Macbeth-son
The other weekend, Michael and I went to Shakespeare in the Park. The theater company was doing Macbeth for this year's park performance. I had read Macbeth as a sophomore in high school but hadn't seen or read it since, so I was keen on going. It was enjoyable for the most part, but the artistic twist this theater put on it made it slightly odd.
The staging used big screens with bamboo painted all over them and the costuming was entirely Asian. It was sort of like the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon version of MacBeth. In the final battle scene, even, one of the banners for the good guys was a "crouching" lion, and the banner for the bad guy was a dragon. Yet the troupe changed none of the dialogue, so every geographical place mentioned was part of either Scotland or England.
For the most part we would get caught up in the story, and the costumes would fade into the background. But then we'd notice the silk kimonos and ninja assassins again when the actors did some sort of genuflection that you'd find in Memoirs of a Geisha or the like. By the very end, the characters are shouting, "Hail, King of Scotland!" while dressed like last samurai.
Michael dubbed it the Scottish-Asian Fusion Theater. And we agree with one of his classmates - we're a bit more of Shakespeare purists than that.
On a side note, the other thing that made the evening amusing was watching these Nashvillians fan themselves with cardboard fans bought to help raise money for the theater. It was a nice evening - high 80's maybe low 90's. A bit warm, but almost no humidity. Very pleasant, actually. And these people were behaving like it was hot out or something. Yeah, Michael and I don't miss the marathon Houston swelter.
The staging used big screens with bamboo painted all over them and the costuming was entirely Asian. It was sort of like the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon version of MacBeth. In the final battle scene, even, one of the banners for the good guys was a "crouching" lion, and the banner for the bad guy was a dragon. Yet the troupe changed none of the dialogue, so every geographical place mentioned was part of either Scotland or England.
For the most part we would get caught up in the story, and the costumes would fade into the background. But then we'd notice the silk kimonos and ninja assassins again when the actors did some sort of genuflection that you'd find in Memoirs of a Geisha or the like. By the very end, the characters are shouting, "Hail, King of Scotland!" while dressed like last samurai.
Michael dubbed it the Scottish-Asian Fusion Theater. And we agree with one of his classmates - we're a bit more of Shakespeare purists than that.
On a side note, the other thing that made the evening amusing was watching these Nashvillians fan themselves with cardboard fans bought to help raise money for the theater. It was a nice evening - high 80's maybe low 90's. A bit warm, but almost no humidity. Very pleasant, actually. And these people were behaving like it was hot out or something. Yeah, Michael and I don't miss the marathon Houston swelter.
posted by Michael and Tiffany @ 3:05 PM
3 Comments:
At 6:47 PM,
Display Name said…
Sounds like the director really liked Throne of Blood
At 8:58 AM,
Anonymous said…
Having attended the Houston Shakespeare In The Park this year(now with more mosquitos!), I can assure you that your Tennesseans are wimps.
At 1:49 PM,
The Doctor said…
I saw a Dinner Party version of the Scottish Play at the New Globe Theatre in London a few years ago- the players would drop a handkerchief to signify dying. Far too subtle for anything Scottish to my mind. The Samurai thing would at least have had a good sense of the violence inherent in the Scottish power-play...
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