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esmenet
First off: the Illinois Shakespeare Festival is AMAZING, go see it if you have the time. Preferably one of the tragedies.
Second: oh my lord, the costumes. Their costumes are always good, but I particularly enjoyed them tonight. Because they weren't just absolutely beautiful this time, they were really interesting as well! All the younger and more hotheaded characters were in more modern-fusion clothes, while the older & more aristocratic characters were in fancy dress. Even Juliet wore fairy wings and pink sparkly converse high-tops or chuck taylors or whatever those shoes are called, for the party. And while most of the younger guys were wearing leather vests or coats (I kept being reminded of Kaiba, because Mercutio had a sleeveless trenchcoat-type-thing at first and Tybalt had one with sleeves laced on in two parts, it was cool) they were also wearing skinny jeans. And Benvolio started out in a printed t-shirt and a fitted cropped jacket with a hood, later graduating to a full-on hoodie with a leather vest over it. He was wearing Chuck Taylors the whole time, too.
There's a damn good reason photography isn't allowed in theatre, but I do wish there were pictures of the actors in their costumes even if no actual acting was happening. It was all super cool.
Mercutio was a flirty pansexual pirate, by the way. That's the only way I can think of to describe him (yes, that picture in your mind is probably accurate). Every line that could be punctuated with hip thrusts or raised eyebrows was so punctuated. It was pretty great. My favorite bits were the ones with him and Benvolio, tossing around a beat-up volleyball and teasing Romeo (& each other). V. funny and sweet. They interacted a little bit like some of my older cousins do.
The opening prologue/sequence was fabulous. Guards(wo)men and lords and ladies with purple and orange sashes stamping their feet to portentous music and hauling up a great big symbol-thing to the top of the stage, with ropes. Super cool. And all the guardswomen showed up again later, as guardswomen, which was awesome. They were in the first Capulet/Montague fight scene, and at the very end in the tomb.
Whoever was on music & lights did a good job. They used a cover of Teenage Dream for the Romeo/Juliet dance sequences and early romantic moments, and suitably 'teenager' music at other times for them. My tolerance level for both Romeo and Juliet went way down by the end, but I think the actors & directors & backstage people did a pretty good job of portraying them as understandably overdramatic teenagers.
In the play itself, I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of celestial motifs. Not just the famous "Arise, sun, and kill the envious moon," bit, but Romeo compares Juliet's eyes to stars later on and everyone seems to talk a lot about the moon, sky, etc. Does this mean something I'm not getting, or is it just meant to invoke the whole our-young-love-is-all-encompassing-and-forever thing?
I confess to having several moments of "Okay, who is giving these teenagers deadly weapons?" and also, after the play, to giving my younger brother a speech about how, if he ever falls in love with someone from a rival family, to leave the poison and swords the hell alone and go find a psychiatrist instead.
Juliet's dad is kind of really abusive, y/y? I don't know if that was supposed to be 'normal for the period' or what, but I was kind of expecting Juliet to just walk out on her parents and go be banished with Romeo.
It was pretty damn good all around, despite my losing interest in the star-crossed lovers by the end (seriously, Romeo? You are hanging around in your wife's tomb, and you think it's a good idea to just stab this guy who is also there? Nice going) and I will of course go back next year. Totally worth the money, although if you can manage it I would advise not going on the hottest & most humid night of the year. The actors & directors & costumers are extremely fantastic, do go if you get a chance.
And this post is kind of not organized at all, but I am up two hours past my bed-time and must now go to sleep. (Oh! Btw, this icon is for the Gokusen balcony scene, which I enjoyed far more than the R&J one.)
Second: oh my lord, the costumes. Their costumes are always good, but I particularly enjoyed them tonight. Because they weren't just absolutely beautiful this time, they were really interesting as well! All the younger and more hotheaded characters were in more modern-fusion clothes, while the older & more aristocratic characters were in fancy dress. Even Juliet wore fairy wings and pink sparkly converse high-tops or chuck taylors or whatever those shoes are called, for the party. And while most of the younger guys were wearing leather vests or coats (I kept being reminded of Kaiba, because Mercutio had a sleeveless trenchcoat-type-thing at first and Tybalt had one with sleeves laced on in two parts, it was cool) they were also wearing skinny jeans. And Benvolio started out in a printed t-shirt and a fitted cropped jacket with a hood, later graduating to a full-on hoodie with a leather vest over it. He was wearing Chuck Taylors the whole time, too.
There's a damn good reason photography isn't allowed in theatre, but I do wish there were pictures of the actors in their costumes even if no actual acting was happening. It was all super cool.
Mercutio was a flirty pansexual pirate, by the way. That's the only way I can think of to describe him (yes, that picture in your mind is probably accurate). Every line that could be punctuated with hip thrusts or raised eyebrows was so punctuated. It was pretty great. My favorite bits were the ones with him and Benvolio, tossing around a beat-up volleyball and teasing Romeo (& each other). V. funny and sweet. They interacted a little bit like some of my older cousins do.
The opening prologue/sequence was fabulous. Guards(wo)men and lords and ladies with purple and orange sashes stamping their feet to portentous music and hauling up a great big symbol-thing to the top of the stage, with ropes. Super cool. And all the guardswomen showed up again later, as guardswomen, which was awesome. They were in the first Capulet/Montague fight scene, and at the very end in the tomb.
Whoever was on music & lights did a good job. They used a cover of Teenage Dream for the Romeo/Juliet dance sequences and early romantic moments, and suitably 'teenager' music at other times for them. My tolerance level for both Romeo and Juliet went way down by the end, but I think the actors & directors & backstage people did a pretty good job of portraying them as understandably overdramatic teenagers.
In the play itself, I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of celestial motifs. Not just the famous "Arise, sun, and kill the envious moon," bit, but Romeo compares Juliet's eyes to stars later on and everyone seems to talk a lot about the moon, sky, etc. Does this mean something I'm not getting, or is it just meant to invoke the whole our-young-love-is-all-encompassing-and-forever thing?
I confess to having several moments of "Okay, who is giving these teenagers deadly weapons?" and also, after the play, to giving my younger brother a speech about how, if he ever falls in love with someone from a rival family, to leave the poison and swords the hell alone and go find a psychiatrist instead.
Juliet's dad is kind of really abusive, y/y? I don't know if that was supposed to be 'normal for the period' or what, but I was kind of expecting Juliet to just walk out on her parents and go be banished with Romeo.
It was pretty damn good all around, despite my losing interest in the star-crossed lovers by the end (seriously, Romeo? You are hanging around in your wife's tomb, and you think it's a good idea to just stab this guy who is also there? Nice going) and I will of course go back next year. Totally worth the money, although if you can manage it I would advise not going on the hottest & most humid night of the year. The actors & directors & costumers are extremely fantastic, do go if you get a chance.
And this post is kind of not organized at all, but I am up two hours past my bed-time and must now go to sleep. (Oh! Btw, this icon is for the Gokusen balcony scene, which I enjoyed far more than the R&J one.)
HI. I LIKE SHAKESPEARE. *solemn*
Date: 2011-08-07 05:24 am (UTC)Not really, no. From the Elizabethan English perspective, setting something in Italy was . . . . well, you can just imagine Shakespeare going "Hmmm, I want to write a love-story tragedy with ridiculously pushed-to-the-edge stakes, people doing crazy things, fighting in the streets, and asinine blood-feuds no English ruler would allow. I know! I'll set it in ITALY!"
The same applies to Juliet being 13. The audience was supposed to think, "JEEZ, those crazy Italians!"
Does this mean something I'm not getting, or is it just meant to invoke the whole our-young-love-is-all-encompassing-and-forever thing?
Ahaha, oh man. Um, so, R&J is in dialogue with a lot of things, including the entire Petrarchan sonnet tradition, which was MADE of sun-moon-stars-heavens allusions. Romeo when he's pining after Rosalind at the beginning is meant to be a stereotypical Petrarchan lover, pining forever at a maiden who doesn't actually want him (oh BOYS).
So yeah, there's that. Plus there's a complex discussion about day and night (where at that first seen, Romeo is longing for day, personified in Juliet, but by the time they get to the marriage and the wedding-night, Juliet is pining for night to come along so she can finally get laid), and so on.
And hrm. I don't know how they played it, but in the actual play, Romeo shows up at Juliet's tomb and is confronted by Paris, with the background understanding that if anyone finds Romeo there, he'll be summarily executed. Which is not as awesome a death as dying beside your beloved, after all.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-07 12:34 pm (UTC)Eeee, that sounds pretty.
Ahahaha, have you ever read the Pamela Dean novel Tam Lin? This is so like something her Janet would say.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 02:58 pm (UTC)It was super pretty! And you could really get that she was supposed to be thirteen, even though the actress was late teens/early twenties.
Re: HI. I LIKE SHAKESPEARE. *solemn*
Date: 2011-08-08 03:09 pm (UTC)"Hmmm, I want to write a love-story tragedy with ridiculously pushed-to-the-edge stakes, people doing crazy things, fighting in the streets, and asinine blood-feuds no English ruler would allow. I know! I'll set it in ITALY!"
Shakespeare loves those crazy Italians, man. (And Greeks. And Scandinavians. And Scottish.)
Ooh, thank you for the explanation of the sun-moon-stars-heaven thing! You've made me want to go look things up and see exactly what Shakespeare was doing there.
In the version I saw, Romeo & Paris basically went "What are you doing here, asshole I don't know/asshole from my fiancee's enemy family?!" *swordfight* I was kind of tired by then, so I don't remember it clearly. (I actually kind of forgot the punishment for defying banishment was execution. Oops?)