Tag: theatre

Merchant of Venice as the Newest Member of the Almost Masterpiece Club

scarlettoharaLeave a comment
Ranking all the Books I Read So Far in High School

A while back, I reviewed all the books I did for required reading in high school, and nearly all of the books in the “almost masterpiece” tier were from Ms. Whipple’s classes. I don’t know how she keeps getting away with this, but I’m adding Merchant of Venice to this tier. (The most I will say about Heart of Darkness is that I put it in the “I respectfully tolerate” tier.)

Before I read Merchant of Venice I actually thought I would put it in the “respectfully tolerate” tier, as I thought it would have aged too poorly for me to be invested in. My only exposure to it was a Jewish youtuber I liked using the play as the ultimate example of a poorly aged classic, so I feared the only thing I would find in it would be garden variety antisemitism.

Though after reading it I suppose I know why we’re learning about it. It’s true, parts of the character Shylock, the main Jewish character in the play, and especially the way other characters treat him that make me cringe. People call Shylock a dog and Lancelet, the most “love to hate” character in the play, outright says he should hang for his religion. But once I read about Lancelet tricking his blind dad into thinking he’s dead, just for the kicks of it, I began to wonder if my disgust towards the characters is meant to be the point.

All of the Christian “heroes” have unsavory qualities, even outside of their antisemitism. Portia mocks the men who want to marry her because they are foreign. Bassanio is a gambler and wannabe gold digger. And what most surprised me was how Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, sells her dead mother’s ring to buy a monkey. As a Jewish convert to Christianity, the other characters act like she is her father’s moral superior, but her actions only make the rest of the cast’s moral standards suspect.

At this point, I can’t help but wonder if Shakespeare was on the better side of history, that he really try to write Shylock as the most sympathetic character in a sea of terrible people. He has some of the best lines, many of which sufficiently call out the injustice of his world, and his villainous actions can’t hold a candle to many of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes. My bread and butter are works where nearly everyone are equally terrible people, as it makes the halfway decent ones stand out all the more. So I can’t help but find that Merchant of Venice scratches my itch, so into the Unofficial Whipple Tier it goes. I don’t think it’s quite on the level of works like Invisible Man, which are stories that I think anyone can get something out of it. I still get that youtuber’s discomfort with Merchant of Venice, so I’m not making this messy story required reading for all of humanity. For all my low expectations I still think it needs an inventive production to bear stomaching for modern audiences.

PC:Google

A Day at the Theatre

whynotstayinLeave a comment

Recently I had the good fortune to see Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge. It was at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre. The play in its original form is straight from the kitchen of a struggling family in cold war era New York.

A home drama usually staged in an actual house was turned into a play on par with a Greek tragedy. Staged on a sterile white floor boxed in by clear siding with sharp black boards on top, there was a black step leading to a crisp doorway at the back of the set. There were no changes to this set up.

There was a large black box that was raised and lowered at the beginning and end of the show that completely covered the entire stage and rested on the black boundary.

It felt like I was a giant looking into a world like my own, but not.

This was the work of Ivo van Hove. His interpretation dialed into human nature and what desperation does to the mind. It put all the attention on the actors, emotion, and themes that run throughout the play.

Accompanied only by an occasional drumbeat and Gothic church music, the actors carried every part of the play.

Photo Credit: www.centertheatregroup.org

It was an amazing way to spend a Sunday afternoon. My head buzzed afterward.

The play was a microcosmic view of modern life, it remains applicable today. Immigration, prejudice, the weight of living.

End Scene.

theycallmedameLeave a comment

Sing loud.
Keep your back straight.
Don’t look at your feet.
You move stage right, not stage left.
It’s step-ball-change not ball-change-step.
You’re que is before the beat, not on it.
Cheat out and never look upstage.
Memorize all of Act Two by Friday, no exceptions.

Instruction after instruction and command after command is what it takes to put on a production. Whether it be a production of Shakespeare or the newest and hottest musical out there, without the proper director, any show is doomed.

I’ve been doing theatre since I was in second grade, starting off with Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” playing Puck. Then I moved onto Annie, Grease (twice), The Wizard of Oz, Wicked, The Wiz (twice), Damn Yankees, Beauty and the Beast, Pandora’s Jar, Tommy, Come Together, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Every time I meet new challenges that must be conquered, and every time it is a struggle. But there is no feeling that is even remotely comparable to opening night, when the curtains first fly open and the opening song starts. The feeling of being someone else for an hour or two. It’s irreplaceable.

Performing on stage is a hobby I’ve come to love, and it is a joy every time I open a new script to start highlighting my lines for later memorization. Each performance is a journey, and one that always ends too soon.