![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphias[crossposted to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bard_in_boston
The Shakespeare Society of Wellesley College has been putting on shows since 1886, and this semester, they chose Much Ado about Nothing. Director Alyssa Kwok chose to set her production in a version of post-WWII Paris, albeit one with (appropriately to the play) more Jazz Age glamor and less post-war rebuilding.
In the spirit of being a critic (what's the point of writing theater criticism if you can't be critical?), let me start with the few -- and minor -- quibbles I have with the production.
As with most college productions, the differing levels of experience of different actors did cause a few rough spots -- for some actors, this is their first production, while others could list dozens of plays in their resumes. Obviously, actors who have never been on stage before are going to be some combination of more stiff and hesitant, and over-broad in their delivery than more experienced ones. The main thing I noticed was a tendency not to leave enough time for audience reaction -- there were many times that someone would deliver a great line, the audience would crack up, and we would miss the next couple lines in the laughter. This is a minor quibble at most, and, to my mind, is a small price to pay for a Society to be able to nurture and encourage those students with a love of Shakespeare but little exposure to it from the inside, as it were. Anyway, this is one of those problems that only develops when the actors are getting the big laughs in the first place.
I also would have made a different choice in how they handled a bit at the end of the play. Most of Shakespeare's comedies have some touch of melancholy in how they close, and in this case (and the following is a bit of a spoiler), the melancholy comes from Don Pedro -- who also could have loved Beatrice, and ends the play on a wistful note, wishing his friends well, but with a bit of "might-have-been". I tend to feel that these little melancholy, bittersweet notes add to the plays, and, in this production, they choose to undercut that by having Don Pedro find another snugglebunny pretty much instantaneously.
And I got the impression that Kwok may have allowed some of the "bit-part" actors a bit too much freedom. In rehearsal and in developing characters, it's a good thing for each actor in a scene to play and improvise, and to play as broadly and amusingly as they can manage. But I also feel that it's the director's job to rein that in before performance. In Act II, Scene I, the bit with the masked ball, Beatrice and Benedick were upstaged by some, admittedly, truly funny bits of business between some of the minor characters. Personally, I'd regret losing those gags, but I regret more losing the Beatrice and Benedick dialogue that those gags upstaged.
As is appropriate, they gave those two roles to two of their most experienced members, Dahlia Al-Habieli as Beatrice, and Trevi Ramirez as Benedick, and they played brilliantly together.
A few other performances to note:
In the performance I saw, director Alyssa Kwok played the musician Balthasar. However, the arrangement of "Sigh no More, Ladies" that Balthasar plays was written by Emily Hall, who normally takes the role. It's a fantastic arrangement.
Elizabeth Stone's Dogberry was over-the-top, as is appropriate, buy not overly over-the-top -- I can think of two Dogberry performances I've seen in which he was just annoying (Michael Keaton is one of them), and Stone didn't fall into that trap -- she managed to keep his craziness more-or-less in control, which is a challenge for that role. The rest of Messina's Keystone Kops were also effective in the "comic relief from the comedy" roles.
It's also fun to see what Stephanie Pollard does with the relatively minor role of Conrade -- and how Verges reflects that theme among Messina's constabulary. . . .
The person with whom I went to the play called Anna Krohn's Don John "Snape-like", which is a pretty good description. She brings an oily sinuousness to his general bad-guy-ness.
Sixth and lastly, the set design and costume design (including hair design) deserve mention. They're gorgeous.
And, to conclude:this is a fairly strong production of Much Ado, which avoids some pitfalls I've seen in other productions (the "I Love Kenneth Brannaugh So Much That I've Watched His Movie Over And Over Until My Eyes Bled" syndrome, and "The Curse Of the Overemphatic Dogberry".) Some of the actors are up to professional standards; most are somewhat amateurish -- which isn't a failing in an amateur company. Even when some of the actors aren't as polished as they could be -- and WILL be in a year or two -- they still demonstrate the "amat" part of amateur.
bard_in_bostonThe Shakespeare Society of Wellesley College has been putting on shows since 1886, and this semester, they chose Much Ado about Nothing. Director Alyssa Kwok chose to set her production in a version of post-WWII Paris, albeit one with (appropriately to the play) more Jazz Age glamor and less post-war rebuilding.
In the spirit of being a critic (what's the point of writing theater criticism if you can't be critical?), let me start with the few -- and minor -- quibbles I have with the production.
As with most college productions, the differing levels of experience of different actors did cause a few rough spots -- for some actors, this is their first production, while others could list dozens of plays in their resumes. Obviously, actors who have never been on stage before are going to be some combination of more stiff and hesitant, and over-broad in their delivery than more experienced ones. The main thing I noticed was a tendency not to leave enough time for audience reaction -- there were many times that someone would deliver a great line, the audience would crack up, and we would miss the next couple lines in the laughter. This is a minor quibble at most, and, to my mind, is a small price to pay for a Society to be able to nurture and encourage those students with a love of Shakespeare but little exposure to it from the inside, as it were. Anyway, this is one of those problems that only develops when the actors are getting the big laughs in the first place.
I also would have made a different choice in how they handled a bit at the end of the play. Most of Shakespeare's comedies have some touch of melancholy in how they close, and in this case (and the following is a bit of a spoiler), the melancholy comes from Don Pedro -- who also could have loved Beatrice, and ends the play on a wistful note, wishing his friends well, but with a bit of "might-have-been". I tend to feel that these little melancholy, bittersweet notes add to the plays, and, in this production, they choose to undercut that by having Don Pedro find another snugglebunny pretty much instantaneously.
And I got the impression that Kwok may have allowed some of the "bit-part" actors a bit too much freedom. In rehearsal and in developing characters, it's a good thing for each actor in a scene to play and improvise, and to play as broadly and amusingly as they can manage. But I also feel that it's the director's job to rein that in before performance. In Act II, Scene I, the bit with the masked ball, Beatrice and Benedick were upstaged by some, admittedly, truly funny bits of business between some of the minor characters. Personally, I'd regret losing those gags, but I regret more losing the Beatrice and Benedick dialogue that those gags upstaged.
As is appropriate, they gave those two roles to two of their most experienced members, Dahlia Al-Habieli as Beatrice, and Trevi Ramirez as Benedick, and they played brilliantly together.
A few other performances to note:
In the performance I saw, director Alyssa Kwok played the musician Balthasar. However, the arrangement of "Sigh no More, Ladies" that Balthasar plays was written by Emily Hall, who normally takes the role. It's a fantastic arrangement.
Elizabeth Stone's Dogberry was over-the-top, as is appropriate, buy not overly over-the-top -- I can think of two Dogberry performances I've seen in which he was just annoying (Michael Keaton is one of them), and Stone didn't fall into that trap -- she managed to keep his craziness more-or-less in control, which is a challenge for that role. The rest of Messina's Keystone Kops were also effective in the "comic relief from the comedy" roles.
It's also fun to see what Stephanie Pollard does with the relatively minor role of Conrade -- and how Verges reflects that theme among Messina's constabulary. . . .
The person with whom I went to the play called Anna Krohn's Don John "Snape-like", which is a pretty good description. She brings an oily sinuousness to his general bad-guy-ness.
Sixth and lastly, the set design and costume design (including hair design) deserve mention. They're gorgeous.
And, to conclude:this is a fairly strong production of Much Ado, which avoids some pitfalls I've seen in other productions (the "I Love Kenneth Brannaugh So Much That I've Watched His Movie Over And Over Until My Eyes Bled" syndrome, and "The Curse Of the Overemphatic Dogberry".) Some of the actors are up to professional standards; most are somewhat amateurish -- which isn't a failing in an amateur company. Even when some of the actors aren't as polished as they could be -- and WILL be in a year or two -- they still demonstrate the "amat" part of amateur.
Remaining shows:
Sunday the 15th at 7 p.m.
Thursday the 19th at 7 p.m.
Friday the 20th at 8 p.m.
Saturday the 21st at 8 p.m.
Sunday the 22th at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m
$5 students, $10 general public. At the Shakespeare Society House at Wellesley College
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-15 02:41 pm (UTC)