Hello from Bloody Oxford, in other words.
Actually, it's lovely here. (Why did I just flash on Kristen Chenoweth at "Encores!"?)
I'm rather enjoying myself. Two days spent in Shakespeareland, aka Stratford-Upon-Avon, which has reinvented itself as a Bardian theme park village, made up for by excellent fish and chips and even better theatre.
Saw a lovely "Hamlet" starring Toby Stephens (I have no clue who he is except to say that he was very good in what was generally an excellent production. I felt that his madness was very calculated which was rather interesting. I have to say, though, it's been a desire I've had all my life to direct a production of Hamlet and to play with, at least in rehearsal, the homoerotic undertones I always feel that I find between Hamlet, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Plus, given my passion for Stoppard's "R&G Are Dead," I tend to give them more importance than they probably need.) That was Friday night.
Saturday night was longer and harder to watch. "King Lear" starring Corin Redgrave. Harder to watch for a couple reasons. First off, I don't know Lear as well as a play. I haven't read it since high school, don't remember it well, and I've actually worked on two productions of "Hamlet" - one at university, and one at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, for which I was on the crew (in rep. with a production of "R&G Are Dead" - helps me know bothshows better)... so although I knew the basic story and remember seeing at least a couple scenes of a rather horid production we did when I was a grad student, "Lear" is more uncharted waters for me. It was also hard to watch because it was a rather gruesome production... Gloucester's eye-gouging was particularly horrid and he had blood dripping down his face the entire night.
The evening was also thrown off by smoke. The theatrical 'fog' which helped intensify the storm also set off the theatre's fire alarm, so we all had to evacuate the theatre, creating a rather over-long evening: show started at 7, intermission started at 9, with fire drill, didn't end til about 9:40, show ended about 11:20. It was hard to stay awake the whole time. Maybe I'm jet-lagged!
Anyhow, I am now in Oxford which is really a beautiful town. I have a nice hotel room and am very much enjoying myself so far.
I'll have more to report soon, I'm sure, and lots of photos when I get home.
Posted by Jon at August 15, 2004 12:26 PM | TrackBackToby Stephens is the son of Maggie Smith. He made a bit of a splash here a few seasons back playing the dual role lead in Lincoln Center Theatre's Broadway revival of 'RING ROUND THE MOON at the Belasco. I also seem to recall him being a fairly recent James Bond villian, but can't recall specifics.
Posted by: Jere at August 16, 2004 01:38 AM