[man is a giddy thing]
Jun. 11th, 2011 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tellitslantWhee, what a lovely day yesterday! I went up to London to see David Tennant and Catherine Tate in "Much Ado About Nothing," and it was great. Or, well, as I said on Twitter, it's not great Shakespeare, but it's great fun. It's not my favourite textual interpretation of the play, but the production is hi-larious.
The production was fucking hysterical. It's set in the 80s, and while, yeah, sometimes modern Shakespeare takes me a few minutes to get use to, the amusement factor of the setting totally made up for the disconnect. I particularly enjoyed the costuming - Don Pedro was dressed as Indiana Jones during the masquerade (which also had Benedick in a denim miniskirt and Beatrice in a hipster suit, win), for example, while I am pretty sure that Hero's wedding dress was meant as a replica of Princess Di's. I also thoroughly enjoyed the disco-ified Shakespearean songs, some of which I think were set to actual 80s tunes - I think they sampled "Holding Out for a Hero," for one, which obviously worked on levels. :P
The comedy in this production was, unsurprisingly, of the highest caliber. The scenes where Benedick and then Beatrice were eavesdropping were played around a couple of painters redoing some walls, and so Benedick ended up completely covering himself in white paint while listening to Leonardo, Pedro, and Claudio extol Beatrice's love for him. It was extremely funny. Beatrice's 'disguise,' however, absolutely killed me - it was so ridiculous, and executed with such spectacular comedic timing. In an attempt to 'hide' from Ursula and Hero, Beatrice threw the painters' dropcloth over her head - leaving her standing in the middle of the stage, you know, covered in a dropcloth - then slooooowly sank down to the floor and snuck across it. The entire house just died. Ursula then attached part of the painters' rigging to Beatrice's clothes, so Beatrice spent the rest of the scene bobbing in mid-air behind them. It was so very OTT, but fantastic.
And I do love a bit of striptease in my Shakespeare.
Also, I have to take a moment to point out how amazing Tate - and Tennant - looked. Catherine Tate in particular was totally stunning (...I hope I wasn't the only person looking at her dress in Hero's first wedding and thinking that it was TARDIS blue), and David Tennant always looks better in person. And I just really enjoyed Tate's Beatrice, wandering around swigging from a beer bottle. They did also have great comedic chemistry.
If I have a complaint it is that there was too much emphasis on the comedy and not enough on the romantic. I think Much Ado swings on that balance between slapstick and romance, and there was just not enough of the other here. I should make clear that I think this was a directorial choice, because I'm sure there will be people saying that Tate just can't play anything other than comedy blah blah - in the scenes where she is allowed to be serious she is very good, if not as exceptional as she is at comedy, and I would have liked to see them play a few more bits straight. The "I do love nothing in the world so well as you" scene was farce straight through to "Kill Claudio," which - well, it worked really well, and the shift from funny to sombre played perfectly, but it just doesn't feel like the right play to me if there aren't more layers there. Too, the "too wise to woo peacably" exchange - it was very funny, and bits of it were reaching towards that deeper level, but I just didn't get the connection as much as I wanted to.
Still, the production in general was amazing, and I love when Shakespeare is treated with a bit of irreverence. Everyone in it was very good - much as I really don't care about the Hero/Claudio subplot, bah. I hope they film this, in fact - I would love to be able to see the details more completely.
I would actually be really interested to see how this ages as a production - it only opened, what, two weeks ago? And I wonder if some of the sharper edges might get smoothed by time. I think it's sold out, though, and I'm not sure I'm quite interested enough to go up for lottery tickets or standing tickets.
I spent a little while in London prior to the play, and that was also delightful. For the first time ever, I managed to win over the London weather - it started raining while I was on the train, but it had stopped by the time Ileft Victoria, which I took as a sign. Also, I went to Forbidden Planet and bought the very last River Song mug, yes I did. :P In FP, I went straight to the "Cult TV" section to see whether there was anything professionally useful, and while there was not, there was a book with my work in it on the shelf, which is a whole new level of :D-face. :D :D :D And thenladyvivien and I had ice cream for dinner at our favourite BDSM-themed ice creamery, and THEN she very kindly allowed me to drag her into the Maple Leaf, the Canadian pub, and I had CANADIAN BEER. (We also had more substantial food there.) But CANADIAN BEER. And then I got followed across Covent Garden by Charlie Chaplin. I didn't get to see much of the rest of the London posse - I thought there was going to be drinks or something afterwards, but then again it took me long enough to get home as was - but that was the only sad bit about the day. :P
The production was fucking hysterical. It's set in the 80s, and while, yeah, sometimes modern Shakespeare takes me a few minutes to get use to, the amusement factor of the setting totally made up for the disconnect. I particularly enjoyed the costuming - Don Pedro was dressed as Indiana Jones during the masquerade (which also had Benedick in a denim miniskirt and Beatrice in a hipster suit, win), for example, while I am pretty sure that Hero's wedding dress was meant as a replica of Princess Di's. I also thoroughly enjoyed the disco-ified Shakespearean songs, some of which I think were set to actual 80s tunes - I think they sampled "Holding Out for a Hero," for one, which obviously worked on levels. :P
The comedy in this production was, unsurprisingly, of the highest caliber. The scenes where Benedick and then Beatrice were eavesdropping were played around a couple of painters redoing some walls, and so Benedick ended up completely covering himself in white paint while listening to Leonardo, Pedro, and Claudio extol Beatrice's love for him. It was extremely funny. Beatrice's 'disguise,' however, absolutely killed me - it was so ridiculous, and executed with such spectacular comedic timing. In an attempt to 'hide' from Ursula and Hero, Beatrice threw the painters' dropcloth over her head - leaving her standing in the middle of the stage, you know, covered in a dropcloth - then slooooowly sank down to the floor and snuck across it. The entire house just died. Ursula then attached part of the painters' rigging to Beatrice's clothes, so Beatrice spent the rest of the scene bobbing in mid-air behind them. It was so very OTT, but fantastic.
And I do love a bit of striptease in my Shakespeare.
Also, I have to take a moment to point out how amazing Tate - and Tennant - looked. Catherine Tate in particular was totally stunning (...I hope I wasn't the only person looking at her dress in Hero's first wedding and thinking that it was TARDIS blue), and David Tennant always looks better in person. And I just really enjoyed Tate's Beatrice, wandering around swigging from a beer bottle. They did also have great comedic chemistry.
If I have a complaint it is that there was too much emphasis on the comedy and not enough on the romantic. I think Much Ado swings on that balance between slapstick and romance, and there was just not enough of the other here. I should make clear that I think this was a directorial choice, because I'm sure there will be people saying that Tate just can't play anything other than comedy blah blah - in the scenes where she is allowed to be serious she is very good, if not as exceptional as she is at comedy, and I would have liked to see them play a few more bits straight. The "I do love nothing in the world so well as you" scene was farce straight through to "Kill Claudio," which - well, it worked really well, and the shift from funny to sombre played perfectly, but it just doesn't feel like the right play to me if there aren't more layers there. Too, the "too wise to woo peacably" exchange - it was very funny, and bits of it were reaching towards that deeper level, but I just didn't get the connection as much as I wanted to.
Still, the production in general was amazing, and I love when Shakespeare is treated with a bit of irreverence. Everyone in it was very good - much as I really don't care about the Hero/Claudio subplot, bah. I hope they film this, in fact - I would love to be able to see the details more completely.
I would actually be really interested to see how this ages as a production - it only opened, what, two weeks ago? And I wonder if some of the sharper edges might get smoothed by time. I think it's sold out, though, and I'm not sure I'm quite interested enough to go up for lottery tickets or standing tickets.
I spent a little while in London prior to the play, and that was also delightful. For the first time ever, I managed to win over the London weather - it started raining while I was on the train, but it had stopped by the time Ileft Victoria, which I took as a sign. Also, I went to Forbidden Planet and bought the very last River Song mug, yes I did. :P In FP, I went straight to the "Cult TV" section to see whether there was anything professionally useful, and while there was not, there was a book with my work in it on the shelf, which is a whole new level of :D-face. :D :D :D And then
ladyvivien and I had ice cream for dinner at our favourite BDSM-themed ice creamery, and THEN she very kindly allowed me to drag her into the Maple Leaf, the Canadian pub, and I had CANADIAN BEER. (We also had more substantial food there.) But CANADIAN BEER. And then I got followed across Covent Garden by Charlie Chaplin. I didn't get to see much of the rest of the London posse - I thought there was going to be drinks or something afterwards, but then again it took me long enough to get home as was - but that was the only sad bit about the day. :P
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 12:41 pm (UTC)I ran into the others after I left you - I think pretty much everyone went home as well. Or they walked to the tube with me, then snuck off out without me. Could go either way :p
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 12:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 03:51 pm (UTC)and how cool is THAT!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 11:52 pm (UTC)I am sad I wasn't there with anyone, so I couldn't be all squeeful at them. :P
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 03:57 pm (UTC)You went to the Maple Leaf! I used to go there a lot when I was living in London. Just hearing about it brings back all sorts of flashbacks. It may even have been there that left me so sick I threw up in a flowerpot outside a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown that one time. Heh.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 11:53 pm (UTC)I have gone past the Maple Leaf several times, but that as my first time in. I could very happily have had a LOT more of the beer, let me tell you. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 05:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 11:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 07:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 11:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 01:03 pm (UTC)Ooohh, faint-praise burn! Nicely done.
What you say about leaning too hard on slapstick is what bugs me about most productions of Shax's high comedy – it's like people think {1} it's a happy love story so it can only be made of marshmallow creme! and {2} the audience is too stupid to get the jokes if they're not accompanied by outrageous antics and lewd gestures. This is what I loved about Simon Russell Beale and Zoë Wanamaker – while even that production was a bit much in the Antics department (did he really have to fall into a pool?), the actors gave the roles an edge and a gravitas that made the humor all the more effective. I love a production that's not afraid to go there.
Have you seen the Globe production? I'd be interested in a comparative review. (I HAVE TO LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH SOMEONE OKAY MY CITY DOES NOT DO THEATRE. ... Ahem.)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 01:51 pm (UTC)the audience is too stupid to get the jokes if they're not accompanied by outrageous antics and lewd gestures
And yes, this - particularly because with Tennant there was a large fangirl contingent and I think the production played to that deliberately; there were moments when Something Funny happened in a way that was mocking Benedick, but it was set up so that people laughed because it was Tennant Being Funny. Which is frustrating.
I haven't seen the Globe version! I hear very good things, but honestly don't know if I have time. (You should come visit more during theatre season! :D)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-11 03:12 pm (UTC)