Randomness
Jun. 12th, 2007 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herzverstreut_bu1. A day late, but - happy happy birthday, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lennongirl!! I hope you had a fantastic day with lots of booze and hot boys, and that you will continue to be a big fat success in the year to come. ♥ ♥ ♥
2. I made icons. Feel free to guess the fandom. :| Shameless pimp:
15 P!atD, 10 FOB and 12 MCR all in all, at my icon journal.
3.nairie, shivaluna and I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream at Deutsches Theater yesterday. It was a rather modern production, but not in a bad way. (Keep in mind that I'm really picky about A Midsummer Night's Dream, because I've seen and worked on it so many times. In fact, I might be so opinionated about it that others get annoyed. :"> )
The stage consisted of a huge light wooden box, with all actors being on stage at all times, either sitting in the back or acting as the "wood" (i.e. standing around and making bird noises, whispering or softly playing instruments, which was a really nice idea). Costumes and make-up were very simple, mostly normals pants and shirts, a bit more on the cheap/trashy side for Helena, slightly more businessman for Quince and Bottom, Puck was naked for the most part, but occasionally wore a long black scarf wrapped around his body toga-like.
I'm not quite sure about the production itself. As far as modern adaptions of Shakespeare go, it was not the worst one I've seen and for the most part it was quite enjoyable, but sometimes it seemed a bit... inconsistent might be the best word. My biggest issue was with the fairies, I think. They were given a very wild, animal twist, lots of sex and violence - normally my favourite interpretation of the supernatural forces in A Midsummer Nights Dream (I never liked the "Puck is just a cute little sprite and Oberon and Titania are fluffy fairies who just want to play" angle that seems to be prevalent in many classic productions.) However, it didn't fit well with the rest of the play, from the tone and the looks. One thing that jarred me especially was Bottom as a donkey: naked, with antler-shaped branches on his forehead, a big phallic piece of wood in front of his crotch and streaked with blood. Very pagan and quite visually appealing, but it seemed very out of context with the rest of the play, since even the fairies had a "modern" look going. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for mixing styles, but there needs to be some internal coherency.
Another thing that made me roll my eyes on occasion was the way a lot of the text was screamed. Apparently there are still some directors that haven't gotten the memo that constant yelling does not equal avant garde.
Anyway, that's really just nitpicking. The actors made up for any directing mistakes, there was not one of them that I did not enjoy. Helena must have been my favourite, she was perfectly desperate, a bit simple, likable despite her mistakes, I really enjoyed her a lot. Loud, egomaniac Bottom was close to perfect as well, and slightly senile dirty-old-man Puck was an unusual choice, but worked nicely. Corinna Harfouch as Titania/Hippolyta was my least favourite (she's better suited to TV and movies, I think), although she was by no means bad, either.
All in all, definitely recommended if you like modern theater, and could be worth checking out if you like A Midsummer Nights Dream and don't mind a few "WTF?" moments. (... Not that this is helpful for anyone, considering that you won't be able to see this unless you are in or will come to Berlin. :| )
4. I feel like there was something else, but - maybe not.
lennongirl!! I hope you had a fantastic day with lots of booze and hot boys, and that you will continue to be a big fat success in the year to come. ♥ ♥ ♥2. I made icons. Feel free to guess the fandom. :| Shameless pimp:
15 P!atD, 10 FOB and 12 MCR all in all, at my icon journal.
3.
nairie, shivaluna and I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream at Deutsches Theater yesterday. It was a rather modern production, but not in a bad way. (Keep in mind that I'm really picky about A Midsummer Night's Dream, because I've seen and worked on it so many times. In fact, I might be so opinionated about it that others get annoyed. :"> ) The stage consisted of a huge light wooden box, with all actors being on stage at all times, either sitting in the back or acting as the "wood" (i.e. standing around and making bird noises, whispering or softly playing instruments, which was a really nice idea). Costumes and make-up were very simple, mostly normals pants and shirts, a bit more on the cheap/trashy side for Helena, slightly more businessman for Quince and Bottom, Puck was naked for the most part, but occasionally wore a long black scarf wrapped around his body toga-like.
I'm not quite sure about the production itself. As far as modern adaptions of Shakespeare go, it was not the worst one I've seen and for the most part it was quite enjoyable, but sometimes it seemed a bit... inconsistent might be the best word. My biggest issue was with the fairies, I think. They were given a very wild, animal twist, lots of sex and violence - normally my favourite interpretation of the supernatural forces in A Midsummer Nights Dream (I never liked the "Puck is just a cute little sprite and Oberon and Titania are fluffy fairies who just want to play" angle that seems to be prevalent in many classic productions.) However, it didn't fit well with the rest of the play, from the tone and the looks. One thing that jarred me especially was Bottom as a donkey: naked, with antler-shaped branches on his forehead, a big phallic piece of wood in front of his crotch and streaked with blood. Very pagan and quite visually appealing, but it seemed very out of context with the rest of the play, since even the fairies had a "modern" look going. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for mixing styles, but there needs to be some internal coherency.
Another thing that made me roll my eyes on occasion was the way a lot of the text was screamed. Apparently there are still some directors that haven't gotten the memo that constant yelling does not equal avant garde.
Anyway, that's really just nitpicking. The actors made up for any directing mistakes, there was not one of them that I did not enjoy. Helena must have been my favourite, she was perfectly desperate, a bit simple, likable despite her mistakes, I really enjoyed her a lot. Loud, egomaniac Bottom was close to perfect as well, and slightly senile dirty-old-man Puck was an unusual choice, but worked nicely. Corinna Harfouch as Titania/Hippolyta was my least favourite (she's better suited to TV and movies, I think), although she was by no means bad, either.
All in all, definitely recommended if you like modern theater, and could be worth checking out if you like A Midsummer Nights Dream and don't mind a few "WTF?" moments. (... Not that this is helpful for anyone, considering that you won't be able to see this unless you are in or will come to Berlin. :| )
4. I feel like there was something else, but - maybe not.
