Romeo & Juliet
Jul. 23rd, 2006 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thalia_seawoodAs a wedding present, we got theatre tickets for an open air production of Romeo & Juliet. These tickets were the present of my much behated cousin which is why I wasn't keen on going in the first place. But then I thought: Hey, it's Shakespeare, the play will be in a lovely location. The Man and I are going to enjoy this - even though I don't see Romeo & Juliet as the most romantic play ever written. Too much death to make this a blissfully happy marriage present. *g*
So we went, but didn't enjoy. At all.
The performance was bad! Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. I've seen several productions of Romeo & Juliet, some mediocre, some excellent - certainly never anything like this.
There were some good actors, e.g. Juliet's nurse, but most of them were just saying their lines and walking around stage without much motivation.
There was one scene where Benvolio and Romeo are supposed to look all cool and manly and slightly threatening. To achieve this the actors threw blades onto a board. Not a good idea.
For one, you couldn't see this target.
What was worse: They hit the target only once in three tries. When they hit the target, they then had to remove the blade from it which made a squeaky sound every time. When they didn't hit the target, it was worse. The blade then *bounced* away from the target and hit the floor with a clutter that was loud and very irritating. Especially since the knife throwing went on for several minutes. Squeak, bounce, clatter, clatter, bounce, clatter, clatter, squeak. In between this commotion, the actors said their lines. Fun!
All of the actors were equipped with microphones which was odd since it made it hard to figure out who exactly was speaking. I could have gotten used to this if the quality of acting had been better.
Cosma Shiva Hagen (the daughter of Nina Hagen who's well-known in Germany) starred as Juliet. I think she was quite sweet and innocent, but her interaction with Romeo was dreadfully uninspired. To be fair, I didn't see much of her. It started raining heavily 35 minutes into the play and the Man and I left after about 60 minutes. By this time, Juliet had met Romeo for the first time and I was *not* impressed by the scene.
The stage design was boring. It could have become interesting if the stage had been lighted in diverse and inspired ways. Alas, there was just one light which was orange. And this light was used in every scene. It also wasn't dimmed when there were scene changes. Because of this, you could see clearly that the stage hands weren't quite sure what they had to do. I felt embarassed by watching the scene changes: Both stage hands and actors on the stage fumbling along in full stage light...
Then there was music to accompany the play which was supposed to make it all more dramatic and kind of modern and cool. Now this could have worked very well. However, the music wasn't performed by life musicians, it came from CD and sounded like a really bad soundtrack. It was a weird mix of classical music from very different time periods and possibly soundtrack music. Most of the chosen pieces were absolutely over-dramatic. Add to this that the sound system wasn't handled well.
Now this play was hyped (OMG!!1 it has COSMA SHIVA HAGEN in it) and overprized (one ticket in our price category cost 49 EUR). What really pissed me off: Due to the location of the play, you got the impression that the actors were from a prolific Munich theatre (Residenztheater). So I was sure that the acting would be good, if not outstanding. However, it turned out that only a few actors were from there - and I really pity the few good actors who had to perform tonight.
The good news is that we didn't pay for the tickets and that we could escape easily due to the heavy rain showers. It also gave me the chance to observe the Munich "Schickimicki", i.e. the Wannabe High Society. I love watching women with interestingly dyed hair and extreme colour contact lenses. *g*
So we went, but didn't enjoy. At all.
The performance was bad! Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. I've seen several productions of Romeo & Juliet, some mediocre, some excellent - certainly never anything like this.
There were some good actors, e.g. Juliet's nurse, but most of them were just saying their lines and walking around stage without much motivation.
There was one scene where Benvolio and Romeo are supposed to look all cool and manly and slightly threatening. To achieve this the actors threw blades onto a board. Not a good idea.
For one, you couldn't see this target.
What was worse: They hit the target only once in three tries. When they hit the target, they then had to remove the blade from it which made a squeaky sound every time. When they didn't hit the target, it was worse. The blade then *bounced* away from the target and hit the floor with a clutter that was loud and very irritating. Especially since the knife throwing went on for several minutes. Squeak, bounce, clatter, clatter, bounce, clatter, clatter, squeak. In between this commotion, the actors said their lines. Fun!
All of the actors were equipped with microphones which was odd since it made it hard to figure out who exactly was speaking. I could have gotten used to this if the quality of acting had been better.
Cosma Shiva Hagen (the daughter of Nina Hagen who's well-known in Germany) starred as Juliet. I think she was quite sweet and innocent, but her interaction with Romeo was dreadfully uninspired. To be fair, I didn't see much of her. It started raining heavily 35 minutes into the play and the Man and I left after about 60 minutes. By this time, Juliet had met Romeo for the first time and I was *not* impressed by the scene.
The stage design was boring. It could have become interesting if the stage had been lighted in diverse and inspired ways. Alas, there was just one light which was orange. And this light was used in every scene. It also wasn't dimmed when there were scene changes. Because of this, you could see clearly that the stage hands weren't quite sure what they had to do. I felt embarassed by watching the scene changes: Both stage hands and actors on the stage fumbling along in full stage light...
Then there was music to accompany the play which was supposed to make it all more dramatic and kind of modern and cool. Now this could have worked very well. However, the music wasn't performed by life musicians, it came from CD and sounded like a really bad soundtrack. It was a weird mix of classical music from very different time periods and possibly soundtrack music. Most of the chosen pieces were absolutely over-dramatic. Add to this that the sound system wasn't handled well.
Now this play was hyped (OMG!!1 it has COSMA SHIVA HAGEN in it) and overprized (one ticket in our price category cost 49 EUR). What really pissed me off: Due to the location of the play, you got the impression that the actors were from a prolific Munich theatre (Residenztheater). So I was sure that the acting would be good, if not outstanding. However, it turned out that only a few actors were from there - and I really pity the few good actors who had to perform tonight.
The good news is that we didn't pay for the tickets and that we could escape easily due to the heavy rain showers. It also gave me the chance to observe the Munich "Schickimicki", i.e. the Wannabe High Society. I love watching women with interestingly dyed hair and extreme colour contact lenses. *g*
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Being bitchy as well...
Date: 2006-07-24 12:02 pm (UTC)even though I don't see Romeo & Juliet as the most romantic play ever written. Too much death to make this a blissfully happy marriage present. Right, especially Romeo is thinking of death quite quickly during the play, Juliet is far more practical in this regard. Yep, I wouldn't consider it as the perfect wedding gift, either. ;-)
It also gave me the chance to observe the Munich "Schickimicki", i.e. the Wannabe High Society. I love watching women with interestingly dyed hair and extreme colour contact lenses. *g* See, see... Shall I arrange another soirée at the Heartbottoms? *g* Or would you prefer another stay at Lady Luna? ;-)
Re: Being bitchy as well...
Date: 2006-07-24 08:02 pm (UTC)But for demonstration as story about her, me and theatre:
7 years ago, my theatre group and I performed sketches (all by Karl Valentin) on my father's birthday. I played two different characters and as both I was dressed in a weirdly funny unflattering style. It simply fit the characters. My cousin watched the performance and afterwards her only comment was "You know, what you've been wearing doesn't suit you at all."
She saw me in at least one other play - one in which I was dressed very daring in pink. This time around, she didn't say anything at all. Not that she liked it or hated it or anything. And this was one of our finest plays ever, a big success. She just stood next to her mom and gave me looks.
Funnily enough, both times I wasn't bothered by her behaviour. Well, I wanted to kick her in the shin later on, but immediately after a theatre performance I'm riding on a high. Nothing is so nice than an acting in a great team and the enthusiastic response of an audience.
Now in the past, I thought that my cousin hated our performances. Today I've reevaluated this impression. I'm sure she was envious as hell. Coincidentally, she gave me the same odd glances at my wedding, didn't say one word that she enjoyed herself - and is now copying my wedding...
I finally see her for the gigantic nothing that she is and feel absolutely liberated by that realisation. Go me!
The perfect wedding gift would probably be a DVD of the "Rosenkrieg". :-)
Yes, a soirée at the Heartbottoms would be magnifique!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 09:09 pm (UTC)