Shakespeare All the Time

Look at that set! Gorgeous!

After my record-breaking day o' theater on Wednesday, I had tickets Thursday evening to see Pericles (cross another off the canon list) at Theater for a New Audience (in BK, right by BAM). The theater is absolutely gorgeous, and I enjoyed the show, but I can definitely see why it's one of Shakespeare's lesser known & little produced shows. It meanders. A LOT. And the there are three different tempests that lead to ship-wrecks in the piece. I mean, we get it Bill, you're getting old, so you're writing about stormy seas, but geeeez. I do love the character of Gower and all the music works really well (even though it bothered me when "Marina" sang to her dad when clearly the servant sitting next to her was actually singing and she was just mouthing the words. Wouldn't have been a thing, if they'd just let her sing it. The song is the point, not Marina singing it, but instead they tried to dupe the audience... Boo. Did not like), but overall, tough Shakespeare show that they did really well.

Plus, first act is 90 minutes (makes sense, start the second act with Gower talking about how 16 years have passed since we last saw the characters, but... that's a long time before intermission). I don't think the show was served by me having seen the entire King and Country cycle a week before, but again, glad to have seen it. There were some performances (particularly Christian Camargo's Pericles and Philip Casnoff's Helicanus) that were absolutely outstanding and I enjoyed the clarity of place provided by costumes, set, and even the styles of music.

It's always good to see and hear more Shakespeare when I'm working on it. That helps me understand both what I'm rehearsing and also what I'm witnessing. Good things. Good Shakespeare acting is always so inspirational, too. Taking difficult text and spitting out the words with clarity and objectives is just yummy. It's the best kind of good acting. Especially in a show I'm unfamiliar with,

So, remember that audition I had for a theater company in Maine where I'd be working on All's Well and Richard III and teaching kids for two months and getting PAID? Remember how I was shocked I hadn't heard back from them? Well, turns out, that their email somehow went to my spam filter, so they resent it to me, and they want to see me to film myself working Queen Margaret's monologue at the end of Richard III, so yay! Callback! And potentially Maine for the summer! It would be amazing to both get the opportunity to work on two Shakes shows I've never done (OR EVEN SEEN) before AND get experience teaching kids, so we'll see. Planning to record the monologue tonight. I WAS going to do it on Wednesday, but then theater tickets, so...