In which our Diva has a little classical fun
Shakespeare Week is a UK-based educational initiative (put together by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust), but enough of it happens online that it's pretty inevitable people would pick up on it overseas.
Like me.
To that end, in lieu of my usual trying-to-be-weekly vlog efforts, I've been posting a short "mono-vlogue" each day. You can check out my full Shakespeare playlist over there, or begin at the beginning with Monday's take on Portia's famous "quality of mercy" speech from The Merchant of Venice.
Hope you enjoy! Do give a nod to the Bard this week in celebration, will you?
Showing posts with label shakespeare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shakespeare. Show all posts
Friday, March 20, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Ophelia is everywhere
In which our Diva ponders how the girl nobody at court considered until it was too late came to be considered a great many things
So there were quite a few hours and a lot of love in that handful of pages, gathering art, photos, essays, and links to people, businesses, and pets bearing Ophelia's name.
Then came blogs and wikis and aggregators, and a far wider and more populous online world, and it all became far too much for one busy woman to keep track of. The links became outdated, and the subject became amply covered in multiple elsewheres. So I retired the site, and moved on to other things.
I still think often of poor drowned Ophelia, of course -- I could hardly help it even if I wanted to, up to my eyebrows in dramatizing a woman whose legacy is inextricably bound up with her. I still have the ghost of that "I need to add this to the site" impulse when I encounter a new expression of our enduring cultural fascination with her -- Emilie Autumn's tour de force album Opheliac; or a chamber opera entitled Ophelia Forever that features not one but three incarnations of the title role; or even a contemporary art piece involving a recreation of Millais' painting in bacteria, time-lapse photography of its decay, poetry collected via voice mail, and a musical composition based on the genetic code of digestive flora!
I think of poor drowned Ophelia, and also sweet hopeful Ophelia, and mad Ophelia struggling to make herself heard through old words and melodies and the language of flowers. I think of the reality of an old ballgown turned gossamer flotation device and glittering anchor by turns. I think of a role that can liberate or imprison, or paradoxically do both at once -- for Lizzie, one of its most famous exponents, or for unknown dozens of young actresses taking her on at any given moment.
I've never played Ophelia myself (barring reading from our desks in a high school literature classroom), and I've passed the "ingenue" phase of my Shakespeare career and into the "queens" -- though, despite having dived headfirst into Titania and Lady Macbeth, I somehow don't feel ready to tackle Gertrude. But she remains there in the background, somehow, well past the adolescent confusions in which one is supposed to identify with her.
For a fictional girl who didn't make it out of her teens, Ophelia really does contain multitudes. Like many characters, really, especially those of whom we learn tantalizingly little in their moments on the stage. Those whose shadowed lives we can illuminate with the experiences and questions of our own.
It's with this role I begin Unvarnished, with Lizzie offering a few typically wry observations hinting at how it has touched on the corners of her own life. A glimpse:
Three years ago, I witnessed in person the sensation Millais' Ophelia still creates in those passing her on the Tate Gallery wall. Lizzie was part of making something magical, whose appeal is impossible to quantify. Yet her experience of its making involved entirely earthly and practical considerations of cold water and needed wages. If anything encapsulates the contradictions of her life, that's it.
The music opening the above video is from Helen Trevillion's "The Goose Girl"
Long, long ago, when woolly mammoths roamed roamed the wilds of the information superhighway between the glittering GeoCities and the gates of AOhelL (which one reached by means of shiny wheels that appeared by the dozens in one's physical mailbox), yours truly created a section of her personal website called "Doubt Thou the Stars Are Fire - An Ophelia Gallery."
Through the magic of the Wayback Machine (and a temporary change in my display resolution - raise your hand if you remember SVGA being fancy!), I can give you an idea of what it looked like:
Also thanks to the Wayback, I can quote my long-forgotten "about the site" statement:
I had no idea it was going to get this big.
This project was originally conceived as a page for my Fireside Tales section [that was where I used to blather about fairy and folk tales before discovering blogging], but it wasn't long before I realized there was far too much material to fit in that context. It began (as so many things seem to) with Shakespeare, and with the familiar figure of Hamlet's poor tragic lady-love, who is driven mad by the madness going on around her, and who drowns in the brook with a song on her lips.
The next ingredient was my long-standing fascination with Pre-Raphaelite art, and with the circle of individuals who produced it. Ophelia was a favorite subject of theirs, as you'll soon see if you didn't already know. At one time I had notions of doing a website on the Pre-Raphaelites, but the lovely folk at WebMagick and The Germ have covered the subject far more thoroughly than I ever could.
The final catalyst was reading Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, a standout amid the recent flood of pop psychology and women's studies. To Dr. Pipher, Ophelia is the symbol of the loss of identity that so often strikes girls as they reach adolescence and are pressured to define themselves by everyone's standards except their own.
As you'll see throughout this site, Ophelia has far more faces than those few. She is a potent identifying figure for women in general and teenage girls in particular, and she means something a little different to everyone."This big" might sound funny in the age of blogs and content management systems and wikis (if I were to undertake such a project today, it would totally be a wiki!), but in the Wild-Digital-West days we prided ourselves on hand-coding HTML, which was actually the easier way to make something look the way you wanted than the clunky web-authoring software of the time!
So there were quite a few hours and a lot of love in that handful of pages, gathering art, photos, essays, and links to people, businesses, and pets bearing Ophelia's name.
Then came blogs and wikis and aggregators, and a far wider and more populous online world, and it all became far too much for one busy woman to keep track of. The links became outdated, and the subject became amply covered in multiple elsewheres. So I retired the site, and moved on to other things.
I still think often of poor drowned Ophelia, of course -- I could hardly help it even if I wanted to, up to my eyebrows in dramatizing a woman whose legacy is inextricably bound up with her. I still have the ghost of that "I need to add this to the site" impulse when I encounter a new expression of our enduring cultural fascination with her -- Emilie Autumn's tour de force album Opheliac; or a chamber opera entitled Ophelia Forever that features not one but three incarnations of the title role; or even a contemporary art piece involving a recreation of Millais' painting in bacteria, time-lapse photography of its decay, poetry collected via voice mail, and a musical composition based on the genetic code of digestive flora!
I think of poor drowned Ophelia, and also sweet hopeful Ophelia, and mad Ophelia struggling to make herself heard through old words and melodies and the language of flowers. I think of the reality of an old ballgown turned gossamer flotation device and glittering anchor by turns. I think of a role that can liberate or imprison, or paradoxically do both at once -- for Lizzie, one of its most famous exponents, or for unknown dozens of young actresses taking her on at any given moment.
I've never played Ophelia myself (barring reading from our desks in a high school literature classroom), and I've passed the "ingenue" phase of my Shakespeare career and into the "queens" -- though, despite having dived headfirst into Titania and Lady Macbeth, I somehow don't feel ready to tackle Gertrude. But she remains there in the background, somehow, well past the adolescent confusions in which one is supposed to identify with her.
For a fictional girl who didn't make it out of her teens, Ophelia really does contain multitudes. Like many characters, really, especially those of whom we learn tantalizingly little in their moments on the stage. Those whose shadowed lives we can illuminate with the experiences and questions of our own.
It's with this role I begin Unvarnished, with Lizzie offering a few typically wry observations hinting at how it has touched on the corners of her own life. A glimpse:
Three years ago, I witnessed in person the sensation Millais' Ophelia still creates in those passing her on the Tate Gallery wall. Lizzie was part of making something magical, whose appeal is impossible to quantify. Yet her experience of its making involved entirely earthly and practical considerations of cold water and needed wages. If anything encapsulates the contradictions of her life, that's it.
The music opening the above video is from Helen Trevillion's "The Goose Girl"
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Overheard at Dunsinane
In which our Diva presents further proof that the higher the body count onstage, the greater the silliness backstage
The Official Macbeth Quote List
GreenMan Theatre Troupe, Fall 2012
Wait, do I come from up-up, or just up?
-- Galinda Up-Left of the Upper Up-Lefts.
This is the most action I've had all year.
-- I know.
And she's really a woman?
-- She's really a woman.
-- And what is he?
-- He's a man.
I'm going to start with lechery.
It sets him on... and it takes him off. There's a child there. I'm sorry.
But I requitted it.
-- Requited.
-- Requited... did that too, I believe.
I wanna see that manly readiness.
-- Come out into the hall.
Uncle Ross! Where are you going? I thought you were staying a week and taking us to Great America!
-- Great Scotland.
-- Six Flags Edinburgh.
Nothing like a good bloodcurdling scream.
-- I don't think I've ever done one of those.
He will teach you how to fall so you don't hurt yourself. Because you've just been stabbed. I'm sorry.
Home fry of treachery!
I feel like I should have a weapon. Even though I don't fight.
-- You're so violent.
-- It might make me feel more manly.
-- So would a sock in your pants.
He's impressed everyone into this army.
-- Except me. I'm off topping myself.
Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped!
-- Well, here's a howdy-do.
His k-nell is k-nolled.
-- Ooh, cannoli?
Three waitresses for the gruel.
-- It's good stuff.
You're smiling. You're happy. You're king.
I lost one of our children. We have a son/daughter. I'm not sure.
Say goodbye to your chickens.
-- They're McNuggets, man. Colonel's gonna be happy tonight.
Come be my adopted child. Look, husband, we have another one!
-- Yes!
You have a throne here, so at some point in this speech you want to sit and... be king.
Good job, honey! Way to get him!
-- A ghost!
And you're free to paint your story out here. "And you were there! And you were there! It's good to be back in Kansas!"
Thou mayest revenge. Oh. Ohhhh.
-- Come over here so I can kill you.
Aaaand, fight-fight-fight, fight-fight-fight, die-die-die.
Let me play you the saddest song on the most brutal violin ever.
Last night you were a bench, and tonight Ryan is a chair.
How do you say that to a lady? "Spread your legs a little bit more."
So I hope you've been practicing a good yell. A war cry.
-- Well, I couldn't on the train.
And remember they make great gifts.
-- Nothing says "I love you" like a t-shirt from a murder.
If not for the fact that you cut your fingers off when you cut his throat.
-- Thou'rt the best o' the cutthroats.
-- Was't not the way?
Knock, knock, never at quiet! Never at quiet. But don't tell me.
So do I go this way to protect them? I want to save my children, but I don't know how.
We hear the scream, beat, and then we see Jimmy.
-- I can remember that.
Did everyone get their picture taken who wants to?
-- It's a choice?
-- Just use a picture of Hugh Jackman for mine.
Ah! That's why you're a bad mother!
The witches will see you now.
-- Now I'm picturing her like a 50s secretary. "Mistah Macbeth!"
And with my sword I'll prove the lie thou speak'st!
-- You should probably get a sword.
-- Macbeth's planning to use the Force.
Poof! And I drop gold coins.
God save the king!
-- Thank you.
The other attendant went off with the bloody captain, so he cannot be a head-bearer.
Why don't you take the staff and "Hail Macbeth!"
-- Better stand back, Macbeth. She'll take you out early.
Worthy MacDeath!
He wants the natural touch. He lacks... He's a lousy father.
-- What? How dare you blaspheme me!
She gets warned twice, and she still doesn't get it.
-- It's the thought that counts.
-- I get like a ten-second warning!
He's your favoritest uncle.
-- He's her only uncle.
-- That too.
Whither should I fly? I have done no harm.
-- Aaaahhh!!
-- Not yet.
I'm just dying to do the scene.
-- Don't say "dying" about this scene.
Are we eating worms? Om-nom-nom.
-- I don't like worms. I realize they have a lot of protein, but I don't like worms.
Double, double, toil and trouble! Fire burn and cauldron bubble!
-- [from corridor] Arooooooo!
Let's take it from that finger.
-- That finger?
-- Give him the finger, Grace!
And when he says "horrible sight"... You say "horrible sight," right?
-- We can only hope.
Good. Excellent. I wanted to point that out right when it happened.
-- Now I'll never say it like that again.
Witches, try not to get in the way of a sword. Fighters, try not to get in the way of a witch.
And all my children?
-- They were well on the Red Line when I did see 'em.
I want to start with Act V Scene II, which is when the rebels start to assemble.
-- You mean the liberators of Scotland.
The cry of women, plural. I scream, you scream.
-- We all scream for dead queen.
That's all right. They'll remember the porter. That's all I care about.
Let's take it from the bad news.
-- Your pizza will be delivered late.
That speech soars with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. To quote NBC Wide World of Sports.
-- In the 70s.
Hey, there's a question. Do I get my own thumb?
-- We have a thumb. Well, we have four fingers.
-- Set your thumb in your costume.
The Bears are winning 10-7, if anyone cares.
-- Oh, you are good.
-- I'm a full-service AD.
Oh, look at the time. Ding! *heads offstage*
Let's try that one more time, much slower.
-- All of us?
-- Well, one of you can't go slow and the rest go full speed.
He's going to go quite a way away from you, and it'll look closer to the audience.
-- It looks pretty close to me too.
Oh shlave!
-- Shlave?
-- Yiddish Macbeth.
He's only mostly dead.
-- Flllllyyyyyyy gooood Fllleeeaaaaaance...
Oh, the Duncan murder. We just had a murder.
-- I know! I just can't get enough murder.
I thought he was over there.
-- No.
-- I don't know. I've been drinking all night.
Whatever it takes to make you look as good as the rest of us.
-- How much time have you got?
It is a peerless kinsman.
-- That's right, I am.
Oops. I just stabbed the ground.
I thought it was Steve.
-- Uh, Steve Two.
-- Paging Steve Two.
Let's put the sword in his crotch, shall we?
-- That's a great plan.
Wow, it looks just like Carl!
-- You are currently a coconut pirate head.
And his fiend lite queen!
-- I'm not a fiend. I'm just fiend lite.
-- She's just misunderstood.
-- That's right.
Bless you, fair maid. Fair maid?
-- Not with two kids, she ain't.
I'm going to find a drink of water somewhere. All that killing has made me thirsty.
She's the old witch. I'm trying to make goo-goo eyes at him.
-- Grace is playing hard to get. Would you like a fan for this?
And all together on that "seek." He suddenly becomes radioactive.
-- Evil king cooties!
Thy royal father was a most sainted queen. Blah. He's a cross-dresser.
-- Scotland was a wacky place.
You don't necessarily want to hurt him, but...
-- I do want to hurt him.
-- Well, okay.
-- Character choice made.
I can teach you a little bit to do with the wooden swords.
-- As long as you don't kill Mommy.
-- Or each other.
-- Oh, I don't care about that.
You look like the Grim Reaper. It's a good look for you.
Can we hear your scream back there?
-- There's no way he caught us. We are fast.
I thought we were doing half speed, is all.
-- Oh, that is half speed.
Oh, yeah. This is where you punch me in the face.
And now this is where you say your line.
-- Yo' momma!
-- I don't think that's the line.
The attendant holds it in case the king needs it.
-- Yeah, so if we get attacked, you take the sword and --
-- Run like hell.
We have about 20 minutes to slice off of Act I. And you have the swords to do it.
My children are interchangeable. That's why I had two.
There's a head in there. I'm not going in there. It's too creepy.
You're scaring the witches. That's a good thing.
Your son, my lord, is a little strange.
If we end it there, Macbeth wins. He's crazy, but he wins.
Root of hemlock digg'd in the dark. Sorry, that creeped me out.
Flash of lightning! Sparks fly! It must be a witch's curse!
-- Amazing special effects!
-- And then no lights.
-- Yeah, those aren't the effects we want.
I like killing Ryan too. That's just funny.
You can clean up your own blood!
From where all the dead bodies are. Can I have my dead bodies, please?
-- Do you want us to lie down?
-- Yes.
Think of THIS, good friends, but as a thing of custom. I'll check the other line later.
I have a cold, so we can hug.
-- I probably gave it to you. Sorry.
Because your mother sewed a label right on the hilt that says "Murderer #1."
Come in, without there! *beat* Really, come in, without there!
-- These doors are thick, my lord.
How convenient! A head-pole holder!
And now we drink all the beers.
-- I have almost forgot the taste of beers.
Look! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Stan in a cape.
I'm just going to stab Carl in our fight. Be like, "Yo, Duff! I got him!"
Anybody got any mending they need done?
-- At home.
Sorry. I got entangled in a fertility cult.
Buckets of blood, no waiting!
He is a murderer, after all.
-- Yeah, I'm gonna murder your whole family in a little while.
-- That's rude.
-- There's a recession on. He needs the money.
The Official Macbeth Quote List
GreenMan Theatre Troupe, Fall 2012
Wait, do I come from up-up, or just up?
-- Galinda Up-Left of the Upper Up-Lefts.
This is the most action I've had all year.
-- I know.
And she's really a woman?
-- She's really a woman.
-- And what is he?
-- He's a man.
I'm going to start with lechery.
It sets him on... and it takes him off. There's a child there. I'm sorry.
But I requitted it.
-- Requited.
-- Requited... did that too, I believe.
I wanna see that manly readiness.
-- Come out into the hall.
Uncle Ross! Where are you going? I thought you were staying a week and taking us to Great America!
-- Great Scotland.
-- Six Flags Edinburgh.
Nothing like a good bloodcurdling scream.
-- I don't think I've ever done one of those.
He will teach you how to fall so you don't hurt yourself. Because you've just been stabbed. I'm sorry.
Home fry of treachery!
I feel like I should have a weapon. Even though I don't fight.
-- You're so violent.
-- It might make me feel more manly.
-- So would a sock in your pants.
He's impressed everyone into this army.
-- Except me. I'm off topping myself.
Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped!
-- Well, here's a howdy-do.
His k-nell is k-nolled.
-- Ooh, cannoli?
Three waitresses for the gruel.
-- It's good stuff.
You're smiling. You're happy. You're king.
I lost one of our children. We have a son/daughter. I'm not sure.
Say goodbye to your chickens.
-- They're McNuggets, man. Colonel's gonna be happy tonight.
Come be my adopted child. Look, husband, we have another one!
-- Yes!
You have a throne here, so at some point in this speech you want to sit and... be king.
Good job, honey! Way to get him!
-- A ghost!
And you're free to paint your story out here. "And you were there! And you were there! It's good to be back in Kansas!"
Thou mayest revenge. Oh. Ohhhh.
-- Come over here so I can kill you.
Aaaand, fight-fight-fight, fight-fight-fight, die-die-die.
Let me play you the saddest song on the most brutal violin ever.
Last night you were a bench, and tonight Ryan is a chair.
How do you say that to a lady? "Spread your legs a little bit more."
So I hope you've been practicing a good yell. A war cry.
-- Well, I couldn't on the train.
And remember they make great gifts.
-- Nothing says "I love you" like a t-shirt from a murder.
If not for the fact that you cut your fingers off when you cut his throat.
-- Thou'rt the best o' the cutthroats.
-- Was't not the way?
Knock, knock, never at quiet! Never at quiet. But don't tell me.
So do I go this way to protect them? I want to save my children, but I don't know how.
We hear the scream, beat, and then we see Jimmy.
-- I can remember that.
Did everyone get their picture taken who wants to?
-- It's a choice?
-- Just use a picture of Hugh Jackman for mine.
Ah! That's why you're a bad mother!
The witches will see you now.
-- Now I'm picturing her like a 50s secretary. "Mistah Macbeth!"
And with my sword I'll prove the lie thou speak'st!
-- You should probably get a sword.
-- Macbeth's planning to use the Force.
Poof! And I drop gold coins.
God save the king!
-- Thank you.
The other attendant went off with the bloody captain, so he cannot be a head-bearer.
Why don't you take the staff and "Hail Macbeth!"
-- Better stand back, Macbeth. She'll take you out early.
Worthy MacDeath!
He wants the natural touch. He lacks... He's a lousy father.
-- What? How dare you blaspheme me!
She gets warned twice, and she still doesn't get it.
-- It's the thought that counts.
-- I get like a ten-second warning!
He's your favoritest uncle.
-- He's her only uncle.
-- That too.
Whither should I fly? I have done no harm.
-- Aaaahhh!!
-- Not yet.
I'm just dying to do the scene.
-- Don't say "dying" about this scene.
Are we eating worms? Om-nom-nom.
-- I don't like worms. I realize they have a lot of protein, but I don't like worms.
Double, double, toil and trouble! Fire burn and cauldron bubble!
-- [from corridor] Arooooooo!
Let's take it from that finger.
-- That finger?
-- Give him the finger, Grace!
And when he says "horrible sight"... You say "horrible sight," right?
-- We can only hope.
Good. Excellent. I wanted to point that out right when it happened.
-- Now I'll never say it like that again.
Witches, try not to get in the way of a sword. Fighters, try not to get in the way of a witch.
And all my children?
-- They were well on the Red Line when I did see 'em.
I want to start with Act V Scene II, which is when the rebels start to assemble.
-- You mean the liberators of Scotland.
The cry of women, plural. I scream, you scream.
-- We all scream for dead queen.
That's all right. They'll remember the porter. That's all I care about.
Let's take it from the bad news.
-- Your pizza will be delivered late.
That speech soars with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. To quote NBC Wide World of Sports.
-- In the 70s.
Hey, there's a question. Do I get my own thumb?
-- We have a thumb. Well, we have four fingers.
-- Set your thumb in your costume.
The Bears are winning 10-7, if anyone cares.
-- Oh, you are good.
-- I'm a full-service AD.
Oh, look at the time. Ding! *heads offstage*
Let's try that one more time, much slower.
-- All of us?
-- Well, one of you can't go slow and the rest go full speed.
He's going to go quite a way away from you, and it'll look closer to the audience.
-- It looks pretty close to me too.
Oh shlave!
-- Shlave?
-- Yiddish Macbeth.
He's only mostly dead.
-- Flllllyyyyyyy gooood Fllleeeaaaaaance...
Oh, the Duncan murder. We just had a murder.
-- I know! I just can't get enough murder.
I thought he was over there.
-- No.
-- I don't know. I've been drinking all night.
Whatever it takes to make you look as good as the rest of us.
-- How much time have you got?
It is a peerless kinsman.
-- That's right, I am.
Oops. I just stabbed the ground.
I thought it was Steve.
-- Uh, Steve Two.
-- Paging Steve Two.
Let's put the sword in his crotch, shall we?
-- That's a great plan.
Wow, it looks just like Carl!
-- You are currently a coconut pirate head.
And his fiend lite queen!
-- I'm not a fiend. I'm just fiend lite.
-- She's just misunderstood.
-- That's right.
Bless you, fair maid. Fair maid?
-- Not with two kids, she ain't.
I'm going to find a drink of water somewhere. All that killing has made me thirsty.
She's the old witch. I'm trying to make goo-goo eyes at him.
-- Grace is playing hard to get. Would you like a fan for this?
And all together on that "seek." He suddenly becomes radioactive.
-- Evil king cooties!
Thy royal father was a most sainted queen. Blah. He's a cross-dresser.
-- Scotland was a wacky place.
You don't necessarily want to hurt him, but...
-- I do want to hurt him.
-- Well, okay.
-- Character choice made.
I can teach you a little bit to do with the wooden swords.
-- As long as you don't kill Mommy.
-- Or each other.
-- Oh, I don't care about that.
You look like the Grim Reaper. It's a good look for you.
Can we hear your scream back there?
-- There's no way he caught us. We are fast.
I thought we were doing half speed, is all.
-- Oh, that is half speed.
Oh, yeah. This is where you punch me in the face.
And now this is where you say your line.
-- Yo' momma!
-- I don't think that's the line.
The attendant holds it in case the king needs it.
-- Yeah, so if we get attacked, you take the sword and --
-- Run like hell.
We have about 20 minutes to slice off of Act I. And you have the swords to do it.
My children are interchangeable. That's why I had two.
There's a head in there. I'm not going in there. It's too creepy.
You're scaring the witches. That's a good thing.
Your son, my lord, is a little strange.
If we end it there, Macbeth wins. He's crazy, but he wins.
Root of hemlock digg'd in the dark. Sorry, that creeped me out.
Flash of lightning! Sparks fly! It must be a witch's curse!
-- Amazing special effects!
-- And then no lights.
-- Yeah, those aren't the effects we want.
I like killing Ryan too. That's just funny.
You can clean up your own blood!
From where all the dead bodies are. Can I have my dead bodies, please?
-- Do you want us to lie down?
-- Yes.
Think of THIS, good friends, but as a thing of custom. I'll check the other line later.
I have a cold, so we can hug.
-- I probably gave it to you. Sorry.
Because your mother sewed a label right on the hilt that says "Murderer #1."
Come in, without there! *beat* Really, come in, without there!
-- These doors are thick, my lord.
How convenient! A head-pole holder!
And now we drink all the beers.
-- I have almost forgot the taste of beers.
Look! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Stan in a cape.
I'm just going to stab Carl in our fight. Be like, "Yo, Duff! I got him!"
Anybody got any mending they need done?
-- At home.
Sorry. I got entangled in a fertility cult.
Buckets of blood, no waiting!
He is a murderer, after all.
-- Yeah, I'm gonna murder your whole family in a little while.
-- That's rude.
-- There's a recession on. He needs the money.
Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
Friday, November 2, 2012
Endings and Beginnings
In which our Diva has two of one and one of the other
Ending the First: Final weekend of Macbeth at GreenMan Theatre Troupe! I couldn't have asked for a more amazing experience playing That Scottish Lady, thanks to director David Soria, my marvelous Mackers Carl Zeitler, and too many more people to list even though each and every one of them is thirty-one flavors of awesome. If you're planning to come out this weekend (and I hope you are!), a little box-office birdie tells me Saturday night in particular is filling up, and reservations are recommended for any of the three remaining performances.
Ending the Second: Also in the category of Awesome People I'm Glad To Have Met is the ever-affable Andy, host of the Being Human Cast podcast. I met Andy when we were both on the Being Human discussion panel at Dragon*Con 2010, and have had the privilege of babbling nigh-endlessly about that remarkable example of TV storytelling as guest host on several episodes of the podcast. After some soul-searching, Andy made the tough decision to close the podcast's three-year run with Episode 38, and kindly invited me to join him in a wrap-up discussion of the end of Series 3 and an overview of Series 4. We examine the resolution of Mitchell's tragic arc; take a moment to bid farewell to Daisy, my favorite free-spirited vampire and occasional cosplay alter-ego; give Nina, George, and Annie some well-deserved love; and spend a bit of time pondering where things are going with the newest denizens of Honolulu Heights. If you're a Being Human fan, give it a listen, and let us know what you think!
And a beginning! The moment I get home from post-closing festivities for Macbeth, I'll be packing my set bag to start filming Witchfinder the very next day. After all the detailed prep work, it's finally time for the dark historical world the crew have been building to come alive. I'll bet even my stunt double over there is looking forward to it, and she can't even stand up without a little help from production designer Arianne Clarke and costume designer Alisha Tyler! What a dummy...
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Yet here's a spot
In which our Diva has discovered a fun new toy
If you've been around this blog for a while, you know I like to create character-inspired playlists to listen to during the process of a show or film. I've played around with various ways to share them here, but somebody finally came up with one where you can upload whatever you want for listeners to stream, and not worry about whether all my more obscure stuff is in a given service's library. Yay!
(And once you're done streaming, perchance you will go and buy a track or three to have for your very own. Because supporting artists is awesome.)
If you've been around this blog for a while, you know I like to create character-inspired playlists to listen to during the process of a show or film. I've played around with various ways to share them here, but somebody finally came up with one where you can upload whatever you want for listeners to stream, and not worry about whether all my more obscure stuff is in a given service's library. Yay!
(And once you're done streaming, perchance you will go and buy a track or three to have for your very own. Because supporting artists is awesome.)
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Screw your courage to the sticking place
In which our Diva's near future includes a lot of handwashing
LADY. MAC. BETH. Really, what else is there to say? *happy actor dance*
GreenMan Theatre Troupe, October 19-November 4, 2012. All the details can be found here.
With rehearsals already underway, I'm happily up to my eyebrows in text and character and all those wonderful Shakespearey things. We have a fantastic cast, with a terrific director, and the show is going to be one not to miss.
I've been involved in three previous productions of the play (including one as director), and have joked for years that I've played practically everyone in it but Lady M. Guess I'll have to find a new joke! Which probably won't be difficult; it's a pretty dependable truism that the higher the body count onstage, the more silliness is generated backstage. ;-)
Hope to see you there!
GreenMan Theatre Troupe, October 19-November 4, 2012. All the details can be found here.
With rehearsals already underway, I'm happily up to my eyebrows in text and character and all those wonderful Shakespearey things. We have a fantastic cast, with a terrific director, and the show is going to be one not to miss.
I've been involved in three previous productions of the play (including one as director), and have joked for years that I've played practically everyone in it but Lady M. Guess I'll have to find a new joke! Which probably won't be difficult; it's a pretty dependable truism that the higher the body count onstage, the more silliness is generated backstage. ;-)
Hope to see you there!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Where there's a Will
In which our Diva blogs for Shakespeare's birthday
About six weeks back, NPR's All Things Considered ran a piece on Cliff's Notes entering the digital age with a series of viral videos targeting their student consumers. The story included several disparate opinions on whether this was a good, a bad, or an indifferent thing, as such a story should. The closing interview was with the author of the Cliff's Notes for Hamlet (or possibly Macbeth; I can't remember which, and I can't find the story on NPR's website), who made the point I tend most to agree with, that the purpose of both the videos and the traditional Cliff's Notes guides really is to get students interested in the real material, not to encourage them to skip it.
The way she said it, though, bid fair to give me hives: "If we can get these kids to get a DVD, or better yet, read this wonderful poetry..."
That was about the time I pounded on my steering wheel and yelled aloud in my car, "No! Sitting and reading it is NOT better! This is why people are afraid of Shakespeare in this country!"
(It's a very good thing I was alone in the car. I'm sure I looked like a complete lunatic to anyone outside of it.)
When I was invited earlier this week to participate in the "Happy Birthday Shakespeare" blog project, that moment was the first thing that came to mind.
Now, if you're a regular reader of this blog, that reaction probably won't surprise you. You already know I don't do well with sitting and reading poetry in general. I know that some people can happily sit and read Shakespeare or poems or whatever silently to themselves just as I would with a novel. I rather envy them. I can't do it. I'll just sit there the whole time thinking "these words are made to be heard," rather than think about what the poetry itself is saying.
Shakespeare, most especially, is meant to be heard. And nobody actually told me that until I was in college. Which is much, much later than they should have, although I was one of the lucky ones, because I had already figured it out for myself. Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, of course, and whichever I could get my hands on (on VHS, in a very small town, in the 1980s) of the BBC productions from the late 70s and early 80s.
When I saw the story enacted, but really most especially when I heard the words, spoken by voices and informed by minds and hearts that knew and felt what they meant, they never made less than perfect sense. All the footnotes in the world can't fill in the nuances of an unfamiliar word the way the human voice can. Shakespeare wrote for voices, to be heard by audiences who largely couldn't read, the words on the page never intended to be anything but a record and a memory guide.
That they have become more than that in the centuries since, of course, is added value. I'm certainly not contesting that, and studying Shakespeare as the written word has led to countless insights into how our minds work, how language evolves, and even whether one man wrote all the words in question. But, meaning no disrespect to those whose passion for the canon lies in it as the written word, it makes me a little nuts that somewhere along the way the added value all but eclipsed the central purpose, at least in the way people meet Shakespeare in our society.
In modern American life, all classical arts are seen as musty and dusty and elitist and difficult to understand, but with Shakespeare there's this extra layer of challenge because it isn't just that people haven't tried it. They think they've tried it and don't like it, because somebody made them sit and read it. And you can't get them into the theatre because they think it'll feel like that did. Who can blame them?
Not to say that's how it always is, of course -- one of my best friends is a high school English teacher who makes sure her students experience these fantastic plays as much as possible in the way they're intended. Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, like so many companies, has a great outreach program for students to experience their productions, in their incredible Courtyard mainstage space. Filmmakers go back to the Shakespeare well over and over again, for both beautiful productions of the actual text or fascinating updates, more and more with young stars and young sensibility, with the energy to take all those extraordinary words into the next century and beyond.
I played my first Shakespeare role -- Mariana in Measure for Measure, of all things, and a more problematic play you won't find in the canon -- in 1994. I played my most recent -- Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, fulfilling a longstanding dream of my own -- last summer. I've been very fortunate to almost always do Shakespeare in intimate spaces, where I can look the audience in the eye. Where I can see young people who've never seen a Shakespeare play (sometimes never a play at all), or adults who never thought they'd like one, light up with understanding at this bawdy joke or that soul-touching insight, even as the words are being spoken.
There's nothing like it. Nothing in the world.
So happy birthday, Mr. Shakespeare. I'd have brought a gift, but there's nothing that wouldn't look silly next to the one you gave us. I hope I have the opportunity to keep sharing that gift for years to come, in the way it was meant to be shared.
Visit the Happy Birthday Shakespeare home page for links to dozens of other bloggers sharing dozens of perspectives on the man and the words and the plays. Big thanks to them for asking me to join in!
About six weeks back, NPR's All Things Considered ran a piece on Cliff's Notes entering the digital age with a series of viral videos targeting their student consumers. The story included several disparate opinions on whether this was a good, a bad, or an indifferent thing, as such a story should. The closing interview was with the author of the Cliff's Notes for Hamlet (or possibly Macbeth; I can't remember which, and I can't find the story on NPR's website), who made the point I tend most to agree with, that the purpose of both the videos and the traditional Cliff's Notes guides really is to get students interested in the real material, not to encourage them to skip it.
The way she said it, though, bid fair to give me hives: "If we can get these kids to get a DVD, or better yet, read this wonderful poetry..."
That was about the time I pounded on my steering wheel and yelled aloud in my car, "No! Sitting and reading it is NOT better! This is why people are afraid of Shakespeare in this country!"
(It's a very good thing I was alone in the car. I'm sure I looked like a complete lunatic to anyone outside of it.)
When I was invited earlier this week to participate in the "Happy Birthday Shakespeare" blog project, that moment was the first thing that came to mind.
Now, if you're a regular reader of this blog, that reaction probably won't surprise you. You already know I don't do well with sitting and reading poetry in general. I know that some people can happily sit and read Shakespeare or poems or whatever silently to themselves just as I would with a novel. I rather envy them. I can't do it. I'll just sit there the whole time thinking "these words are made to be heard," rather than think about what the poetry itself is saying.
When I saw the story enacted, but really most especially when I heard the words, spoken by voices and informed by minds and hearts that knew and felt what they meant, they never made less than perfect sense. All the footnotes in the world can't fill in the nuances of an unfamiliar word the way the human voice can. Shakespeare wrote for voices, to be heard by audiences who largely couldn't read, the words on the page never intended to be anything but a record and a memory guide.
That they have become more than that in the centuries since, of course, is added value. I'm certainly not contesting that, and studying Shakespeare as the written word has led to countless insights into how our minds work, how language evolves, and even whether one man wrote all the words in question. But, meaning no disrespect to those whose passion for the canon lies in it as the written word, it makes me a little nuts that somewhere along the way the added value all but eclipsed the central purpose, at least in the way people meet Shakespeare in our society.
In modern American life, all classical arts are seen as musty and dusty and elitist and difficult to understand, but with Shakespeare there's this extra layer of challenge because it isn't just that people haven't tried it. They think they've tried it and don't like it, because somebody made them sit and read it. And you can't get them into the theatre because they think it'll feel like that did. Who can blame them?
Not to say that's how it always is, of course -- one of my best friends is a high school English teacher who makes sure her students experience these fantastic plays as much as possible in the way they're intended. Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, like so many companies, has a great outreach program for students to experience their productions, in their incredible Courtyard mainstage space. Filmmakers go back to the Shakespeare well over and over again, for both beautiful productions of the actual text or fascinating updates, more and more with young stars and young sensibility, with the energy to take all those extraordinary words into the next century and beyond.
There's nothing like it. Nothing in the world.
So happy birthday, Mr. Shakespeare. I'd have brought a gift, but there's nothing that wouldn't look silly next to the one you gave us. I hope I have the opportunity to keep sharing that gift for years to come, in the way it was meant to be shared.
Visit the Happy Birthday Shakespeare home page for links to dozens of other bloggers sharing dozens of perspectives on the man and the words and the plays. Big thanks to them for asking me to join in!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so
Insighful, thought-provoking post over at Hoyden About Town on Ophelia, violence, and what is and is not in the text: On Ophelia, Who Never Got to Be a Hoyden:
There is no indication in the text that Hamlet harms Ophelia physically in this scene, no stage direction and no line that specifically requires such an action for it to make sense. If anything the text suggests a Hamlet who is trying to remove himself from Ophelia’s company, not run her to ground. He says ‘farewell’ three times, as well as repeatedly saying ‘go’, ‘go to’ and ‘go thy ways’. Nevertheless, the scene is often staged with Hamlet tipping over from verbal abuse of Ophelia into physical.
There is no indication in the text that Hamlet harms Ophelia physically in this scene, no stage direction and no line that specifically requires such an action for it to make sense. If anything the text suggests a Hamlet who is trying to remove himself from Ophelia’s company, not run her to ground. He says ‘farewell’ three times, as well as repeatedly saying ‘go’, ‘go to’ and ‘go thy ways’. Nevertheless, the scene is often staged with Hamlet tipping over from verbal abuse of Ophelia into physical.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Fairies and cannibals
In which our Diva has rather a wide range of projects
Ooops! I really didn't mean to go nearly a month between posts, but I got really busy with auditions and geekiness. The latter involved getting ready for and attending Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con and Dragon*Con, both of which were ridiculous amounts of fun.
Now they're done, and I've emerged from my sewing room to find that Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer will be screened at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, September 24-26. The movie will be shown on Sunday evening, and is up for several festival awards. After all the pouting I've been doing about not being able to make it to the other events where it's screened (okay, I'm still going to pout about London!), I'm seriously stoked to get to see it on a big screen locally! If you come out for it, I'd love to chat at the event.
With other projects taking precedence, I've only just now finally edited my video diary for Storefront Shakespeare's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream this past June/July. If you thought that bunch was crazy onstage...
Special thanks go to the lovely Emma Wallace for kind permission to use her song "Pet (Helena's Lament)." I discovered her through our director, Nora Manca, and just love her "modern ragtime" style. Be sure to check it out! And don't miss her blog, where she frequently offers free "song sketches" to fans.
Ooops! I really didn't mean to go nearly a month between posts, but I got really busy with auditions and geekiness. The latter involved getting ready for and attending Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con and Dragon*Con, both of which were ridiculous amounts of fun.
Now they're done, and I've emerged from my sewing room to find that Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer will be screened at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, September 24-26. The movie will be shown on Sunday evening, and is up for several festival awards. After all the pouting I've been doing about not being able to make it to the other events where it's screened (okay, I'm still going to pout about London!), I'm seriously stoked to get to see it on a big screen locally! If you come out for it, I'd love to chat at the event.
With other projects taking precedence, I've only just now finally edited my video diary for Storefront Shakespeare's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream this past June/July. If you thought that bunch was crazy onstage...
Special thanks go to the lovely Emma Wallace for kind permission to use her song "Pet (Helena's Lament)." I discovered her through our director, Nora Manca, and just love her "modern ragtime" style. Be sure to check it out! And don't miss her blog, where she frequently offers free "song sketches" to fans.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A Midsummer Night's Quote List
A Midsummer Night's Dream Official Quote List
Storefront Shakespeare, Summer 2010
Is it gonna be a wall? Like, a wall wall... I am so tired. Proceed.
I will sacrifice my body if I need to.
-- But we need your body!
So there's a frog and an alcoholic chainsaw-wielding princess.
There will be audience everywhere. You'll be tripping over them. But don't actually trip over them.
I have anointed an Athenian's eyes. And so far I am glad I did... sort.
Believe me, King of Shadows... What's happening? Oh, I'm scared of him.
Ho, ho, ho!
-- Santa?
Tim, be gentle with her hair.
-- It's my real hair.
-- It's her nice clean real hair. Look how shiny it is.
I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let's have some Ace of Base.
You look so awkward.
-- Maybe that's because I'm 17 and she's 24.
The rite of May is basically to fornicate.
-- Fornicate among the flowers.
-- It's midsummer, so they're a little late.
Take a moment. Say, "Hi! Hi! Hi! I'm not a donkey!"
-- You jerk. You didn't even call!
And ladies, take your places.
-- Take your places, ladies.
-- Take your places, ladies. Get steppin'!
We don't have time to explain it to the audience.
-- You're dead. Shut up.
Racole will be here soon, and she's bringing toilet paper, and paper towels, and a dog.
-- One of these things is not like the others.
I thought we were getting a robot dog.
-- This is the understudy.
Doesn't a regular warm-up include ice cream?
This tulle presenteth Athens.
Were we just having fun?
Do not interrupt the Duke macking on the future Duchess.
Come, my Hippolyta. What cheer, my love? Where art thou?
On whom I might approve this... What?
You're enjoying this too much. She's hitting you. Stop smiling.
-- Oh.
-- Is there something we should know, Demetrius?
Look how I go, swifter than arrow from Tartar's bow! You guys are in my way!
Do I need to go get ice?
-- No, it's okay.
-- Can you fall on me without hurting yourself?
With Bottom around, I need a drink, man!
We're using Bandit because he's such a quiet dog.
-- A very gentleman-like dog.
To make our sides lit... Oh, that's not it.
Believe me, King of Shadows, you should slap me.
No throwing against the wall, or you'll plaster it.
-- I will!
-- Do you know how to plaster?
-- I'll figure it out.
Manly man.
-- Put a stick up your butt.
-- Yeah, that's basically what I mean.
-- I got a stick.
And crowned with one -- I have a question. Can they be somewhere else?
Okay, go back. Start picking up your monologue.
-- Oh, jeez.
No, that part was acting. I was fine until he stepped on my hair.
And then you storm off.
-- Aww.
-- No, wait! Let me change something!
Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief? Did I just fuck that up?
How many characters can the stage manager play tonight?
I'll try not to almost grab your thingy.
Why are you walking away? I'm talking to you! You don't love me!
This tickles my funny... funnily.
Thou! Thou! Thou hast no cause to break character!
Stand forth... *beat* *beat* Demetrius.
Messengers of strong...
-- Prevailment?
-- Prevailment.
Slowly. Very slowly.
-- Until you feel like an idiot.
-- I'm way past that point.
-- That's acting. If you feel stupid, you're doing it right.
I am a really bad stripper. I get paid in quarters.
We were out there and we were trying to sell ourselves. But, y'know, not literally.
Gina. Gina. Gina. Gina. Gina. Gina. Gina. PUCK!!
I'm like the Girl Scout from Hell.
-- Buy my cookies or die! You will eat these Tagalongs and you will like them!
-- But I'm allergic to peanuts.
-- I DON'T CARE!
What's the sugar for?
-- It has fun in fire.
S'mores in five.
-- Ooooh. Sugar and fire.
-- The perfect combination.
It's an air cannon. It's not dangerous.
-- That comes under famous last words.
-- Or a challenge, if you're the MythBusters.
To eat makes our speaking English good.
The bacon! MY the bacon!
I can't disobey Nora. She's the director. That would make me a diva.
-- Aren't you already one?
Russell, where's your lightsaber?
Ossifer, I'm home. Take me drunk.
Can we paint on my abs?
The counselor was like, "When he flexes you can see his abs?" Oh. Awkward silence.
X is for Ecstasy, which I smoked before I did this show.
-- You smoked Ecstasy?
Okay, why does the bathroom have a sign that says Careful, there may be a squirrel in here?
Lisa used to make me scream like a girl, and I liked it.
-- I think that's too much information.
-- I was Christmas Past.
-- I had to wake up with her in my bed and pretend I didn't like it.
Gina, you need to stop hitting on your stage manager.
-- Stop looking so sexy!
Ben, I love you! Why can't we be together?
-- You know why!
-- I'll turn you straight!
It's not recognizing your face. It's recognizing your boobs as a face.
No one's judging you. Put your clothes on.
Theatre in the round. More like orgy in the round.
-- Promenade theatre: Where the actors touch you. And you like it.
What did I say? Did it make sense?
I'm not coffee-smart.
-- What kind of smart are you?
You found a Walgreens?
-- I found a 7-Eleven. Gotta love the quality of a 7-Eleven. I think I'm bleeding.
I'm smelling that menthol.
-- I don't have to cough anymore, but I want a cigarette.
You've got sticky stuff all over your pants.
-- That's what they all say.
Agh! You're fifteen. Stop looking like you're not!
Nadia, I promise not to injure you today.
It should say Fairy Blaster 9000, because Hippolyta would totally have one of those.
-- Be vewy, vewy quiet. We'we hunting faiwies.
Armed. And legged as well.
-- Especially in those boots.
Tim, there's a bunch of people that look like you outside.
That's okay. You can't break character if I accidentally shoot you while you sleep.
You have to suffer for your art.
-- I did! I got dropped!
Dog crushed by stripper boots. No, sorry, dominatrix boots.
-- No, remember, I got them at a store that caters to drag queens.
Be careful on the ladder.
-- Jackie Chan does some of his best stunts on ladders!
-- Jackie Chan has broken every bone in his body multiple times.
-- I'm not Jackie Chan!
We should really do the fairy free-for-all dodging of the cars.
-- Storefront Shakespeare. In front of the store.
I do have multiple personalities. No, I don't.
Danielle, would you like a sucker?
-- Ooh! Caramel apple apple stuff!
Gina, you have to do the play naked.
-- Then it's A Midsummer Night's Wet Dream.
-- That's the after-show.
I dare you to put that whole wad of noodles in your mouth.
-- It's bigger than your head.
-- It's bigger than Bandit.
-- Can you eat the dog in one bite? If not, don't try it.
My greatest altruistic act is not having children and not cloning myself.
-- I have yet to meet a child who made me regret my vasectomy.
Marky, you should totally ask Nora if you can wear that in the show.
-- Uh, hi, Nora.
Okay, now they're having a slap fight over the hot dog costume.
I call everybody sweetie, honey and dear, which half of them haven't realized is code for dipshit, moron and asshole.
-- And the other half don't care.
Are you bringing sexy back?
-- Honey, I brought it. I used it. I'm tossing it aside.
-- Oooh, sloppy seconds! I'll take it!
Has anyone seen my clothes?
-- That sounds like me after too many wild nights.
-- Sounds like something you'd hear after Rocky.
I haven't slapped you!
-- Yet.
Russell, there are no more naked women, so you can get out your computer.
-- Why would you let the naked women stop you?
I've got ice in my butt.
I don't want to leave when I hear farting problems.
Man, if I were a klepto, this place would be awesome.
Karma!
-- Yeah, I think there might be a lightning bolt. Or a bus. Or it might pull a My Name Is Earl on you.
Russell, did you spend the night?
-- Not intentionally.
Guess what? I just took, like, a ten-hour nap.
Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my hot dog and won thy love --
-- Doing thee... Those weren't injuries, dear. It was a cocktail weenie.
-- It was cold out!
I have Tourette's that comes and goes when it's convenient.
What did you do to Tinkerbell?
*koff* Hey, babe. *koff*
It's harder to storm upstage.
What the ever-loving fuck is going on out there?
-- I don't know. I was there, and I don't know.
Storefront Shakespeare, Summer 2010
Is it gonna be a wall? Like, a wall wall... I am so tired. Proceed.
I will sacrifice my body if I need to.
-- But we need your body!
So there's a frog and an alcoholic chainsaw-wielding princess.
There will be audience everywhere. You'll be tripping over them. But don't actually trip over them.
I have anointed an Athenian's eyes. And so far I am glad I did... sort.
Believe me, King of Shadows... What's happening? Oh, I'm scared of him.
Ho, ho, ho!
-- Santa?
Tim, be gentle with her hair.
-- It's my real hair.
-- It's her nice clean real hair. Look how shiny it is.
I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let's have some Ace of Base.
You look so awkward.
-- Maybe that's because I'm 17 and she's 24.
The rite of May is basically to fornicate.
-- Fornicate among the flowers.
-- It's midsummer, so they're a little late.
Take a moment. Say, "Hi! Hi! Hi! I'm not a donkey!"
-- You jerk. You didn't even call!
And ladies, take your places.
-- Take your places, ladies.
-- Take your places, ladies. Get steppin'!
We don't have time to explain it to the audience.
-- You're dead. Shut up.
Racole will be here soon, and she's bringing toilet paper, and paper towels, and a dog.
-- One of these things is not like the others.
I thought we were getting a robot dog.
-- This is the understudy.
Doesn't a regular warm-up include ice cream?
This tulle presenteth Athens.
Were we just having fun?
Do not interrupt the Duke macking on the future Duchess.
Come, my Hippolyta. What cheer, my love? Where art thou?
On whom I might approve this... What?
You're enjoying this too much. She's hitting you. Stop smiling.
-- Oh.
-- Is there something we should know, Demetrius?
Look how I go, swifter than arrow from Tartar's bow! You guys are in my way!
Do I need to go get ice?
-- No, it's okay.
-- Can you fall on me without hurting yourself?
With Bottom around, I need a drink, man!
We're using Bandit because he's such a quiet dog.
-- A very gentleman-like dog.
To make our sides lit... Oh, that's not it.
Believe me, King of Shadows, you should slap me.
No throwing against the wall, or you'll plaster it.
-- I will!
-- Do you know how to plaster?
-- I'll figure it out.
Manly man.
-- Put a stick up your butt.
-- Yeah, that's basically what I mean.
-- I got a stick.
And crowned with one -- I have a question. Can they be somewhere else?
Okay, go back. Start picking up your monologue.
-- Oh, jeez.
No, that part was acting. I was fine until he stepped on my hair.
And then you storm off.
-- Aww.
-- No, wait! Let me change something!
Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief? Did I just fuck that up?
How many characters can the stage manager play tonight?
I'll try not to almost grab your thingy.
Why are you walking away? I'm talking to you! You don't love me!
This tickles my funny... funnily.
Thou! Thou! Thou hast no cause to break character!
Stand forth... *beat* *beat* Demetrius.
Messengers of strong...
-- Prevailment?
-- Prevailment.
Slowly. Very slowly.
-- Until you feel like an idiot.
-- I'm way past that point.
-- That's acting. If you feel stupid, you're doing it right.
I am a really bad stripper. I get paid in quarters.
We were out there and we were trying to sell ourselves. But, y'know, not literally.
Gina. Gina. Gina. Gina. Gina. Gina. Gina. PUCK!!
I'm like the Girl Scout from Hell.
-- Buy my cookies or die! You will eat these Tagalongs and you will like them!
-- But I'm allergic to peanuts.
-- I DON'T CARE!
What's the sugar for?
-- It has fun in fire.
S'mores in five.
-- Ooooh. Sugar and fire.
-- The perfect combination.
It's an air cannon. It's not dangerous.
-- That comes under famous last words.
-- Or a challenge, if you're the MythBusters.
To eat makes our speaking English good.
The bacon! MY the bacon!
I can't disobey Nora. She's the director. That would make me a diva.
-- Aren't you already one?
Russell, where's your lightsaber?
Ossifer, I'm home. Take me drunk.
Can we paint on my abs?
The counselor was like, "When he flexes you can see his abs?" Oh. Awkward silence.
X is for Ecstasy, which I smoked before I did this show.
-- You smoked Ecstasy?
Okay, why does the bathroom have a sign that says Careful, there may be a squirrel in here?
Lisa used to make me scream like a girl, and I liked it.
-- I think that's too much information.
-- I was Christmas Past.
-- I had to wake up with her in my bed and pretend I didn't like it.
Gina, you need to stop hitting on your stage manager.
-- Stop looking so sexy!
Ben, I love you! Why can't we be together?
-- You know why!
-- I'll turn you straight!
It's not recognizing your face. It's recognizing your boobs as a face.
No one's judging you. Put your clothes on.
Theatre in the round. More like orgy in the round.
-- Promenade theatre: Where the actors touch you. And you like it.
What did I say? Did it make sense?
I'm not coffee-smart.
-- What kind of smart are you?
You found a Walgreens?
-- I found a 7-Eleven. Gotta love the quality of a 7-Eleven. I think I'm bleeding.
I'm smelling that menthol.
-- I don't have to cough anymore, but I want a cigarette.
You've got sticky stuff all over your pants.
-- That's what they all say.
Agh! You're fifteen. Stop looking like you're not!
Nadia, I promise not to injure you today.
It should say Fairy Blaster 9000, because Hippolyta would totally have one of those.
-- Be vewy, vewy quiet. We'we hunting faiwies.
Armed. And legged as well.
-- Especially in those boots.
Tim, there's a bunch of people that look like you outside.
That's okay. You can't break character if I accidentally shoot you while you sleep.
You have to suffer for your art.
-- I did! I got dropped!
Dog crushed by stripper boots. No, sorry, dominatrix boots.
-- No, remember, I got them at a store that caters to drag queens.
Be careful on the ladder.
-- Jackie Chan does some of his best stunts on ladders!
-- Jackie Chan has broken every bone in his body multiple times.
-- I'm not Jackie Chan!
We should really do the fairy free-for-all dodging of the cars.
-- Storefront Shakespeare. In front of the store.
I do have multiple personalities. No, I don't.
Danielle, would you like a sucker?
-- Ooh! Caramel apple apple stuff!
Gina, you have to do the play naked.
-- Then it's A Midsummer Night's Wet Dream.
-- That's the after-show.
I dare you to put that whole wad of noodles in your mouth.
-- It's bigger than your head.
-- It's bigger than Bandit.
-- Can you eat the dog in one bite? If not, don't try it.
My greatest altruistic act is not having children and not cloning myself.
-- I have yet to meet a child who made me regret my vasectomy.
Marky, you should totally ask Nora if you can wear that in the show.
-- Uh, hi, Nora.
Okay, now they're having a slap fight over the hot dog costume.
I call everybody sweetie, honey and dear, which half of them haven't realized is code for dipshit, moron and asshole.
-- And the other half don't care.
Are you bringing sexy back?
-- Honey, I brought it. I used it. I'm tossing it aside.
-- Oooh, sloppy seconds! I'll take it!
Has anyone seen my clothes?
-- That sounds like me after too many wild nights.
-- Sounds like something you'd hear after Rocky.
I haven't slapped you!
-- Yet.
Russell, there are no more naked women, so you can get out your computer.
-- Why would you let the naked women stop you?
I've got ice in my butt.
I don't want to leave when I hear farting problems.
Man, if I were a klepto, this place would be awesome.
Karma!
-- Yeah, I think there might be a lightning bolt. Or a bus. Or it might pull a My Name Is Earl on you.
Russell, did you spend the night?
-- Not intentionally.
Guess what? I just took, like, a ten-hour nap.
Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my hot dog and won thy love --
-- Doing thee... Those weren't injuries, dear. It was a cocktail weenie.
-- It was cold out!
I have Tourette's that comes and goes when it's convenient.
What did you do to Tinkerbell?
*koff* Hey, babe. *koff*
It's harder to storm upstage.
What the ever-loving fuck is going on out there?
-- I don't know. I was there, and I don't know.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Titania's tunes
In which our Diva shares her musical inspiration
The playlist I compiled for this rehearsal process...
1. Invocation ~ Loreena McKennitt
2. Love And Anger ~ Kate Bush
3. Summerland
~ Gypsy Nomads
4. Beauty Has Her Way
~ Mummy Calls
5. Stolen Child ~ Loreena McKennitt
6. Sweet About Me
~ Gabriella Cilmi
7. Elan
~ Secret Garden
8. Siren
~ Sarah Brightman
9. Endless Dream
~ Conjure One
10. The Mummers' Dance ~ Loreena McKennitt
11. Possession
~ Sarah McLachlan
12. Moon Dance
~ Enaid & Einalem
13. Gorgeous
~ Idina Menzel
14. La Luna
~ Sarah Brightman
15. Bard Dance
~ Enya
16. Into The Fire
~ Sarah McLachlan
17. Beyond Imagination
~ Opera Babes
A Midsummer Night's Dream opens TONIGHT! Visit Storefront Shakespeare for details and to buy tickets online. Hope to see you there!
The playlist I compiled for this rehearsal process...
2. Love And Anger ~ Kate Bush
3. Summerland
~ Gypsy Nomads4. Beauty Has Her Way
~ Mummy Calls5. Stolen Child ~ Loreena McKennitt
6. Sweet About Me
~ Gabriella Cilmi7. Elan
~ Secret Garden8. Siren
~ Sarah Brightman9. Endless Dream
~ Conjure One10. The Mummers' Dance ~ Loreena McKennitt
11. Possession
~ Sarah McLachlan12. Moon Dance
~ Enaid & Einalem13. Gorgeous
~ Idina Menzel14. La Luna
~ Sarah Brightman15. Bard Dance
~ Enya16. Into The Fire
~ Sarah McLachlan17. Beyond Imagination
~ Opera BabesA Midsummer Night's Dream opens TONIGHT! Visit Storefront Shakespeare for details and to buy tickets online. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind
In which our Diva takes on one of her dream roles
That audition I was all cagey about the other day? Turned out very well indeed, and I shall be playing Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the inaugural production of Storefront Shakespeare.
I'm excited about this for a number of reasons, not least because I've wanted to play Titania for ages. Fourth... possibly fifth? Time's the charm. The first opportunity was for Actors' Theatre of Columbus way back in 1995, and though I was ultimately not cast in that production, it was in reading the "forgeries of jealousy" speech at the callbacks that I fell in love with the role. It was just after I had done a weekend workshop with Shakespeare & Company, at which I learned more in three days than I would ever have thought possible, and I was all afire with the possibilities in the language. I also got a lovely handwritten notecard from the director thanking me for coming out, which is pretty darn cool as consolation prizes go.
There are all kinds of reasons I love that speech, which for me is the heart of the character, but one absolutely critical one is also the easiest to explain. It starts out as a bitter complaint about how everything is All Oberon's Fault, that no sooner does she light somewhere with her court,
"It's your fault, your fault, your fault... our fault." From childish petulance to mature responsibility in under two minutes.
Of course, this is a fairy we're talking about, so the latter doesn't necessarily stick. But I love that she's capable of it if she chooses, and the message that we share both power and responsibility for this world of ours. Even if we're not supernatural royalty whose mood swings literally affect the climate.
I've had quite a long Shakespeare drought. Except for understudying the Widow in The Taming of the Shrew a couple summers ago (when my attention was far more on designing the production's costumes), it's been almost eight years, since... Hey, what do you know? Another Midsummer at Actors'. In which I was really hoping for Titania, of course, but Mustardseed was fun, and I had a great time hanging out with a great company while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.
I'm also thrilled by the energy and vision behind Storefront's genesis, as described on their website:
And the timing is also great for pointing out that this Friday, Shakespeare's 446th birthday, is once again Talk Like Shakespeare Day, as declared by Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Mayor Daley. Toss in a "forsooth" or two for me!
That audition I was all cagey about the other day? Turned out very well indeed, and I shall be playing Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the inaugural production of Storefront Shakespeare.
I'm excited about this for a number of reasons, not least because I've wanted to play Titania for ages. Fourth... possibly fifth? Time's the charm. The first opportunity was for Actors' Theatre of Columbus way back in 1995, and though I was ultimately not cast in that production, it was in reading the "forgeries of jealousy" speech at the callbacks that I fell in love with the role. It was just after I had done a weekend workshop with Shakespeare & Company, at which I learned more in three days than I would ever have thought possible, and I was all afire with the possibilities in the language. I also got a lovely handwritten notecard from the director thanking me for coming out, which is pretty darn cool as consolation prizes go.There are all kinds of reasons I love that speech, which for me is the heart of the character, but one absolutely critical one is also the easiest to explain. It starts out as a bitter complaint about how everything is All Oberon's Fault, that no sooner does she light somewhere with her court,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.The catalog of nature gone awry that follows is some of the most vivid imagery in the canon, but somewhere along the way she reaches the conclusion that
this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.
"It's your fault, your fault, your fault... our fault." From childish petulance to mature responsibility in under two minutes.
Of course, this is a fairy we're talking about, so the latter doesn't necessarily stick. But I love that she's capable of it if she chooses, and the message that we share both power and responsibility for this world of ours. Even if we're not supernatural royalty whose mood swings literally affect the climate.
I've had quite a long Shakespeare drought. Except for understudying the Widow in The Taming of the Shrew a couple summers ago (when my attention was far more on designing the production's costumes), it's been almost eight years, since... Hey, what do you know? Another Midsummer at Actors'. In which I was really hoping for Titania, of course, but Mustardseed was fun, and I had a great time hanging out with a great company while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.
I'm also thrilled by the energy and vision behind Storefront's genesis, as described on their website:
We live in a fast-paced, mobile society, accustomed to interactive media, in which our phones are computers and through our computers we can interact with people in real time on the other side of the world, and in which children grow up playing interactive video games. To truly engage a modern audience, theater can no longer be a completely passive experience. Our plays are staged with the audience right in the middle of the action so the people will feel that the play is happening to them. No longer passive observers, they are now eye witnesses to the story.I've been friends with artistic director Nora Manca for a couple years now. I first met her at a cast party for a show I was in with her now-husband, and several months later we were cast as sisters in an ill-fated project I refer to as the slowest-motion train wreck in theatre history. It doesn't matter what the show was, because it never happened, but I met some terrific people through it. Nora's one of those people you can tell, after about five minutes of conversation, is going to do something really special. I'm delighted and honored to be part of its beginning.
And the timing is also great for pointing out that this Friday, Shakespeare's 446th birthday, is once again Talk Like Shakespeare Day, as declared by Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Mayor Daley. Toss in a "forsooth" or two for me!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Suzuki Shakespeare
In which our Diva figures this is one kid who won't be afraid of Shakespeare in high school
This is brilliant and utterly adorable. I've always respected Brian Cox, but I think I just became a big fan.
This is brilliant and utterly adorable. I've always respected Brian Cox, but I think I just became a big fan.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Summer of Shakespeare?
In which our Diva ponders the potentialities
I've been jonesing to do some Shakespeare again for a few years now. Stepping in for a weekend as the Widow in Taming of the Shrew last year really just whetted my appetite. So I was delighted when I read the sides for the callback I had last week -- not Shakespeare, but a pretty darn good pastiche, in perfectly respectable iambic pentameter with some nice wordplay. (Bonus: the callback was at North Lakeside Cultural Center, so I got to get in some nice Lake Michigan shoreline time in Berger Park on a gorgeous sunny day. I didn't grow up around water at all, and now I have a pretty little creek with a nice strip of woods a block and a half away, a gorgeous scenic river six blocks away, and a whole freshwater inland sea smack-dab against a lot of places I go. All of them just amazing.)
I've been jonesing to do some Shakespeare again for a few years now. Stepping in for a weekend as the Widow in Taming of the Shrew last year really just whetted my appetite. So I was delighted when I read the sides for the callback I had last week -- not Shakespeare, but a pretty darn good pastiche, in perfectly respectable iambic pentameter with some nice wordplay. (Bonus: the callback was at North Lakeside Cultural Center, so I got to get in some nice Lake Michigan shoreline time in Berger Park on a gorgeous sunny day. I didn't grow up around water at all, and now I have a pretty little creek with a nice strip of woods a block and a half away, a gorgeous scenic river six blocks away, and a whole freshwater inland sea smack-dab against a lot of places I go. All of them just amazing.)
Yesterday I got (and this is going to sound odd, but it's not ironic or facetious at all) the best rejection email EVER from the director of that show. I love people like that -- he knows I'm a professional and I know the odds, that when you have three or more awesome actresses and two female roles something's gotta give, and that something is as likely to be me as anyone else, but he still took the time to write me a nice personal note and promise to keep me in mind for future projects and recommend me to other directors. It's such a simple thing to do, and shows so much class.
I didn't even have time to be disappointed (and I am, a little, but there's never time to wallow for long around here!), because not ten minutes later I got another email -- based on a recommendation from the Shrew director -- inviting me to audition for a really cool-sounding project that is Shakespeare, but with a very intriguing twist (on a play I've done no less than three times in various capacities). That'll be coming up in the next couple weeks, and I'm excited to learn more about it.
And then, this morning, an email from the director of last fall's Dracula, announcing auditions for the As You Like It he's directing this summer. With all this going on, it just might be that somehow, somewhere, I'm going to get to feed that jones soon!
Time to get the Titania "forgeries of jealousy" speech solidly back in my voice and body for auditions. I don't think I'll ever get tired of that one, and it blows my mind how often it gets cut to the bone in productions. All that amazing imagery, and most importantly of all the arc that tells you so much about her and about their relationship: Nature is going berserk, and it's all your fault... and there's this terrible thing, and this terrible thing, and it's your fault, your fault... our fault. "We are their parents and original." And then, of course, Oberon opens his big mouth and blows it, because fairies are contrary that way (kinda like humans -- funny, that!). But for that moment, there's honesty and taking responsibility and... just wow.
And GreenMan, the company where I did Dracula, is opening this fall with Pride and Prejudice. Talk about a solution to the "too many awesome actresses" problem! Of course, at this point even my much-younger-than-my-real-age playing range (which is a bit more elastic for stage, but still) is really too old for any of the Bennet girls except maybe Jane. And even according to my birth certificate I'm still too young for Mrs. Bennet and much too young for Lady Catherine. Caroline Bingley could be fun (especially if I float the idea of the Lost in Austen subtext, which I still say explains an awful lot about her). Charlotte... hmm. Maybe. Perhaps not coincidentally, GreenMan's season wrap-up party is tonight, so I'll be able to get the skinny on it and the rest of the upcoming season there. I had such a great time in Dracula, and I'd love to work with them again.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
"...adequately serpentine but not altogether gorgeous"
In which our Diva is giggling like a giggly thing
Over on LiveJournal, the ever-resourceful angevin2 has posted some notes given by Sir John Gielgud to the cast of his 1964 production of Hamlet.
They make way more sense than many notes I have been given in my time, and are altogether hilarious.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
But then there was a star danc'd
Thirteen years ago today, Much Ado About Nothing opened in a small black-box theatre in Columbus, Ohio. Yours truly, complete with flittery fidgets and Minnie Mouse voice, was playing Beatrice.I'm still not entirely sure how that happened, but I'm eternally grateful that it did.
I hate choosing favorites in practically anything, but when people ask me my favorite role I've ever played, I don't hesitate a fraction of a second before answering "Beatrice." Even more true is that it is the one role I would most want to play again. Not just because of the character herself, but because I was given this amazing opportunity when I was 25 and clueless, and I would pay dearly to have it again with what I know now. (I hasten to add that this only means I was clueless at 25, having semi-recently dropped this nugget into a conversation with an astonishingly clueful 23-year-old colleague and then realized it was possibly on the tactless side.) I think that at least once a week, and it becomes especially acute when I encounter the play in any form, as I did last week with my friend and her brilliant little girl (who, as we had hoped, loved the movie and was tremendous fun to watch).
1995 was the year everything seemed possible. Rosebriar, the Shakespeare company I had stumbled into the previous season, and its gifted, giving idealist of an artistic director (who was also my Benedick), looked at me and saw great things. And for a few seasons, we had great things happening, we really did. John's inspiration and belief in me gave me more than I can begin to describe.
Hard on Beatrice's heels, I played Lucy Hale, John Wilke's Booth's fiancée, in a role written for me by the playwright/actor who played Antonio in Much Ado and shocked me speechless one night by comparing my performance favorably to Emma Thompson's. (I love you, Doug, but, um, no way.) That was the year I found Shakespeare & Company and my grownup voice, spent ten weekends dancing four Maypole shows a day in thirty pounds of peasant garb at Ohio Ren, carried a woefully underrehearsed The Skin of Our Teeth (not at Rosebriar) by the skin of my teeth on Sabina's stiletto heels, and played ersatz BDSM with Hamlet with my very Catholic 85-year-old grandfather in the front row three feet away.
But starting it all off, there was Much Ado. There's so much I remember so vividly about that show. I look at the quote list and remember what prompted every silly joke on it. Changing at panicky superhuman speed when I realized 45 seconds before my cue that I'd gotten a scene ahead of myself and was wearing the wrong costume. The infamous Noisy Blue Dress whipping around my ankles as I stomped away the width of the stage at the Friar's suggestion that hey, worst case scenario, we'll just stick Hero in a convent! Dissolving into helpless laughter the night John shoved the candy box under my nose with his fake moustache in it. Sucking down a quart of Gatorade after the emotional blitzkrieg of IV-I and silently thanking Shakespeare's departed spirit for leaving me a break just long enough to collect myself for the happy ending.
The IV-I that ends like this. (With apologies for the video quality. And the 25-and-cluelessness.)
When I flail about what I want, what I'm reaching for, what I miss because I know what it felt like when I had it? This is what I'm thinking about. This was supposed to be the great beginning. I'm still determined that it will be. When all is said and done and the last lights go out, if that experience ends up being the high point of my life as an actor? It was a pretty darn good one, and I will be ever thankful for that.
But it won't.
For whatever reason, certainly not for any reason as concrete as this one, I've been feeling lately like anything is possible in 2008, in a way I maybe haven't since I was that clueless 25-year-old. So when you see me driving and reaching and muttering that it's not enough, you know why. I know what I'm trying to capture. It's going to be mine.
Pass the Gatorade.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Defying Gravity
In which our Diva has possibly had a little bit of caffeine today
Plans for the weekend falling into place. Bonus: I don't have to swipe the car and leave hubby stranded all day Saturday! I do have to spend 3 1/2 hours in transit on Metra up to spend Friday night with BigBabyBrother and Sister-in-Law-To-Be, which is okay because (a) I'm going to record my monologue and the audition side on my Zen for memorization purposes (since I haven't memorized either yet!), and (b) I missed SiLTB's shower last weekend for the Elisir matinee.
I realize I'm at least slightly insane for schlepping clear up to Milwaukee for this thing, but it is so utterly up my alley and would be SO MUCH FUN. (Do I get extra points for that? No, seriously. It should count! And hey, the mindset worked out last time...)
Meanwhile, there's been a slew of possibilities in the Chi breakdowns on actors access this past week, including one I just submitted for that will have me busy Sunday if I hear back from them. Bonus: these guys listed it as filming in Bartlett (very close to home) and Villa Park (location of Office of Doom). Also, you will note, up my alley. (It's been three months. I'm totally recovered from being tired of washing dried stage blood out of my hair.) They want me. They know they do. ;->
Pondering next week's Wicked chorus call. On the one hand, there's the "third time's the charm" theory. On the other, Equity members will be seen first. :: mourns Eligible Performer program yet again :: Thinking I'll probably hold out for the next open call instead.
Tonight, meanwhile, off to a friend's house to watch her six-year-old watch Much Ado About Nothing. Since she apparently jammed on Hamlet (!!!) last week, I can't miss this. Then home to pack an overnight bag for the trip up to Wisconsin, as there will be zero time to do so tomorrow due to the intersection of work and train schedules.
*whew* Keep on movin'...
Plans for the weekend falling into place. Bonus: I don't have to swipe the car and leave hubby stranded all day Saturday! I do have to spend 3 1/2 hours in transit on Metra up to spend Friday night with BigBabyBrother and Sister-in-Law-To-Be, which is okay because (a) I'm going to record my monologue and the audition side on my Zen for memorization purposes (since I haven't memorized either yet!), and (b) I missed SiLTB's shower last weekend for the Elisir matinee.
I realize I'm at least slightly insane for schlepping clear up to Milwaukee for this thing, but it is so utterly up my alley and would be SO MUCH FUN. (Do I get extra points for that? No, seriously. It should count! And hey, the mindset worked out last time...)
Meanwhile, there's been a slew of possibilities in the Chi breakdowns on actors access this past week, including one I just submitted for that will have me busy Sunday if I hear back from them. Bonus: these guys listed it as filming in Bartlett (very close to home) and Villa Park (location of Office of Doom). Also, you will note, up my alley. (It's been three months. I'm totally recovered from being tired of washing dried stage blood out of my hair.) They want me. They know they do. ;->
Pondering next week's Wicked chorus call. On the one hand, there's the "third time's the charm" theory. On the other, Equity members will be seen first. :: mourns Eligible Performer program yet again :: Thinking I'll probably hold out for the next open call instead.
Tonight, meanwhile, off to a friend's house to watch her six-year-old watch Much Ado About Nothing. Since she apparently jammed on Hamlet (!!!) last week, I can't miss this. Then home to pack an overnight bag for the trip up to Wisconsin, as there will be zero time to do so tomorrow due to the intersection of work and train schedules.
*whew* Keep on movin'...
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