I'll start with 'Private Lives', Noël Coward's tale of 1930s divorcees Elyot and Amanda, who meet on their subsequent honeymoons and whose fatal attraction drives them to run off with each other to France. Reading the plot to this play alone had me intrigued — it sounded like it had a lot of potential to be interesting, fun and quite comical. Unfortunately, the actors didn't seem to think so, and proceeded to over-act the entire show. Accompanied by clumsy and distracting underscoring, costumes that didn't fit the time period and sets that felt lack-luster for the glamorous upper-class lives the characters were supposed to be leading, it wasn't worth my time. I think if I had seen it on my own, I probably would have walked out at the interval (intermission to those of you state-side).The other show I saw, 'Othello', wasn't on the bill for my drama class, but they had extra student tickets for only £10 and it's one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Plus London is known for its fantastic productions of Shakespeare works (mainly Stratford, but still), so I thought there was no way I could go wrong. How wrong I was. After a long, crowded journey there on the tube/overground, we found our seats in the first balcony level towards house right. There were a few other Ithaca College students near us, but the group was pretty scattered throughout the theatre.
At the start of the production, the director came out to inform us that the role of Iago would be played by the understudy and, therefore, Cassio would also be played by an understudy. I was slightly bummed by the news, but decided to give the production a chance anyways. Starting off with underscoring that had touches of African drumming, Othello and Desdemona sang their first few lines beautifully, giving me the hope that the production would be much better than the show I saw earlier in the week.
But as the production continued, Patrice Naiambana (Othello) was all over the place — light and comical, then quickly depressed and right back to cheerful. Not the Othello I had found so fascinating when reading the original work. Natalie Tena (who many of my classmates recognized as Tonks from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) as Desdemona was elegantly charming, but did not manage to evoke the depth of pity for which I'd packed the tissues. Understudy Alex Hassle was memorable in the role of Iago, but for all the wrong reasons. He was no more sinister or cunning than Spongebob Squarepants and managed to flub at least one line in practically every scene. I know he was the understudy, but it was unfortunately clear why. The benefit of him playing Iago was his understudy, Robert Vernon, really shined in the role of Cassio — I walked away with a whole new appreciation for that character.But the production was still riddled with technical goofs — the flash on a camera didn't go off when it was supposed to, a piece of cloth hung for a scene was ripped in half by a cast member, and during the final scene, the candle was knocked over, which a spare cast member came on stage to pick up mid-scene. Between that and the pitiful performances, it was not the 'tragedy' I imagined I would see.
Hopefully this week should be better. Only one show on the bill: Shun Kin, which is based on several Japanese short stories. I don't know how the rest of my classmates will enjoy the performance, but I'm particularly intrigued already, mostly because of my trip to Japan a few years ago. It'll be interesting to compare the two.
It's getting late and, even though I'd like to write about my weekend in Liverpool, I really should get to bed. You'll have to wait until tomorrow!
Cheers,
Kathy
PHOTOS (from top to bottom):
'Private Lives' production still, taken from The Evening Standard's Website
'Othello' production still, taken from the RSC's Website
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