Theater We Love

Posted on April 27th, 2009 by Joey deB

I actually was thinking about posting to our blog this morning because I was bored at work. That was before this newfangled blogosphere came into being.  I thought it might just be a fun place to talk about theater that we as artists love, and why.  It will let all those millions that will be reading our blog to know a bit more about us than what it says in our sarcastic bios.  Plus it will be something fun to go back and look at when we think about future seasons (ie “Remember how Joey kept talking about that Moscow Cat Circus?”  ”Yeah he blogged about it ten times!” “He is out of the ensemble.”) 

So I would like to start by posting about Peter Brook’s Hamlet, and not the cat circus (its amazing though).  Peter Brook filmed this very stripped down Hamlet with one of the most diverse and talented casts I have seen.  Now I know that this isn’t an example of live theater, but the film style is as if he filmed a dress rehearsal of a stage show.  He cut a lot from the original, but overall it is one of the best cuttings I have ever seen (he starts the film at “Oh that this too, too solid flesh” and then cuts to the Claudius after his “Though yet of Hamlet…” speech).  Not only is it by a great director, who you should all check out, but it is a great example of how film is different than stage and how one can bring texts like Shakespeare into the modern world. You have to find a way to keep it gripping and intense, and find actors that can speak it naturally (not naturalistically but naturally). It is a lean cast and a lean cutting of the script, but it is great.  I can’t say I will lend you my copy because it’s not mine, but I recommend looking for it.  

 

So yeah, lets keep this going and I think it could be cool.  Also feel free to disagree with me.

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  1. I am going to watch that Joey. I haven’t seen any of his filmed or stage stuff but have read most of his theory books. I would recommend them to everybody (especially The Empty Space). If anyone of you want to read something concerning Peter Brook but with less overt theatre thoery you should pick up Conference of the Birds. It’s about his trip to Africa; he didn’t write it, but it’s interesting, has a clear narrative and is very readable. Joey, have you read any of Yoshi Oida’s stuff? It is really interesting to hear about Brook from an “actor’s” perspective. Sort of. Plus he is just cool in general. If you haven’t you should, I can lend you a copy of An Actor Adrift.

    Comment by BenRose on April 27, 2009 at 10:47 pm

  2. I’ve read The Empty Space but I haven’t read anything by Yoshi Oida or the Conference of Birds book by Peter Brook, I will have to steal those from you some time.

    Also I want everyone to check out stuff by Augusto Boal, I think he is amazing. He created Theater of the Oppressed, Rainbow of Desire, and Legislative Theater to name a few different styles. They are all very interesting and are about how theater interacts with people and how you can use theater to help people. The one I think is the coolest is Legislative Theater (which has a book about it by the same name). Its basically the explanation of how when Augusto Boal’s company (Theatre of the Oppressed) was running out of money they decided to go out with a bang and do big street performances to promote the election for their legislative house in Rio De Janeiro. They were so popular they decided to run a candidate (Augusto Boal) thinking it would just be a good way to get attention and get some issues out there. Then he actually won! So they ran a political party for his three year term, a Theater Party that was broken up into part lawyers and legal advisors and part artists who would lead interactive sessions with community people to talk about issues and devise laws. He actually passed quite a few reforms that were really helpful. Its amazing to read about.

    Comment by Joey deB on April 28, 2009 at 5:09 pm

  3. This is just a bit of a sad note, but Augusto Boal the man who wrote the book I mentioned died the other day. He was 77.

    Comment by Joey deB on May 7, 2009 at 10:36 pm