Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Schmonservatory
Why waste years of your life when you can learn everything you need to know about acting through the magic of the internet? From James Franco. And his little brother. These are mostly film-specific, but really hilarious. Enjoy.
The Clichés Keep Coming
The newest is up at The New Colony. It has come to my attention that my abbreviation 'CW' has already been taken by a remarkably different cultural forum, so I'll go back to calling it by its big-boy name.
Audience Participation, Cont'd
Anne Nicholson Weber responded to my post at The New Colony about audience participation by suggesting I listen to another of her excellent interviews, this one with two members of 500 Clown. Money quote: “Oh, what I’m doing in the room matters.” This realization is, as it should be, the goal of the honest brand of audience participation employed by 500 Clown.
It really sounds great, and I’m sad I’ll have to wait until June to see them, though I’ve seen similar performances to what they describe. What I like about their conception of “audience participation” in their own performances is that it is utterly organic. A person sneezes and the show can stop and acknowledge that. People walk in late and that is a concrete fact to confront — this matters, and this is a kind of performative realism (separate from that theatrical realism) that is the part of the experience of live theater that we too often struggle to sweep under the rug in service of some silly trap we’ve built for ourselves. The fourth wall is a lie. I’m sorry.
Bonus Points: Also brought up in the interview is what an excellent example of “the clown” Stephen Colbert offered at his now infamous speech for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The best part of this is near the beginning when he looks right at the president and says “We both go from the gut. Right, Sir? That’s where the truth lies.” If only we could all remember the danger and the thrill and the guts of this confrontation in every production of King Lear for the next twenty years.
It really sounds great, and I’m sad I’ll have to wait until June to see them, though I’ve seen similar performances to what they describe. What I like about their conception of “audience participation” in their own performances is that it is utterly organic. A person sneezes and the show can stop and acknowledge that. People walk in late and that is a concrete fact to confront — this matters, and this is a kind of performative realism (separate from that theatrical realism) that is the part of the experience of live theater that we too often struggle to sweep under the rug in service of some silly trap we’ve built for ourselves. The fourth wall is a lie. I’m sorry.
Bonus Points: Also brought up in the interview is what an excellent example of “the clown” Stephen Colbert offered at his now infamous speech for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The best part of this is near the beginning when he looks right at the president and says “We both go from the gut. Right, Sir? That’s where the truth lies.” If only we could all remember the danger and the thrill and the guts of this confrontation in every production of King Lear for the next twenty years.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Audience Participation
The new CW is up at The New Colony. It's on "Audience Participation," let me know what you think.
P.O.V.
One interesting point raised by the promenade production interview here, is the possibility of changing points of view for an audience. To that end, Miranda had great idea the other night. One thing we don't do in theater that much is play with Points of View. A lot of plays, for a lot of reasons (some good, some indifferent), maintain a unity of location from start to finish. In cinema, for a lot of reasons (some good, some bad), this almost never flies. Certainly, only a particular kind of art film would ever keep the same camera angle throughout the whole project. I bet there's a way to incorporate this for the good in theater.
The first act is the living room as we expect it. Couch faces front, ottomans in place, a coffee table, whatever. The kitchen is off stage left, the porch is off stage left. In the second act the room is at an angle. The Kitchen is now sharply down stage left, even through the audience. The door to the porch is now Up Right, anticipating an entrance and the couch faces mainly down right. It is as though the audience in now looking through the kitchen door at the living room.
Why don’t we do this, and what could we gain from it? I think it’s worth trying.
The first act is the living room as we expect it. Couch faces front, ottomans in place, a coffee table, whatever. The kitchen is off stage left, the porch is off stage left. In the second act the room is at an angle. The Kitchen is now sharply down stage left, even through the audience. The door to the porch is now Up Right, anticipating an entrance and the couch faces mainly down right. It is as though the audience in now looking through the kitchen door at the living room.
Why don’t we do this, and what could we gain from it? I think it’s worth trying.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Listen to this right now
An interview with Anne Nicholson Weber, Sean Graney and members of the cast of Edward II from last fall's production at Chicago Shakes. The show was promenade style, and these are some interesting reflections on the ins and outs of making that production work, from director, actor and audience points of view. Very interesting. More on this soon. Hear more interviews in the mean time here.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A Poem for Valentine's Day
Jenny Kissed Me
Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.
--Leigh Hunt
Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.
--Leigh Hunt
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