Theatricals etc
Apr. 27th, 2006 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
undyingkingLast night we went to see Arthur Miller's The Price, not a play I was familiar with. You can tell that Miller was a writer of genius, but blimey, it really looks old-fashioned. Two middle-aged brothers confront one another about how one went off to be a successful doctor while the other looked after their dad and joined the police, all the while haggling with a second-hand furniture dealer about clearing out the old man's apartment. All good stuff and lots of interesting thoughts, nice dialogue, etc, but basically just a bunch of people standing around the stage sounding off at one another, with no scene changes, action, frame-breaking or other such modern fripperies. Although it was written in 1968, it shows no real sign of the author being acquainted with any theatrical idea from Brecht onwards. But still, nothing wrong with that, what it does it does well. Of the cast of four, only two were really good actors, which didn't help. But it does have some good funny bits! Our opinions were divided afterwards about whether the furniture dealer guy is God or the Devil. See it and judge for yourself...
We went to the theatre last Friday too, to see The Sutton Hoo Mob, a revival of one of our local companies' popular things from twelve years back. Billed as an Ealing-style comedy set aroud the excavation of the Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo. Eastern Angles are beloved for the ingenuity of their stagings, and this was no exception, with four actors playing a cast of dozens by putting on and off various hats, jackets etc, and two oddly-shaped pieces of set serving for several different locations by being turned to different angles. I like this kind of imagination, and again there were lots of good funny bits and in-jokes about what Suffolk people are like, but to be honest it wasn't all that hilarious a story -- they'd stuck firmly to the actual events, which while you might say there were farcical aspects to it, that's not the same as actually being a farce. The cast broke off every five minutes or so to croon snippets of popular songs of the 1930s: fun at first but getting a bit wearing towards the end. I didn't feel like I'd wasted my ticket money, but it was a bit hmm and educational-programme-for-schools-y compared with previous things I've seen them do.
On completely another note, you may be aware of the brilliant Joy Division second album Closer.
[Poll #718011]
We went to the theatre last Friday too, to see The Sutton Hoo Mob, a revival of one of our local companies' popular things from twelve years back. Billed as an Ealing-style comedy set aroud the excavation of the Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo. Eastern Angles are beloved for the ingenuity of their stagings, and this was no exception, with four actors playing a cast of dozens by putting on and off various hats, jackets etc, and two oddly-shaped pieces of set serving for several different locations by being turned to different angles. I like this kind of imagination, and again there were lots of good funny bits and in-jokes about what Suffolk people are like, but to be honest it wasn't all that hilarious a story -- they'd stuck firmly to the actual events, which while you might say there were farcical aspects to it, that's not the same as actually being a farce. The cast broke off every five minutes or so to croon snippets of popular songs of the 1930s: fun at first but getting a bit wearing towards the end. I didn't feel like I'd wasted my ticket money, but it was a bit hmm and educational-programme-for-schools-y compared with previous things I've seen them do.
On completely another note, you may be aware of the brilliant Joy Division second album Closer.
[Poll #718011]
