Thursday, November 03, 2005

Macbeth's review and Fortinbras' article

I would like to get over to the Fairgrounds to see Macbeth, but my weekend is pretty full. There was a review in the Daily Iowan today. There were some good parts to the review:

"Luckily the acting contains superb moments, namely in the heartfelt, intense soliloquies from Macbeth (Abraham Peterka), who delivers Macbeth's "dagger" monologue, one of the first indications of the Scot's creeping madness, with surprising personal touch."

"Moongarden stuns people with its moments of intimate engagement, but otherwise, the show's best audience is those who have not seen or read the work before."

But for some reason, the reviewer was less than impressed with Lady Macbeth and the witches. Which is suprising to me.

"Lady Macbeth (Paula Grady) does all she can to provide the malicious muscle needed to egg on her husband, but Grady's demeanor is too serene and kindly. Her long, flowing red hair and careful, quick strides evoke a slightly batty fortune teller rather than a power-hungry force."

"Unfortunately, the witches in Moongarden's version "boil, boil, toil, and trouble" with all the inspiration and costuming of bored Stevie Nicks imitators."


What I liked best about the article (and I imagine the City Circle folks liked this sentence, too) was the fact that the reviewer mentioned Dreamwell. Hee!

Though the performance space mystifies one with its slanted barn roof, glitzy blue lighting, and location on the outskirts of Iowa City, many of its actors are familiar faces from Dreamwell Theatre in Iowa City and City Circle in Coralville.

Fortinbras got a preview article that includes this gem:

"Within the space perhaps better suited for retailing shoes, Dreamwell's production proves that parody can work anywhere."

I appreciate the comment about we prove parody can work anywhere, but must he bring up retailing shoes? I don't think that spaceever even sold a single shoe! Grumpity, grump.

I said this in the article:

"I'm a believer that when you do Shakespeare, you should do something to make it different," Falduto said. "We're relating it to current life and having fun with it."

Considering the fact that the reviewer (same reporter who did our article) made a point of writing about how Moongarden's Macbeth is "plain" and "without any off-the-wall directorial decisions", I am sure he was thrilled to get my contrasting quote about how you should do something different with Shakespeare. His question to me was a leading one and I probably should have realized there was a reason he wanted me to say that. I haven't seen the print version of the articles, so I wonder if they're on the same page.

Anyway, let just repeat.

Funny.

Swordfighting.

Fortinbras.

Check it out.

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Name: Matt
Location: Coralville, IA
I am a Dad and a Husband. An Actor. An Administrator. A Hiker. A Writer. Probably a bunch of other things too. Read my blog and you'll find out more.
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