Post by Lorannah on Sept 14, 2010 23:02:32 GMT
Well feel like I just got back from Young Person's Shakespeare week and was umming and awwing over whether to do separate posts for each production or combine them - as I think comparisons are inevitable in this case, I thought I'd go for the latter.
So YPS Week was officially awesome, for both the performances I went to the kids in the audience were entranced and the talk backs afterwards were the best I had been to (can we instigate the only under 18s ask questions rule forever please?). And the Hamlet one was one of the funniest things ever, topped by David Rubin doing the most spectacular fall from the stage ever. I'll try to paraphrase some of my favourite questions and answers at the end of this.
But first, the performances:
I think probably that Comedy of Errors is better suited to the YPS format - less is lost from the play, the pace is fast throughout and the momentum doesn't really let out. Plus the cartoon style they've adopted throughout, both in the visuals and the performances, works awesomely. I will be greatly disappointed if future productions of Comedy don't feature slapstick abuse, spoon puppetry (letters!), spoon playing or a tap dancing nun.
Hamlet in contrast feels less even, the kids were still fascinated for most of it, but even I felt my attention wavering sometimes and some of the comedy felt a little forced to me, particularly later in the play. And some of the really beautiful bits, were necessarily lost, even the kids commented on some of the missing bits.
That said on Saturday it was Hamlet I loved and Hamlet that excited me. I came out of it, wishing that I could see this cast do a full Hamlet. Particularly Debbie Korley, who absolutely blew me away and left me in tears - utterly incredible. All the performances, though, were excellent.
I loved the moments when they didn't shy away from the seriousness and tragedy, when they trusted the young audience members to understand what was happening and the kids near me, at least, were spellbound.
The style really worked for me too, the simple bleakness of most of it, which made the red of the handkerchiefs stand out so vividly, and particularly the use of sound and music throughout creates such an intense, dark, beautiful atmosphere. The instruments are well chosen for their eerieness and I loved the use of breathing.
Thanks to a friend I also now know that the song Dyfan sings at the beginning is a Welsh folk song called Lisa Lan (a version with translation is here:- www.sing4wales.com/saesneg/?page_id=20). This is the divine Cerys Matthews performing it:
Or you might know a version from the Crash soundtrack, where it was renamed Sense of Touch:
The song Simone and Dyfan sing later in the play has also been used recently in a film, Juno. It's by the Moldy Peaches and is called 'Anyone Else But You':
Kind of interesting to see them using already existing songs, I'm used to them having specifically composed music.
OK - that's enough. May post more later, when I have had more time to gather my thoughts. And lastly here are some bits I remember from the Q and A's afterwards:
Q: Did you always want to be actors?
David Carr: I did from when I was little. I loved that film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and... chocolate... (breaks down into giggles)
Dyfan: I wanted to be a football player but I wasn't good enough, then I was going to be a PE teacher but there was too much paperwork... that was the actual reason.
*****
Q: Are any of you seeing each other?
Cast: Somewhat horrified shrieks of laughter.
Sophie: Well... what happens backstage, stays backstage.
*****
Q: What's the biggest mistake you've made onstage?
David Rubin: I can answer that. Earlier this week I was watching the fight scene and thought 'Ah, next is the bit where she drinks the poison' - except I'd forgotten the cup. Thankfully as the King, I could stop the show to go and get it.
*****
Q: What do you do when you forget your lines?
A (Can't remember who): Panic mostly.
*****
Q: I liked the singing were any of you in choirs?
Dyfan: Yep, I was in a choir until I was 20, I think Gruffudd probably was too...
Gruffudd: Well as you know in Wales we don't go to school, I spent my childhood stood on a mountain, with a rugby ball under my arm, surrounded by sheep, eating a leek and singing!
****
Q: What was Hamlet's last name?
Cast: Errr......... does anyone in the audience know?
Child who pwns everyone: Well, Hamlet was based on Shakespeare's son, so the answer is Hamlet Shakespeare.
Audience: *impressed applause*
****
Anyone else remember any other bits? And more importantly, what did you make of the two plays?
So YPS Week was officially awesome, for both the performances I went to the kids in the audience were entranced and the talk backs afterwards were the best I had been to (can we instigate the only under 18s ask questions rule forever please?). And the Hamlet one was one of the funniest things ever, topped by David Rubin doing the most spectacular fall from the stage ever. I'll try to paraphrase some of my favourite questions and answers at the end of this.
But first, the performances:
I think probably that Comedy of Errors is better suited to the YPS format - less is lost from the play, the pace is fast throughout and the momentum doesn't really let out. Plus the cartoon style they've adopted throughout, both in the visuals and the performances, works awesomely. I will be greatly disappointed if future productions of Comedy don't feature slapstick abuse, spoon puppetry (letters!), spoon playing or a tap dancing nun.
Hamlet in contrast feels less even, the kids were still fascinated for most of it, but even I felt my attention wavering sometimes and some of the comedy felt a little forced to me, particularly later in the play. And some of the really beautiful bits, were necessarily lost, even the kids commented on some of the missing bits.
That said on Saturday it was Hamlet I loved and Hamlet that excited me. I came out of it, wishing that I could see this cast do a full Hamlet. Particularly Debbie Korley, who absolutely blew me away and left me in tears - utterly incredible. All the performances, though, were excellent.
I loved the moments when they didn't shy away from the seriousness and tragedy, when they trusted the young audience members to understand what was happening and the kids near me, at least, were spellbound.
The style really worked for me too, the simple bleakness of most of it, which made the red of the handkerchiefs stand out so vividly, and particularly the use of sound and music throughout creates such an intense, dark, beautiful atmosphere. The instruments are well chosen for their eerieness and I loved the use of breathing.
Thanks to a friend I also now know that the song Dyfan sings at the beginning is a Welsh folk song called Lisa Lan (a version with translation is here:- www.sing4wales.com/saesneg/?page_id=20). This is the divine Cerys Matthews performing it:
Or you might know a version from the Crash soundtrack, where it was renamed Sense of Touch:
The song Simone and Dyfan sing later in the play has also been used recently in a film, Juno. It's by the Moldy Peaches and is called 'Anyone Else But You':
Kind of interesting to see them using already existing songs, I'm used to them having specifically composed music.
OK - that's enough. May post more later, when I have had more time to gather my thoughts. And lastly here are some bits I remember from the Q and A's afterwards:
Q: Did you always want to be actors?
David Carr: I did from when I was little. I loved that film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and... chocolate... (breaks down into giggles)
Dyfan: I wanted to be a football player but I wasn't good enough, then I was going to be a PE teacher but there was too much paperwork... that was the actual reason.
*****
Q: Are any of you seeing each other?
Cast: Somewhat horrified shrieks of laughter.
Sophie: Well... what happens backstage, stays backstage.
*****
Q: What's the biggest mistake you've made onstage?
David Rubin: I can answer that. Earlier this week I was watching the fight scene and thought 'Ah, next is the bit where she drinks the poison' - except I'd forgotten the cup. Thankfully as the King, I could stop the show to go and get it.
*****
Q: What do you do when you forget your lines?
A (Can't remember who): Panic mostly.
*****
Q: I liked the singing were any of you in choirs?
Dyfan: Yep, I was in a choir until I was 20, I think Gruffudd probably was too...
Gruffudd: Well as you know in Wales we don't go to school, I spent my childhood stood on a mountain, with a rugby ball under my arm, surrounded by sheep, eating a leek and singing!
****
Q: What was Hamlet's last name?
Cast: Errr......... does anyone in the audience know?
Child who pwns everyone: Well, Hamlet was based on Shakespeare's son, so the answer is Hamlet Shakespeare.
Audience: *impressed applause*
****
Anyone else remember any other bits? And more importantly, what did you make of the two plays?
