- Published:January 13th, 2008
- Comments:No Comments
- Category:Diary, Entertainment
Jessica and I went to see The Tempest at Actors Theater of Louisville today, and I think Jessica spoke for both of us when afterwards she asked, “What was Shakespeare smoking when he wrote this one?”
I’m not gonna bother with a plot synopsis (it’s Shakespeare, for Pete’s sake — buy the Cliff’s Notes), but the production of it was very interesting. First, it was performed in the round and with no real set. In fact, the stage props really consisted of just two sheets, occasionally rearranged on the floor to simulate a seat or a hiding place.
Next, and most interesting to me, was that the music was all performed live by three musicians tucked away in a little viewing area (that just happened to be very visible from my seat). There was a lot of violin and percussion, occasional acoustic and electric guitar, and plenty of other stuff that I couldn’t quite see. Afterwards I discovered that the musicians were all from the band Rachel’s, one of many Louisville post-rock bands that Tony B is always trying to get me interested in.
Third, and most interesting to Jessica, was that Ariel performed almost the entire play flying around on a harness. I was pretty impressed by the fluidity of movement that was required. (I could just imagine myself up there, hanging limp as a fish and generally making an ass of myself.) I think Jessica was just impressed with Ariel’s pecs. Ariel also delivered some of his lines as song. I’m not sure if the lyrics were straight from the script or adapted for this production, but it was a very cool addition.
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