Twelfth Night by the ASP
Dec. 18th, 2005 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasSo, a real good sign that you're going to enjoy a Shakespeare production is if four beautiful women come out in their underwear and corsets and dance around, flirting with and throwing Christmas crackers to members of the audience. At least, for me, that's a good sign that you're going to have fun.
And then, as the (live, onstage) musicians finish up their dance number, they go into a slower, more melancholy piece -- and you realize that it's "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. As they play, Greg Steres, as Duke Orsinio, enters, hops up onto a window ledge next to the musicians, and tells them, "If music be the food of love, play on -- give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die."
I don't know how many people in the audience recognized what song was being played on cello and piano -- but for those of us who did, and know the lyrics, we realize that they found a song whose (unsung in the play) lyrics and music perfectly compliment the emotion and message of the scene. And that level of craftsmanship and detail is, as we've come to expect from Actor's Shakespeare Project, present throughout.
I'll be honest -- I was worried about "regression to the mean." I mean, their last production was "King Lear" -- arguably one of the most difficult and powerful plays in the entire English language, and they put on what was quite possibly one of the best productions done, well, ever. So was this play up to that standard? No, of course not -- and it didn't have to be. It was up to an entirely different standard. As artistic director Ben Evett pointed out after the play, this was the first comedy the ASP has put on -- at least, if you think of "Measure for Measure" as a "problem play" rather than as a comedy exactly. Which means that it is judged on entirely different standards than "Lear", and entirely sidestepped the problem I was worried about -- that I'd be somehow comparing it to their last performance. The issue never came up for me, as I found myself comparing it to nothing except itself. It's a screwball comedy, not high drama.
That's not to say that it's easy.
"Twelfth Night" is one of Shakespeare's basic screwball comedies, with all of his normal screwball comedy tricks -- women disguised as men ending up in awkward love triangles, twins being mistaken for one another (ending up in awkward love triangles), forged love notes (ending up in awkward love triangles), cowards who claim to be brave duelists, cheeseheaded nobles with a weak command of the English language, drunk lecherous dissipated Discordian noblemen who cause trouble for the fun of it, and the rest. Not much of kings, not much of crowns, but chock-full of liars, lovers, and clowns. And I think that just about everyone reading this knows that comedy is hard -- often harder than drama.
But just because it's a screwball comedy doesn't mean that it doesn't have some strong, real emotion and message at its core. If you hang a screwball comedy on nothing but fluff, well, then it's just junk food, empty calories -- fun while it goes on, but nothing that really sticks with you. And some of Shakespeare is like that -- even some of my favorite plays. "Comedy of Errors" is bust-a-gut funny, but there's not much in there that's really emotionally gripping. Really good directors and actors can find stuff to work with, but, well, that's not THAT play's strong point.
I was surprised by how emotionally moving I found THIS play. I expected it to be funny, and it was, but I didn't expect it to be as romantic as I found it. It's a good date play.
A lot of that comes from the music. Music is a strong part of the play -- enough that I'd count this as a musical. Much of the credit for the strength of the music in the play goes to Kenny Raskin, who plays Feste -- who's referred to as "the clown" or "the fool", but might be better thought of as the "minstrel". Raskin is himself a clown and a musician, but one who sees clowning and music as a way to bring forth truth -- which means that he's perfectly cast for Feste.
Okay -- I know what the question on all of your minds is, at least, all of you who know the play. You all want to know, "How did they play Malvolio?" See, as the butt of the worst of the pranks of the Discordian crew, he's a bit of a challenge. He has to be enough of a pompous prig that you enjoy seeing him set up and knocked down, but, given how much time the audience spends with him, you can't go TOO far in that direction, or he'll just annoy the audience.
Ken Cheeseman gets that role, and I think he did well by it. Like I said, it's a tough role, and I remember reading some director's notes as to how he approached it and how he tried to strike that balance -- making himself unlikable enough that it is funny when he's locked up as a lunatic, while making him sympathetic enough that you actually do CARE what happens to him. Tough tightrope there, but I think he walked it well.
So -- the upshot is that Ben Evett and the Actors' Shakespeare Project have done it again. They've put together a fantastic show, funny, witty, romantic, fast-moving and enjoyable, but with a solid emotional core and message of love, loyalty, and light, realization, and redemption.
And then, as the (live, onstage) musicians finish up their dance number, they go into a slower, more melancholy piece -- and you realize that it's "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. As they play, Greg Steres, as Duke Orsinio, enters, hops up onto a window ledge next to the musicians, and tells them, "If music be the food of love, play on -- give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die."
I don't know how many people in the audience recognized what song was being played on cello and piano -- but for those of us who did, and know the lyrics, we realize that they found a song whose (unsung in the play) lyrics and music perfectly compliment the emotion and message of the scene. And that level of craftsmanship and detail is, as we've come to expect from Actor's Shakespeare Project, present throughout.
I'll be honest -- I was worried about "regression to the mean." I mean, their last production was "King Lear" -- arguably one of the most difficult and powerful plays in the entire English language, and they put on what was quite possibly one of the best productions done, well, ever. So was this play up to that standard? No, of course not -- and it didn't have to be. It was up to an entirely different standard. As artistic director Ben Evett pointed out after the play, this was the first comedy the ASP has put on -- at least, if you think of "Measure for Measure" as a "problem play" rather than as a comedy exactly. Which means that it is judged on entirely different standards than "Lear", and entirely sidestepped the problem I was worried about -- that I'd be somehow comparing it to their last performance. The issue never came up for me, as I found myself comparing it to nothing except itself. It's a screwball comedy, not high drama.
That's not to say that it's easy.
"Twelfth Night" is one of Shakespeare's basic screwball comedies, with all of his normal screwball comedy tricks -- women disguised as men ending up in awkward love triangles, twins being mistaken for one another (ending up in awkward love triangles), forged love notes (ending up in awkward love triangles), cowards who claim to be brave duelists, cheeseheaded nobles with a weak command of the English language, drunk lecherous dissipated Discordian noblemen who cause trouble for the fun of it, and the rest. Not much of kings, not much of crowns, but chock-full of liars, lovers, and clowns. And I think that just about everyone reading this knows that comedy is hard -- often harder than drama.
But just because it's a screwball comedy doesn't mean that it doesn't have some strong, real emotion and message at its core. If you hang a screwball comedy on nothing but fluff, well, then it's just junk food, empty calories -- fun while it goes on, but nothing that really sticks with you. And some of Shakespeare is like that -- even some of my favorite plays. "Comedy of Errors" is bust-a-gut funny, but there's not much in there that's really emotionally gripping. Really good directors and actors can find stuff to work with, but, well, that's not THAT play's strong point.
I was surprised by how emotionally moving I found THIS play. I expected it to be funny, and it was, but I didn't expect it to be as romantic as I found it. It's a good date play.
A lot of that comes from the music. Music is a strong part of the play -- enough that I'd count this as a musical. Much of the credit for the strength of the music in the play goes to Kenny Raskin, who plays Feste -- who's referred to as "the clown" or "the fool", but might be better thought of as the "minstrel". Raskin is himself a clown and a musician, but one who sees clowning and music as a way to bring forth truth -- which means that he's perfectly cast for Feste.
Okay -- I know what the question on all of your minds is, at least, all of you who know the play. You all want to know, "How did they play Malvolio?" See, as the butt of the worst of the pranks of the Discordian crew, he's a bit of a challenge. He has to be enough of a pompous prig that you enjoy seeing him set up and knocked down, but, given how much time the audience spends with him, you can't go TOO far in that direction, or he'll just annoy the audience.
Ken Cheeseman gets that role, and I think he did well by it. Like I said, it's a tough role, and I remember reading some director's notes as to how he approached it and how he tried to strike that balance -- making himself unlikable enough that it is funny when he's locked up as a lunatic, while making him sympathetic enough that you actually do CARE what happens to him. Tough tightrope there, but I think he walked it well.
So -- the upshot is that Ben Evett and the Actors' Shakespeare Project have done it again. They've put together a fantastic show, funny, witty, romantic, fast-moving and enjoyable, but with a solid emotional core and message of love, loyalty, and light, realization, and redemption.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-18 03:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-18 03:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-18 11:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-19 06:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-19 02:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-19 06:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-19 06:21 pm (UTC)Other companies have Shakespeare productions planned for February, ART will be doing Romeo & Juliet, and I noticed other companies are doing Othello and Hamlet if any of those interest you.
Most of the companies that do Shakespeare in the summer (Publick Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare, New England Shakespeare, and Shakespeare & Co) tend to announce their schedule in February or March.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-20 12:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-21 12:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-29 03:53 am (UTC)