Lights! Greasepaint! Curtains! The Theater

[owlice]

I'm certain I'm not the only one here who likes live theater. I don't go nearly so often as I would like (it's that working/disposable income/time thing, don'tcha know?), but I do enjoy going.

I recently saw a really splendid production of A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Liv Ullmann, this at the Kennedy Center. Cate Blanchett played (the hell out of) Blanche, Joel Edgerton was a hunk great as Stanley, and Robin McLeavy was a graceful, glowing, earthy Stella. Fabulous wonderful production.

Have you seen a good play recently? Please tell!!

[drogulus]

     A few weeks ago I saw an amateur production of Harvey by the Belmont Players, who first performed the play in 1950, the first amateur theater to do it. My GF had never seen the movie so it was new to her. When we got home that night I went right to YouTube and showed her James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd.

[owlice]

drogulus, I've never seen Harvey, either!

The next theater production I'll be seeing is the musical Young Frankenstein, which starts this week at the Kennedy Center.

[ritter]

Mega-bump!

This seems to be the only thread dedicated to the theatre on GMG . Thought I'd revive it to see if there's theatre fans  (I see drogulus posted here 9 years ago) and to share my excitement with the upcoming performances in Madrid of what must be one of the most legendary stagings ever: Giorgio Strehler's production of Goldoni's Arlecchino servitore di due padroni. The Piccolo Teatro di Milano will be bringing it as guests to Madrid's Teatro de la Comedia (where the Spanish National Classical Theatre Company is headquartered) , in a revival by Ferruccio Soleri.

Strehler first approached Goldoni's play in 1947, and his staging (as well as the sets by Ezio Frigerio) evolved  over the years. I saw it in Caracas in 1983 (35 years ago, good heavens!  ) , and was bowled over.

I'm really looking forward to this...

[vandermolen]

Should go to the theatre more. I've never been to The Globe in London 

However, I did recently appear as 'Ratty' from Toad of Toad Hall in a scene for the local amateur dramatic group.

My performance was 'legendary' apparently.

[NikF]

Mega-bump!

This seems to be the only thread dedicated to the theatre on GMG . Thought I'd revive it to see if there's theatre fans  (I see drogulus posted here 9 years ago) and to share my excitement with the upcoming performances in Madrid of what must be one of the most legendary stagings ever: Giorgio Strehler's production of Goldoni's Arlecchino servitore di due padroni. The Piccolo Teatro di Milano will be bringing it as guests to Madrid's Teatro de la Comedia (where the Spanish National Classical Theatre Company is headquartered) , in a revival by Ferruccio Soleri.

Strehler first approached Goldoni's play in 1947, and his staging (as well as the sets by Ezio Frigerio) evolved  over the years. I saw it in Caracas in 1983 (35 years ago, good heavens!  ) , and was bowled over.

I'm really looking forward to this...

ritter, that appears an interesting prospect indeed.
Consistently you choose from a fine menu.   Enjoy!


At the moment only play I've tickets to attend is 'La Maladie de la mort' at the Edinburgh Festival -

'Katie Mitchell, one of the world's most influential and iconoclastic theatre makers, presents her own uncompromising stage adaptation of the provocative novella by Marguerite Duras.

Duras's 1982 psychological thriller focuses on an unnamed man who hires a woman to spend several weeks with him in a hotel by the sea, hoping to experience love. She may only visit him at night, and cannot speak to him unless invited to.

This radical reworking reveals the inner landscapes of both characters in a live cinema and theatre experience. It combines a theatre production performed live, with a film generated and edited in real time, and projected on a large screen above the set.'


https://www.eif.co.uk/whats-on/2018/maladie

[ritter]

At the moment only play I've tickets to attend is 'La Maladie de la mort' at the Edinburgh Festival -

'Katie Mitchell, one of the world's most influential and iconoclastic theatre makers, presents her own uncompromising stage adaptation of the provocative novella by Marguerite Duras.

Duras's 1982 psychological thriller focuses on an unnamed man who hires a woman to spend several weeks with him in a hotel by the sea, hoping to experience love. She may only visit him at night, and cannot speak to him unless invited to.

This radical reworking reveals the inner landscapes of both characters in a live cinema and theatre experience. It combines a theatre production performed live, with a film generated and edited in real time, and projected on a large screen above the set.'


https://www.eif.co.uk/whats-on/2018/maladie

That looks very appealing as well, NikF!

I'm a great fan of Marguerite Duras, and have read most of her work. I actually wrote her a letter (some 32 years ago) expressing my admiration, and she was kind enough to answer (pointing out that she rarely replied to letters from readers, but that mine touched her by its sincerity and it's naturalness). Her (framed) letter hangs on my walls. 

Some years ago, we could enjoy here in Madrid another dramatisation of one of her books, La douleur, staged by Patrice Chéreau and with the superb acting of Dominique Blanc. It was wonderful, but it is a completely different text than La maladie de la mort. Please report on the latter once you've seen it in Edinburgh. I'd really like to know your impressions.

Cheers,

[Karl Henning]

Should go to the theatre more. I've never been to The Globe in London 

However, I did recently appear as 'Ratty' from Toad of Toad Hall in a scene for the local amateur dramatic group.

My performance was 'legendary' apparently.

Yes, 'Snapper'!

[Draško]

I'm really looking forward to this...

I would love to see that, as can probably be inferred from my avatar. 

As for theatre-going, I do go from time to time, would wish to go more often but time doesn't always permit.

This season I've seen only three plays.

Cormac McCarthy's The Sunset Limited, a two-hander carried by actors, I was more ambivalent toward the material itself.

The Importance of Being Earnest barely survived the translation, and directors decision to play up the angle of Algernon being Wilde himself was only of limited success in my view.

The absolute best, and one of finest plays I've seen in years was Chekhov's Ivanov at the National. Firstly the directoress' (?) excellent idea to stage it very intimately by closing off the auditorium and placing the much reduced audience (200-300) on the stage itself on three rafters on three sides while the fourth (toward the unused auditorium) was gigantic frame in which the three man band sat, playing live Tchaikovsky, Schubert and Russian Gypsy romances at appropriate moments. Stage had only one setting, a rectangularly set Russian gentry 19th century drawing room, the costumes were modern but unassuming. But the main thing was of course a simply staggering performance by the entire cast, even the really thankless title role.

I doubt I'll get to see anything else before the season ends in coupe of weeks. 

[NikF]

That looks very appealing as well, NikF!

I'm a great fan of Marguerite Duras, and have read most of her work. I actually wrote her a letter (some 32 years ago) expressing my admiration, and she was kind enough to answer (pointing out that she rarely replied to letters from readers, but that mine touched her by its sincerity and it's naturalness). Her (framed) letter hangs on my walls. 

Some years ago, we could enjoy here in Madrid another dramatisation of one of her books, La douleur, staged by Patrice Chéreau and with the superb acting of Dominique Blanc. It was wonderful, but it is a completely different text than La maladie de la mort. Please report on the latter once you've seen it in Edinburgh. I'd really like to know your impressions.

Cheers,

That was very cool to receive a reply from her, especially such a personal one. 

Yeah, I'll certainly give this thread bump and post my thoughts.

[vandermolen]

Yes, 'Snapper'!

HA!

[ritter]

Well, Arlecchino servitore di due padroni last night was as good, or actually even better, than I remembered and expected. Sheer delight, in this elegant comedy (which doesn't shy away from some slapstick moments), and all the metatheatrical add-ons are wonderful. The Piccolo Teatro di Milano has been performing this since 1947, with close to 3.000 performances, and yet it's so fresh, it feels so improvised. Meraviglioso!



IIRC, I've seen three Giorgio Strehler stagings live (this Arlecchino, Verdi's Falsraff at La Scala, and Mozart's Così fan tutte here in Madrid), and each one of them has been memorable.

I would love to see that, as can probably be inferred from my avatar. 

You should, whenever you have a chance. I'm sure you'd love it. It's available on DVD, but I don't think that medium can capture the freshness of the live performance.

[asin]B008EADIDE[/asin]

BTW, Draško, that Chekhov you saw does indeed look very fine... 

[Draško]

You should, whenever you have a chance. I'm sure you'd love it. It's available on DVD, but I don't think that medium can capture the freshness of the live performance.

Definitely, if I ever get the chance I'll go see it, and yes, DVD is most inadequate substitution to live theater experience. In the meantime one of Belgrade theaters will be staging Mirandolina next season.

On a tangent, have you by any chance read Goldoni's Memoirs? I've been eyeing the book but it's 600 pages long and could be boring.

[ritter]

Definitely, if I ever get the chance I'll go see it, and yes, DVD is most inadequate substitution to live theater experience. In the meantime one of Belgrade theaters will be staging Mirandolina next season.

On a tangent, have you by any chance read Goldoni's Memoirs? I've been eyeing the book but it's 600 pages long and could be boring.

No, I haven't read those memoirs (actually, I didn't even know they existed). And yes, 600 pages does seem a bit daunting, even if I much admire everything by Goldoni I know. I've seen Arlecchino (the original al title of which is just Il servitore di due padroni) and Il ventaglio live (the latter also by the Piccolo Teatro, in Luca Ronconi's staging), and have a soft spot for the Wolf-Ferrari operas based on Goldoni plays (Le donne curiose, I Quattro rusteghi and, particularly, Il campiello). There's also Martinu's Mirandolina (which has left a weaker impression, but I should revisit sometime soon).

Cheers,

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

This is the new building of Writers Theatre, in Glencoe IL, unveiled in 2016:



It was designed by Studio Gang Architects, most famous for the Aqua Tower in downtown Chicago.



Recently I saw their last production of the season, Buried Child by Sam Shepard. Extremely well done, but Good Lord, what a depressing play about life on the bottom. It's like Beckett meets John Steinbeck.

[ritter]

Not a live event, but I've just ordered this on DVD:



Olivier Py staged the unabridged (ca. 10 hours long!) version of Paul Claudel's extraordinary play Le soulier de satin (The Satin Shoe) in 2003, and the production was revived (and filmed) at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in Paris in 2009.  I already own and enjoy Manuel de Oliveira's film version from 1986, but it'll be good to have another version of this wonderfully excessive work.

When I first read it, I was bowled over by this play (set in the Spanish "siglo de oro"), which encompasses all sorts of theatrical registers (cloak-and-dagger, mysticism, comedy, oriental traditions). And. Claudel's verses are of a rarefied beauty. The complete version has been given only a handful of times, and it's unlikely I'll get a chance to see it live anytime soon. The abridged "stage version", which was the one used by Jean-Louis Barrault for the world premiere at the Comédie Française in occupied Paris—and lasts "just" some four hours  —, isn't given that often either.

Incidentally, one of the play's scenes inspired the title of Pierre Boulez's Dialogue de l'ombre double for clarinet and electronics. It was this connection that led me to explore Claudel's piece in the first place many years ago, and since then I've become a fervent Claudelian.   

[ritter]

Bump!

Two interesting soirées (one live, one on video) of "theatre within the theatre" recently.

The Teatro Español here in Madrid (the city's oldest playhouse, and one of the most prestigious theatrical institutions in the Spanish speaking world) produced Luigi Pirandello's late Questa sera si recita a soggetto (Tonight we Improvise, or Esta noche se improvisa la comedia in Spanish translation). This is a part of the author's "trilogy of the theatre within the theatre", along with Six Characters in Search of an Author and Each in His Own Way. A convoluted but highly interesting and entertaining plot about a stage director asking his actors to improvise a theatrical adaptation of Pirandello's novella Leonora, addio! (with clear operatic references). The limit between what his happening to (or is being said by) the actors or their characters becomes very difuse. The producer Ernesto Caballero made some adaptations of te text to include references to modern life (or to Spanish culture, the work being particularly Sicilian in its origin), and humour was present throughout most of the play (despite the tragic ending). All this worked admirably, and the crew of actors (many well-known from TV appearances in Spain) functioned very well together in this choral piece. A fun evening in the theatre! I've always come out impressed from the theatre whenever I've seen a piece by Pirandello!


The simple but rather effective sets by Monica Boromello.

And on video, I managed to see a 1958 film of Jean-Louis Barrault's staging of Jean Anouilh's La Répétition, ou l'amour puni (The Rehearsal, or Loved Punished). This was a revival of Barrault's staging for the world première at the Théâtre Marigny in 1950 (although in 1958 the fourth act --of five-- was almost completely eliminated).

This is one of Anouilh's pièces brillantes, and we have a group of aristocrats (in the immediate post-WW2 years) preparing a party in their country house, and rehearsing a play by Marivaux for the occasion. The birth of true love between a blasé, cynic, and married count and a young girl of lower social status is thwarted by the scheming of all those that surround the couple. It's interesting how the love sentiment between the couple is enacted mainly in the lines from the Marivaux play, and how the fact that all the characters are dressed in 18th century clothes --for the rehearsals they're having-- adds to the metatheatrical aspects of the piece. Its' good to see a full production by Barrault (who enjoys almost legendary status in 20th century French theatre) onscreen, with actors as reputed as Barrault himself, wis wife Madeleine Renaud, Jacques Desailly, etc.  The play itself is quite an accomplishment for its author IMHO.