Week 2

This second week went pretty well.

I had the day off on Monday, so that was a little more down time and I did a little more exploring.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, rehearsal went from 12:00 to 4:00, then each night was a show.

Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole

On Tuesday evening, I got my chance to sit on the stage on one of the gallants' stools to watch The Lion in Winter by James Goldman. The script was published in 1966 or so, and didn't make it very long on Broadway, but was turned into a film with Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn, then a later version with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close (both of which I'd like to watch). It was a fantastic experience! They're doing Lion this summer, then this fall they'll do it in conjunction with Shakespeare's King John, as it's something of a prequel to Shakespeare's play, and they'll have the same actors play Eleanor, John, and Philip in the two plays. So that's pretty cool. I loved the play--the script is pretty excellent. And, of course, it was excellently done.

Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart

Then, Wednesday evening, I got to watch The Merchant of Venice. I had never actually seen Merchant staged, so I was very much looking forward to seeing it. I of course had read and studied the script in multiple classes, and my opinion was basically that it was another one of Shakespeare's great plays, and that was really as much as I thought about it. So I was not prepared for how it would affect me to see it. It was pretty difficult to watch. I teared up at the end of the trial scene. I guess I just didn't realize how truly horridly most of the characters in that play behave. Again--the differences between seeing something staged and reading a script. It was also fascinating to read the director's notes for the show in the program. One of the founders of the ASC is a Jew, and the other is a Christian, which they commented on in the notes. The notes themselves are pretty brilliant, and I may have to share some of them in a subsequent post.

So! I've seen a total of five shows here now. Not counting Two Gents, which I of course watch pieces of every day.

On Thursday and Friday, after rehearsals, I decided I would offer my help at the theatre for the evening performances just for something to do. Because the actors do quite a bit of their own work during the show and there's not really much tech work to do, I feel pretty extraneous most of the time, but I like to offer my help and do whatever there is to do. So, Thursday and Friday evenings I took line notes.

Last night (Friday night) was actually opening night for Merchant of Venice, and they had an opening night party afterwards, so I stuck around for that. There was a matinee of  Merchant this afternoon, but I decided to take the morning off. I think I'll head over tonight, though, and see if I can be of any help. Tonight is technically the opening night for Lion.

That's really it. Probably more on Merchant later.