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xiphiasSo, Lis and I saw the Industrial Theatre's production of Henry IV today. It'll be playing again tomorrow at 2, next weekend on Saturday and Sunday at 2, where we saw it, on the lawn of the First Parish Church in Taunton Center, then it will be at the Sanders Theater at Harvard on the 27th, and in the state park in Easton on the 28th and 29th.
All shows are free -- just show up.
So, is it worth showing up?
Short answer: sure! It's free!
Frankly, it's a pretty basic production -- no particularly impressive conceits, no standout amazing performances. Very basic sets (which, incidentally, I tend to like), very simple costumes. They chose to put Hal, Bartolph, Pistol, and the rest in modern dress when they were boozing it up, and they used bottles of Bud for the sack, but, other than that, it was all more-or-less-generic-medievalish-kinda costuming.
The performances were solid. Nothing amazing, but the lines were delivered clearly, and with appropriate amounts of emotion and inflection. No complaints there.
If I had a complaint, it would be that the fight scenes could have been better. They were fine, but, given that we're in Boston, which has so many people working on medieval and Renaissance swordplay, and so many people who do fight choreography, I've gotten to expect a pretty high standard for my Shakespearian swordfights. But, again, there was nothing wrong with them.
Everything was solid. It was a good, average production.
Which made it a hell of a lot of fun, because the play is good. We'd not seen Henry IV before, although Lis had read it. I was generally familiar with some of the basic outline of the story, but not the details.
And it's a good, fun play. Some of the bits where Shakespeare is deliberately trying to be funny are, well, kind of embarrassing -- I generally feel that people who deliberately annoy their waiters should be beaten with sticks -- but other humor bits are damn good. And the main plot itself is fast-paced and exciting, while Prince Hal is a genuinely interesting guy.
So is it worth it? Yes -- I mean, c'mon, it's free. But even so -- we drove an hour to Taunton and an hour back, and feel that it was time well-spent. If you can easily get to Taunton, the Borderlands state park, or the Sanders Theater, it's worth going. Especially if you've never seen Henry IV before.
All shows are free -- just show up.
So, is it worth showing up?
Short answer: sure! It's free!
Frankly, it's a pretty basic production -- no particularly impressive conceits, no standout amazing performances. Very basic sets (which, incidentally, I tend to like), very simple costumes. They chose to put Hal, Bartolph, Pistol, and the rest in modern dress when they were boozing it up, and they used bottles of Bud for the sack, but, other than that, it was all more-or-less-generic-medievalish-kinda costuming.
The performances were solid. Nothing amazing, but the lines were delivered clearly, and with appropriate amounts of emotion and inflection. No complaints there.
If I had a complaint, it would be that the fight scenes could have been better. They were fine, but, given that we're in Boston, which has so many people working on medieval and Renaissance swordplay, and so many people who do fight choreography, I've gotten to expect a pretty high standard for my Shakespearian swordfights. But, again, there was nothing wrong with them.
Everything was solid. It was a good, average production.
Which made it a hell of a lot of fun, because the play is good. We'd not seen Henry IV before, although Lis had read it. I was generally familiar with some of the basic outline of the story, but not the details.
And it's a good, fun play. Some of the bits where Shakespeare is deliberately trying to be funny are, well, kind of embarrassing -- I generally feel that people who deliberately annoy their waiters should be beaten with sticks -- but other humor bits are damn good. And the main plot itself is fast-paced and exciting, while Prince Hal is a genuinely interesting guy.
So is it worth it? Yes -- I mean, c'mon, it's free. But even so -- we drove an hour to Taunton and an hour back, and feel that it was time well-spent. If you can easily get to Taunton, the Borderlands state park, or the Sanders Theater, it's worth going. Especially if you've never seen Henry IV before.