Russian, people probably wouldn't have liked it as much and been totally resistant to the entire experience. (I didn't say that in class, of course, I think my opinions on Coriolanus [later!] were already considered somewhat unpopular.) The man who played Viola/Cesario was... well he was wonderful, I have no more words. And I did a total double take when Sebastian entered down stage left about two seconds after Viola left up stage right. I was like, "DAMN that is one speedy man, I want him... wait, SEBASTIAN!" XD I'm a nerd. And the comedy was spot on, so I was laughing like a loon for most of it. Olivia was also spectacular. I have to say that the men who were being women were the best part, probably. I think the best thing about these plays is that we're not pressured to take it SO SERIOUSLY. It doesn't matter if Viola makes a convincing man, because she's not a woman. If that makes any sense. :x Sir Toby and Sir Andrew were the absolute best acting drunks I have ever seen. Feste was hilarious, partly because he's the fool and that's his job and partly because he looked like the Emcee in Cabaret. Malvolio was... oh man. XD We'd discussed how to play him in class because of his threat at the end whether or not he should be able to be taken seriously, and if he is meant to be taken seriously then how does that fit in a comedy that's supposed to end happily and... oh dear. He was FANTASTIC. He did his letter finding/reading scene and he was crying and just so worked up that I really felt bad for him, and then he was dragged off and I felt terrible for him. When he came back at the end, he was serving drinks and just being sort of benign. Which was sort of odd for him to just brush off the joke they played on him, but then! Once everyone had a drink in their hand and was dancing to that food of love, he stepped forward and declared to the audience that he would have his revenge.
I stood for them. They deserved it.
Only two disappointments:
1. When Sebastian lead Viola on in a dress in the very end, his hand was on top and if she was a lady her hand should have been. :\ Of course, maybe that was a whole gender bending thing that the director was going for, but it bugged me.
2. Sebastian put his shirt back on to chase Olivia to the chapel to be married. Was it REALLY necessary? No. No, it was not.
So after that, we went to the Dirty Duck/the Black Swan for dinner. (Apparently what it's called depends on which way you're walking down the street.)
( Dinner at the Dirty Duck. )
After that, we went back to our respective beds and breakfasts and went to bed. When we woke up in the morning - surprise, surprise - there was breakfast. Our bus driver picked us up again at 9:30 and we made a whirlwind tour of important Shakespeare places.
( Holy Trinity Church, Mary Arden's house, Anne Hathaway's cottage, and the birthplace. )
Now, Coriolanus... I have joked about it being one of Shakespeare's "B-sides" and... you can consider my words eaten. The production itself was not the best production of anything I've ever seen, design wise it was a little mish mashed, but I enjoyed myself. It was fun to watch. I enjoyed the political intrigue and story itself. Not to mention Coriolanus himself. He was INTENSE and so hardcore and when in the political arena, not very sympathetic. He was kind of a nasty guy, actually. But privately (as in in the private sector, not the public one) I felt badly for him, what with the mother, wife, and child business. I wanted to give him a hug. The battle scene was especially great because
The space wasn't very inviting, it was... big, and not a very intimate space. That's not usually much of an obstacle for me, but there was something about this theatre that was just weird. OH AND MENENIUS was played by the guy who plays King Francis in Ever After. XD At first I wasn't sure that it was him but he was very familiar to me, and then Allison said that it was him and I was like OH YEAH. XD The design was weird. The set was huge and a motor that moves the stuff broke down so they had to stop the performance while they fixed it (theatre SNAFU, d'oh). That in itself wasn't really a bad thing, it was the costumes that made me do a double take. They were part Elizabethan and part Roman. I don't really know what they were going for, but it didn't work for me. And there was this one part where balloons were brought on to show the peace of Rome after Coriolanus left, and... I don't know. It was weird. And not even weird in a way that worked for me. It was a non sequiter. Nothing really meshed, I felt like the designers were attending different production meetings, or communicating through a game of telephone or something.
So overall I really enjoyed it. Of course, maybe, as we discussed in class, my love of the show was enhanced by my knowledge of the political system of the Republic... but I doubt it. I'd be interested in going back to see another production, or reading the play, or something. It was an interesting show.
After Coriolanus, it was time to leave.
( Goodbye, Stratford! )