Richard II

When I was in Stratford, I had the pleasure of seeing Richard II performed live with David Tennant in the starring role.  Because it was such a big show and sold out so quickly, the Royal Shakespeare Company chose to film it live for broadcast worldwide to give it an even larger audience for the very first time.  So even though I flew thousands of miles to see it, I chose to drive to Fairfax VA to see it again.  It was just as amazing and wonderful on the big screen as it was live in the theatre.

The British theatres seem to be doing this live for broadcast thing a great deal and I just can't say too many good things about it.  Not only does it give the opportunity to see live theatre to people who wouldn't ordinarily have the chance, but it also introduces those people to shows, ideas, and people they may have known nothing about previously.  It was clear in today's showing, that the big draw was David Tennant (and quite honestly that's why I was there) but the production was stunning and it seemed the audience thought so as well.  

I only hope that the RSC decides to follow suit of National Theatre (Manchester) and will begin broadcasting most of their productions world wide.  With the big Shakespeare anniversary coming up and RSC Creative Director Greg Doran planning all 36 of  Shakespeare's works over the next 6 years, I have a feeling these live productions will be the perfect draw for Shakespeare fans,  as well as the perfect drain on my wallet.  Now if we could just get the Broadway shows to do the same thing, I'd be in heaven!

            

All Hail the King!

I'm not sure if anyone but me and the old folks have been watching The Hollow Crown on Masterpiece Theatre, but if you have I'm sure you find it fantastic as I do.  I'd read about the concept - Richard II and Henry IV & V as miniseries with big names - a few months ago when it originally aired in England and thought it sounded pretty interesting.  But I had no idea that it would be airing here.  As most cool and amazing theatre things, I assumed it would stay in UK.  But last week, I was surprised to see a write-up on it in the NY Times theatre section.  

As you may know, I am seeing Richard II in Stratford in just over 2 weeks time, so I've been attempting to at least get the general gist of what to expect.  I first tried to read the original work by Shakespeare.  But after a few hours, and my mind wandering all over the place, I gave up.  I'm not sure what it about this one, but it's super difficult for me to understand.  I think it may have something to do with the sheer number of characters; most of which are men with fairly similar names, that's perplexing my little brain.

So, since reading didn't work, it was off to the next best thing - Masterpiece Theatre.  Thank goodness MPT decided to show it just before I left!  I'm officially 1 hour 45 minutes in to the 2 hours 45 minute piece, and I must admit, (under pain of losing my English-y girl card) I haven't the foggiest idea of what's happening but, nonetheless it's pretty impossible to look away. The cast they were able to compile is a virtual who's who of great British stage actors: Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, David Morrissey, David Bradley, and about a half dozen others that I know by face if not by name.  (And this is just the first series - I haven't even seen the cast lists for series 2-4 yet!)  All of which are playing their parts admirably, but it's Ben Whishaw who's been commanding my attention all evening.

I've never seen James Bond, but I've heard Whishaw played Q in the last movie, which is where most people know him from.  But up until Bond, he's been known for his Shakespearean work and after watching him, I can see why.  He mentioned in an interview that he loosely based his Richard on Michael Jackson, which I can most definitely see.  He's crazy as a hootie-owl, odd, effeminate, but also terrifying; which I'm assuming (as I'm still not so clear on plot lines) is the point.

Don't get me wrong, I've gathered a bit - Richard's a loon and banishes Bolingbrooke, then Bolingbrooke comes back and usurps the crown (why this happens, is still not clear). Fortunately, this total and utter confusion, has succeeded in making me more excited for the show in Stratford instead of less. After seeing what Whishaw did, I can't wait to see what David Tennant does.  I can only imagine it will be un-look-away-able as well.  Especially based on the new rocking style he's sporting.  Should make for an utterly enjoyable, and completely new evening.  And if for some reason, there are still cobwebs in this little brain of mine after seeing the show, there's still one last resort: Google always knows all!

Friday Five

1. Love those O's!  Okay, I'm not nearly on the O's train as much as I'm on the Ravens train, however, when they do things like this, you just have to support the boys in orange.  Buck's basset hounds are about the cutest little dogs I've ever seen!

2. Anyone looking to purchase me an early Christmas gift can look no further.  Too, too cute!

3. A girls afternoon at the park with the niece, followed by a girls evening with the niece and her mama.  An afternoon will perfect early September weather and cutie to spend the time with: Perfect!  Today's Natalie-isms include:

N: Um, Aunt Kris, my seat's wet.
Aunt Kris: Why is your seat wet?
N: Um...I spilled...

After learning what the word rotten meant: (muttering under her breath as she's trying to unbuckle herself) This rotten car seat...

4. The new trailer for Richard II: I've been waiting for months to see it, and while it's not what I imagined (David Tennant is playing Richard, I was assuming you'd hear or even see him at least once...of course I was assuming you'd at least see someone;anyone instead of just the English countryside) it's still pretty stirring.

5. During a crap week, the fact that in LESS than four weeks there will be a light at the end of the tunnel: I'm going to England, Paris, Stratford and Scotland!  Can't believe it's so close but in weeks like this it feels so far away.  Come on October!

Monday, Monday

I have to say, like most people, I've never been a fan of Mondays.  They just come too quickly after the weekend for my taste.  But every once in a while, good things happen on Mondays and you spend the day walking on sunshine, smiling for no reason and singing to the top of your lungs in the car on your way to work at 6 am when it's still dark outside and freezing.  Today had all the makings of one of those god-awful, cold, wet, dreary, yucky Mondays.  But thanks to a super early alarm this morning, it all turned around quite rapidly.

I was able to purchase the tickets to Richard II in Stratford Upon Avon for October; the tickets that I've been stressing about for the last month as each level of tickets were released. (Seeing as my money doesn't exactly grow on trees, I had to wait until the mere mortal tickets were released after the platinum, silver, gold, alexandrite, tourmaline, kryptonite, etc. levels were available for purchase)  They're by far not the best seats, but seeing as the site crashed twice after I was able to purchase mine, I was down-right lucky to get any at all. The only bad part was having no one at work as early as I was to tell.  Instead I looked like a mental patient to any one I didn't know smiling like the Cheshire cat at a boring computer screen.

Monday, Monday, maybe you're not so bad after all.