We really don't care about theatre do we?

Quite so. This is the strength and the weakness of theater.

What about the differences between watching a concert video or being at a concert. The is more excitment and energy live, it is happening 'now', and there is no setbacks of use of media when seeing it live.

I think potentially theater could be one of the most amazing artforms, but I've never seen anyone do much good with it.

and Top Girls at the Guthrie Lab- no idea.

anyway the Guthrie is nice and usually lush and well-produced an stuff, and i get starry thinking about upcoming Shakespeare but it is warping my young mind by relentlessly beating on about the CLASSICS. etc. i really need to find myself a wealthy sugar-momma to take out to other theaters.

ok i got my tightpants on- i'm off to lurk 'mysteriously' outside high-priced Edina hairsalons.

good theatre is great. people who think theatre is obsolete know nothing.

In addition Lepage/ Ex Machina were frequent visitors to Glasgow and i think i have seen most oof his plays here. Theatre de Complicite don't come here anymore either. I miss stuff like this.

Of course, this is only true if you disregard the technical differences between onstage performance, film and television. As far as I am concerned the differences really are minor technicalities.

In all three media you have scripted dialogue telling a story with actors, costumes, scenery, lighting, incidental music, and so on.

The fact that a camera lens imposes a control over the audience's point-of-view that cannot be utilized in stage performances does not make much difference in my view. Stage direction tries to filter the audience's attention, too, except it uses lighting effects, blocking of actor's movements, and other technical means that are somewhat less effective than a camera. The goal is quite similar.

Theater people are just blinded by their nostalgic love of certain techniques that must be modified or discarded in a filmed setting as opposed to a stage setting. They identify these technicalities with 'theater', abhor the new technicalities of movies and tv, and overlook the overwhelming similarities between all the various forms of the modern theater.

you're making like montage is just another nifty gadget in the film director's toolbox; really it is ESSENTIAL to film, much more so than lighting and blocking is to theatre

xpost

the spatial quality of film and theater are to a large extent opposed.... the camera's "field of vision" is like an upside-down triangle, whereas a conventional stage is a bit the opposite (why it's rare for a theater director to stage a signification action in the back of the stage--harder to ensure that the audience's attention is directed to it). so they pose very different staging problems. i don't quite buy aimless's argument that this means they are different only in the method by which an audience's attention is directed. i think there is a place for ontological speculation....

slocki, it seems to me a hell of a lot of great films were made in the 1930s, and many of them were only a few baby steps away from being filmed stage productions with over-the-shoulder reaction shots and the occassional montage (thank you Sergei) to spice them up.

If montage is as ESSENTIAL as you say it is, then these films would have failed at birth, rather than becoming successful films - which, not coincidentally are still watched, enjoyed and studied today. Montage is just another nifty tool in a director's toolbox. It just happens to be such a useful tool that it gets used a lot.

30s films are usually edited pretty briskly, so it's not simply a matter of using up a reel of film shooting an integral theatrical performance. "montage" doesn't mean soviet montage necessarily--just, y'know, editing bits of film together. all hollywood films are edited together from master shots, medium shots (plan american etc.), and occasionally inserts/close ups at a rate of i dunno one shot every 10-12 seconds. (nowadays it's more like every 5 seconds but we're talking about the 1930s)

i think this is pretty important: "filmed theater" isn't really as simple as that, the fact of it being filmed and edited together in the conventional way transforms the way the story is being told. perhaps the "meaning" is ultimately the same, but i'm not sure that's true or if it even matters so much.

to get "filmed theater" you need to go back to 1895-1910 or so, like the original version of the "wizard of oz" which is basically "selected scenes from the stage play of 'the wizard of oz'"--but as i noted above the spatial aspect of film is such that a stage performance is NECESSARILY transformed if it is to be "faithfully" captured on film. those early films that don't bother with such a transformation are often incomprehensible and usually dismissed as "primtive" (that's another hill of beans or whatever).

Well that was a stupid idea

i directed R&J this summer and had to be p harsh w anyone who started raving about “brain development”, like turning 25 means life’s caramel center suddenly isn’t death anymore.

I saw Pass Over on Broadway and it was fucking great, go see that while you can

wanna recommend Strange Loop again as one of the best plays I've seen in years

I did see a local performance of The Frogs by Aristophanes yesterday which was very good. Pretty crude, very funny.
3rd year Drama course project from the local university. I think it was updated quite a bit not sure how recently. Had like nightclub scenes so am wondering when it was translated or reworked. Like obviously some of this was absolutely redone for this run of performances and evolved as the project unfolded.
But not sure what came from where.
Mostly female cast with a guy playing Dionysius and I think one other working sound or lights.
Hadn't realised the gender imbalance on the course. Interesting that it works that way and subsequently this play turned out like this.
Wonder if I've seen nascent performances by anybody I'll hear about later.

a few times a year the theater i work at hosts these vast scripted showcases put on by a kids' dance studio that rehearses in their own space for months; holds a single dress rehearsal in our theater, during the real-time runtime of which i design+program the lights+fx; then opens the following night. always a lil fraught and becomes more so if i have a conflict and have to deputize someone (last time i did this i did not see the results of course but afterwards the studio's formidable auteur demanded a reduction). cannot work this weekend's show because am starting rehearsals up the street for my own prod of the tempest, but was able to design the show at dress tonight accompanied by my substitute for the operation, ben, a much sharper guy and faster learner than last time who is very interested in and excited about the work and whom i'm not worried about, but whom i have had to train up for this v quickly. as we passed thru the office on our way into the house, the theater's exec director stopped us to say meaningfully, under his breath, "ben is an experienced theater tech." ben has run lights for our last few concerts, so we nodded knowingly and said "of course he is." we entered the house and climbed to the tech table. thirty seconds after the show's director sat down next to us and i made introductions, ben neatly clicked a pen open over his copy of the script, looked at the first lighting cue, and in a v winning dot-every-i just-checking kind of voice said "what's 'upstage' mean again?"

oh man

the director for the show I'm in, who has done shows for decades and is an accomplished performer, kept confusing Stage Right and Stage Left when giving us instructions a few weeks ago.

that one at least I get since that one's easy to brainfart but upstage....is....up....stage.

that one's easy to brainfart

is it though

if you're directing, sure, because you're facing the stage which flips things in your brain, whereas if you're on stage you're facing the audience and SR and SL are literally your left and your right.

yeah everyone confuses SL and SR eventually. i'm not scorning asking about upstage either! it was just v funny.

we had a fairly disastrous tech rehearsal for the 0rlando Fringe yesterday, in which we didn't finish the light and sound cues, and didn't get to run the show at all. for Fringe, you get one four hour tech rehearsal...and that's it (unless you buy another one, which we didn't).

so tonight opens and....as expected, half the sound cues were late, lighting was all wrong, and we entered and exited in complete broad daylight at least three or four times. and we had issues navigating the curtain, which has a difficult to locate slit. AND I managed to lose a piece of my costume between last night and today.

but...nobody died!

things drastically improved, positive review from local theatre critic (for show AND me).

few pics from it

https://i.ibb.co/vJB3HhJ/283113619-692476275386095-6316558625155990583-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/dgb3XxS/283573100-692476142052775-7998236158147932870-n.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/cDGSxf3/283113619-692475638719492-9026594461226398902-n.jpg

FYI forks is 100% OTM about A Strange Loop

i remain shocked that it blew up as big as it did and that broadway audiences are flocking to a musical featuring a non-ironic number about a suburban buttfucking daddy hookup
can't wait to see what Jackson does next

You mean non-ironic master/slave complete with n-words and racism suburban butt-fucking daddy hookup

It was great. It was also basically him having a two hour argument with himself and his parents, on stage. I didn't really think about it at the time, because it was pretty dazzling, but yeah.

seeing this when it was off broadway and i had no expectations was a punch to the mouth
have not seen the new staging but it's hard to imagine anyone can be as good as larry owens was in the lead.

I'm pretty much retired from theatre now but the director I did the Fringe Festival with the last five years needed another cold reader for a reading of the terrible Moose Murders for a fundraiser.

So I'm here doing that tonight. Playing Stinky. They're so not used to be not being in their shows anymore that I showed up without a script and dude got annoyed, not realizing he'd posted it in the FB group that I'm not a part of cos I'm not in their show.

Should be fun.

*used to me

He just handed me the script and it's 90 fucking pages lmao like I was going to print that at home

The character is a 20 year old who wants to fuck his mother.

What could go wrong?

been stress-testing myself the last month or two: designing lights for one musical (the netflix adaptation starred meryl streep) while appearing as a high school theater teacher in another (the original production starred stephanie hsu) and simultaneously directing a student showcase because all of a sudden i actually do teach high school theater (in a neighboring town). the streep show's done; the hsu show closes this weekend; the school play's next thursday; next friday i start rehearsals as benedick in much ado. not sure yet if i care about theatre, but by the time i am it may be too late.

Benedick!! Love that guy

dang, when do you sleep?!

break legs in Much Ado!

thank you! tbh the only thing rly cutting into my sleep rn is stellaris. everything else just makes me need it.

benedick's speech about change (doth not the appetite alter?) is so major: you're laughing at the character rationalizing so you don't notice shakes has begun preaching straight to you about his core/heart stuff.

barbaric imo to expect actors to print their own scripts. there should be a big clean stack of them on a table when you walk in.

I saw a fantastic production of Much Ado at The Globe a few years ago.. the whole thing set during the Mexican Revolution! What I remember most is the guy who played Benedick was just so good at it that his soliloquies just came upon you without you even realising that he was doing one.. it just felt so natural, like he was just sharing his thoughts with us. Halfway through I'd be like, oh, right, this is a monologue!

Tomorrow we're off to see Vardy vs Rooney: the Wagatha Christie Trial at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End!

Over the past couple of months we've seen Jessica Swale's Nell Gwynn at the Oxford Playhouse and Lucy Prebble's The Effect at the Burton Taylor Theatre which is a tiny place (40 seats or so?) behind the Playhouse. Both excellent.

it's the most exhausting time of the year:

https://i.imgur.com/IIjgV1Y.jpg

a few times a year the theater i work at hosts these vast scripted showcases put on by a kids' dance studio that rehearses in their own space for months; holds a single dress rehearsal in our theater, during the real-time runtime of which i design+program the lights+fx; then opens the following night. always a lil fraught and becomes more so if i have a conflict and have to deputize someone (last time i did this i did not see the results of course but afterwards the studio's formidable auteur demanded a reduction). cannot work this weekend's show because am starting rehearsals up the street for my own prod of the tempest, but was able to design the show at dress tonight accompanied by my substitute for the operation, ben, a much sharper guy and faster learner than last time who is very interested in and excited about the work and whom i'm not worried about, but whom i have had to train up for this v quickly. as we passed thru the office on our way into the house, the theater's exec director stopped us to say meaningfully, under his breath, "ben is an experienced theater tech." ben has run lights for our last few concerts, so we nodded knowingly and said "of course he is." we entered the house and climbed to the tech table. thirty seconds after the show's director sat down next to us and i made introductions, ben neatly clicked a pen open over his copy of the script, looked at the first lighting cue, and in a v winning dot-every-i just-checking kind of voice said "what's 'upstage' mean again?"

― difficult listening hour, Thursday, May 12, 2022 10:23 PM bookmarkflaglink

update: this guy (not really named ben) is now my constant collaborator and has entirely taken over designing these dance shows; could not live without him.

Go Ben go

I've been thinking about trying to go to the theatre regularly in London w/o seeing any adaptations or revivals. Could be a fun challenge!

i was in the West End yesterday and passed by VANYA starring andrew scott and i was like wow, i didn’t know about that, i’ll see andrew scott in uncle vanya and i crossed the street to read the notices and finally realised it’s a ONE MAN SHOW inspired by uncle vanya and instantly i lost all interest can you imagine

Been going on about an album of Patti Lupone cabaret performances from 1980 called Live at Les Mouches an another thread but maybe this is a better place. From earlier today before the slowdown:

Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

This thing has such a cult there was even a reanactment tribute: https://playbill.com/article/diva-talk-chatting-with-lupone-at-les-mouchess-leslie-kritzer-plus-rogers-evita-on-disc-com-135109

From the other thread:
Been digging a live version of “Because the Night” by Patti…Lupone. She makes it sound like an outtake from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 9 March 2024 11:50 (yesterday) link

From this:
https://playbill.com/article/patti-lupone-at-les-mouches-vintage-lupone-club-act-arrives-in-stores-nov-11-com-155028

― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 9 March 2024 11:57 (yesterday) link

Which was a midnight Saturday cabaret show she was doing in 1980 while she was in the midst of doing Evita.

― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 9 March 2024 11:59 (yesterday) link

From old cassette tapes! Pretty appropriate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMRF7PiJBAs

I found some weird casting things while I was deep down that rabbit hole yesterday. Maybe I will post, perhaps on a new thread.

Good in-depth review of the Jeremy Strong / Michael Imperioli Enemy of the People on Broadway. Interesting that it barely discusses the staging, where other shows directed by Sam Gold usually have conceptual tricks that overshadow the story and actors.

i wrote about "An Enemy of the People," those enviro-protests i somehow missed, Amy Herzog's Ibsenism and the gently troubling poems of Tomas Tranströmer, the allure of Jeremy Strong, and the inconvenience of telling the truth. https://t.co/JAekaWfHFS

— Vinson Cunningham (@vcunningham) March 22, 2024