R&G Are Still Dead
Oct. 28th, 2017 01:08 amTonight we went to see the National Theatre Live production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at ArtsEmerson, thanks to the organizing powers of ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
muffyjo. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Joshua Maguire, and David Haig, it was directed by David Leveaux, whose work I've apparently seen a couple of times previously (Cyrano de Bergerac with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner and Jumpers on Broadway) without ever really registering his name.
R&G has become one of those plays I can't really immerse myself in any more, which is somewhat sad. Having seen several versions, acted in one, and directed two, I know it too well to separate myself from it--I'm paying too much attention to what they've cut, how they're staging various bits, what choices the actors are making, etc.
The set was gorgeous--very deep, with walls and a backdrop of open sky, a curtain that could be drawn across the stage about midway back, and a ladder--and made for extremely effective staging. I thought Radcliffe was an excellent Rosencrantz, bringing more strength to that role than it's often allowed. His dead-in-a-box monologue was one of the highlights of the show for me. Maguire's Guildenstern was, as Jason put it, more glib than fretful, in a way that worked, but didn't make me love him. Unfortunately, I think he really blew Guildenstern's final speech, leaching it of the wistfulness that I think it deserves. David Haig (one of those actors that seems vaguely familiar and when I look him up on imdb I think "Oh yes, I've seen him," but can't actually recall any of his other performances) gave a reasonably strong and traditional reading of The Player. He decided to draw out his vowels in a way that I found annoying ("Why is he bleating?") but gave a classic ham-actor affection to the role. The other Players were solidly sketchy and I applauded the decision to cast several POC in those roles, as well as Claudius, Horatio, and another courtier.
One of the most interesting aspects of any production of R&G is seeing how they've cut the script. They were working from a version that ends with Horatio's speech, rather than the Ambassador's. I know that wrapping it up with the title of the play is extremely on the nose, but I love the inevitability of it--we all knew the ending when we walked in and I want them to give it to us. They pulled the Claudius/Gertrude scene after Polonius' murder from Hamlet that isn't in the version I like to work from and I don't think adds anything, and they cut the actual scene between R&G and Hamlet, which I would have minded more if I'd liked their Hamlet. The director apparently decided that Hamlet is a jerk and possibly a fascist, dressing him in a black trenchcoat and shades for the boat scene, like the villain from a Marvel WWII movie, choices that reinforced our loyalty to R&G, but undermine the richness of the play for me. They also cut one of Ophelia's two scenes, reducing her to a prop, and made Polonius a purely annoying and comic character. In general I found their cut somewhat awkward, leaving in speeches I find unnecessary, while cutting out some of my favorite one-liners. (No one likes "The color yellow is a mystical experience shared by everyone.") There were a couple of moments where the characters segued abruptly from one conversation to another that I found choppy, but perhaps they would work if you didn't know what came in between. And while I'm not usually a fan of blood on stage, I really missed it in The Player's death scene and felt it weakened that moment considerably.
Alice found it very funny and seemed untroubled by the existentialism. She remarked afterward that kids in her class sometimes look at her the way other characters look at Guildenstern when he's laying out a syllogism and we agreed that highly verbal smart people often resonate with him for that reason. I wonder if she'll get to play that role one day--I'd direct that!
I'd call this a serviceable production, rather than a brilliant one, but it's always fun to see someone else's take on Stoppard's rich material.
muffyjo. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Joshua Maguire, and David Haig, it was directed by David Leveaux, whose work I've apparently seen a couple of times previously (Cyrano de Bergerac with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner and Jumpers on Broadway) without ever really registering his name. R&G has become one of those plays I can't really immerse myself in any more, which is somewhat sad. Having seen several versions, acted in one, and directed two, I know it too well to separate myself from it--I'm paying too much attention to what they've cut, how they're staging various bits, what choices the actors are making, etc.
The set was gorgeous--very deep, with walls and a backdrop of open sky, a curtain that could be drawn across the stage about midway back, and a ladder--and made for extremely effective staging. I thought Radcliffe was an excellent Rosencrantz, bringing more strength to that role than it's often allowed. His dead-in-a-box monologue was one of the highlights of the show for me. Maguire's Guildenstern was, as Jason put it, more glib than fretful, in a way that worked, but didn't make me love him. Unfortunately, I think he really blew Guildenstern's final speech, leaching it of the wistfulness that I think it deserves. David Haig (one of those actors that seems vaguely familiar and when I look him up on imdb I think "Oh yes, I've seen him," but can't actually recall any of his other performances) gave a reasonably strong and traditional reading of The Player. He decided to draw out his vowels in a way that I found annoying ("Why is he bleating?") but gave a classic ham-actor affection to the role. The other Players were solidly sketchy and I applauded the decision to cast several POC in those roles, as well as Claudius, Horatio, and another courtier.
One of the most interesting aspects of any production of R&G is seeing how they've cut the script. They were working from a version that ends with Horatio's speech, rather than the Ambassador's. I know that wrapping it up with the title of the play is extremely on the nose, but I love the inevitability of it--we all knew the ending when we walked in and I want them to give it to us. They pulled the Claudius/Gertrude scene after Polonius' murder from Hamlet that isn't in the version I like to work from and I don't think adds anything, and they cut the actual scene between R&G and Hamlet, which I would have minded more if I'd liked their Hamlet. The director apparently decided that Hamlet is a jerk and possibly a fascist, dressing him in a black trenchcoat and shades for the boat scene, like the villain from a Marvel WWII movie, choices that reinforced our loyalty to R&G, but undermine the richness of the play for me. They also cut one of Ophelia's two scenes, reducing her to a prop, and made Polonius a purely annoying and comic character. In general I found their cut somewhat awkward, leaving in speeches I find unnecessary, while cutting out some of my favorite one-liners. (No one likes "The color yellow is a mystical experience shared by everyone.") There were a couple of moments where the characters segued abruptly from one conversation to another that I found choppy, but perhaps they would work if you didn't know what came in between. And while I'm not usually a fan of blood on stage, I really missed it in The Player's death scene and felt it weakened that moment considerably.
Alice found it very funny and seemed untroubled by the existentialism. She remarked afterward that kids in her class sometimes look at her the way other characters look at Guildenstern when he's laying out a syllogism and we agreed that highly verbal smart people often resonate with him for that reason. I wonder if she'll get to play that role one day--I'd direct that!
I'd call this a serviceable production, rather than a brilliant one, but it's always fun to see someone else's take on Stoppard's rich material.
