missing RICHARD II
Apr. 8th, 2010 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerHmph. Looks like I missed my chance to see RICHARD II at the Shakespeare Theatre. The last show is sold out. Did anyone see it? ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cisic, perhaps? emma_elicit? tompurdue? Anyone?
Perhaps it's just as well that I missed it. I wanted to take Henchgirl, to introduce her to one of my very favorite Shakespeare plays (and one of my dream roles to perform... also my most intimidating). But then, I remember when I took Bloo to see the original Chicago production of Stacy Keach's KING LEAR, which was perhaps the second worst LEAR I've ever seen. It still kills me that that was Bloo's introduction to my very favorite play. Kills me.
Now, you may be wondering, "Gee, Heffie, what was the absolute worst KING LEAR you've ever seen?" That would be the Shakespeare Theatre production directed by Michael Kahn. Y'know, the same company and director who directed the RICHARD II that I'm missing. So yeah, I wouldn't want for Henchgirl's introduction to RICHARD II being a bad one.
Because good lord does RICHARD II have the potential to be a horrible production in the wrong hands. It's a play with virtually zero action of any sort happening, largely devoted to wangst and wallowing self-pity. And yet, by some miracle of Shakespeare's poetry and performers like Derek "Man-God" Jacobi, it can be one of the most moving plays I've ever seen.
The heart of this is how, for reasons I still don't entirely understand, Richard goes from being a self-absorbed, nasty little twit to somehow gaining more and more humanity the more power he loses. But some reviews I've read of Kaaaaaaaaahn's RICHARD II say that this production does away with that.
DC Theatre Scene--and the reviewer there said he never say anything in the text to support that Richard regains his humanity--says they just keep Richard a pompous self-absorbed ass up to the moment of his (spoiler alert!) murder. They reviewer said, "It's a bold choice, and it works." I'm skeptically curious. That choice seems to undercut the very thing which gives RICHARD II it's unlikely poignancy and power.
And I'm not saying it couldn't work, and I haven't seen a Michael Kaaaaaaaaaaahn production in many years, but from what I recall of the man's work, he's not the one to pull it off.
In the end, I'm sad only for my own eduction and experience that I'm missing RICHARD II. It's so rarely produced that I feel like I can only learn from any production, especially a bad one, which I have yet to see. But in the end, I'd rather introduce Henchgirl to it via either Derek Jacobi...
(cue to 7:50 onward)
.. or Mark Rylance:
(Dreamy sigh)
I saw that production live, at the Globe, with a class in London. I was the only one in the class who actually went and saw it a second time, I loved it so much. Apparently they filmed the whole thing and aired it on the BBC? DAMN IT, I WANTS IT ON THE DVDS!
Can anyone get it for me? And if so, can you also get the CRIME AND PUNISHMENT movie with John Simm and Ian McDiarmid? And the Paul Scofield KING LEAR? Damn it, should I just spring for a region-free DVD player and be done with it?
cisic, perhaps? emma_elicit? tompurdue? Anyone? Perhaps it's just as well that I missed it. I wanted to take Henchgirl, to introduce her to one of my very favorite Shakespeare plays (and one of my dream roles to perform... also my most intimidating). But then, I remember when I took Bloo to see the original Chicago production of Stacy Keach's KING LEAR, which was perhaps the second worst LEAR I've ever seen. It still kills me that that was Bloo's introduction to my very favorite play. Kills me.
Now, you may be wondering, "Gee, Heffie, what was the absolute worst KING LEAR you've ever seen?" That would be the Shakespeare Theatre production directed by Michael Kahn. Y'know, the same company and director who directed the RICHARD II that I'm missing. So yeah, I wouldn't want for Henchgirl's introduction to RICHARD II being a bad one.
Because good lord does RICHARD II have the potential to be a horrible production in the wrong hands. It's a play with virtually zero action of any sort happening, largely devoted to wangst and wallowing self-pity. And yet, by some miracle of Shakespeare's poetry and performers like Derek "Man-God" Jacobi, it can be one of the most moving plays I've ever seen.
The heart of this is how, for reasons I still don't entirely understand, Richard goes from being a self-absorbed, nasty little twit to somehow gaining more and more humanity the more power he loses. But some reviews I've read of Kaaaaaaaaahn's RICHARD II say that this production does away with that.
DC Theatre Scene--and the reviewer there said he never say anything in the text to support that Richard regains his humanity--says they just keep Richard a pompous self-absorbed ass up to the moment of his (spoiler alert!) murder. They reviewer said, "It's a bold choice, and it works." I'm skeptically curious. That choice seems to undercut the very thing which gives RICHARD II it's unlikely poignancy and power.
And I'm not saying it couldn't work, and I haven't seen a Michael Kaaaaaaaaaaahn production in many years, but from what I recall of the man's work, he's not the one to pull it off.
In the end, I'm sad only for my own eduction and experience that I'm missing RICHARD II. It's so rarely produced that I feel like I can only learn from any production, especially a bad one, which I have yet to see. But in the end, I'd rather introduce Henchgirl to it via either Derek Jacobi...
(cue to 7:50 onward)
.. or Mark Rylance:
(Dreamy sigh)
I saw that production live, at the Globe, with a class in London. I was the only one in the class who actually went and saw it a second time, I loved it so much. Apparently they filmed the whole thing and aired it on the BBC? DAMN IT, I WANTS IT ON THE DVDS!
Can anyone get it for me? And if so, can you also get the CRIME AND PUNISHMENT movie with John Simm and Ian McDiarmid? And the Paul Scofield KING LEAR? Damn it, should I just spring for a region-free DVD player and be done with it?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 04:50 am (UTC)And it so speaks to my lack of some classics that my first reaction to 'CRIME AND PUNISHMENT movie with John Simm and Ian McDiarmid?' was "The Master (Dr. Who) and Palpatine in Dostoevsky!" (he's an author I need to read something of someday)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-10 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-10 02:21 pm (UTC)Man, when I saw this show a second time alone, away from my class in London, I found a spot in the standing room groundling area (which is the best place to see a show at the Globe, so I'm told), and I claimed a spot under the eaves--since it was raining--right next to the gate where I could prop up myself and my snacks. I'll never forget, the Globe served orange juice and strawberries with chocolate covered nuts.
And that's where I was, standing, for three and a half hours, enthralled by that show again. I'd to do it all over again to see that show once more, but if I can have it at home with a couch and beer and someone else I can show it too, all the better!
Hrmmmm... maybe region-free DVD really is the way to go...
no subject
Date: 2010-04-10 02:25 pm (UTC)