Audience Response

After seeing two pretty high profile shows these past two weeks (Hamlet at Arts Emerson, and the Lily's Revenge at ART) and also being on the receiving end of various audience reactions as part of Uncle Vanya... it seems like there should be a blog post in here somewhere, no?

I don't like to write reviews (except if it's of a show I'm in, in which case it will be unabashedly and acknowledgedly positive... I think I may keep doing that) because well, I'm not a critic! But I am a theatre person, so of course when I see things I inevitably respond to them as such. On the one hand, I am inherently aware of the artifice involved and try as hard as I can to go a long with it's intended effect while appreciating it as such.

One thing to be said about Hamlet and the Lily's Revenge, both of them had a lot of that going on. And both of them I enjoyed throughly, while parts of them I was less crazy about.

My Uncle Vanya cast mate Kate said something really profound after seeing the Old Globe's production of Hamlet... something to the effect of "it reminded me that even though it's a very famous/important company from a very famous/important city, things can still not work in a production and those things don't necessarily circumvent or prevent that or make that any less likely to happen" only she said it much more eloquently and profoundly and specifically in the context of our ensemble, a fundamentally fringe company making theatre in a place that is decidedly not a theatre destination or important place. But still, tonight we had audience members saying to us "that was the most incredible theatre experience I've ever been to or been a part of" so there you go!

How did I respond to those big productions from big fancy companies? Let's start with Hamlet. Other people's reviews I've read have said their Ophelia was problematic. Now, I don't know and I don't expect I'm likely ever to meet the actress who played Ophelia so I feel OK nodding generally in agreement with that assessment... but I mean, I don't know. What's Ophelia supposed to be like that she wasn't? OK well I guess a more compelling performer in the role... she could have been more intense. Other things she could have been too I'm sure that I can't think of. The point is, I don't claim to know Hamlet all that well. I guess I know it better than a lot of Shakespeare's plays, because I was sort of in a production of it in college (the anti-Hamlet I've blogged about previously) and for me the best way to become actually familiar with any theatrical work is to do it. Or probably to see it a bunch of times, and I think I'd only seen Hamlet performed once before, and watched the Ethan Hawke version... that's about my experience with the piece.

So who am I to try and deconstruct what did or didn't work about it? Other people have opinions based on past experience with the work. I only have my experience seeing it this one particular time. Ophelia feels easy to point out, because I read that in a review before seeing the show so I'm sure it colored my response to an extent. An had I known the actress playing her, or had a personal connection of some kind to her (as is often the case when I see plays) I'm sure I would have felt differently!

Anyway, how did I actually feel about the show separate from the meta context of the event itself which was as I was watching it bringing attention to the meta contextualization taking place *pause for breath*? Like I said, I liked it! It was funny. My Dad is fond of arguing that Hamlet shouldn't qualify as a tragedy because it's so full of funny lines. And I like the idea of staging Shakespeare in such a way that is entertaining while not undercutting or underselling the text or the story itself, because Shakespeare was fundamentally writing to entertain people, and so the profundity of violence and coarse Elizabethan phrases, along with the ruminations on human nature and inventing the human or whatever (also not whatever, he was a pretty great writer).

I had two favorite parts about the production, one was the sound design, specifically the use of foleys (which is a way of saying old timey sound effects) and the music. All of the players played their own instruments and sang, just like an old timey troupe of players would have done back up until the death of vaudeville more or less. The other was the conceit of a young Hamlet, Ophelia and Laertes. Hamlet was really good. All of the ensemble was awesome in their different parts, but Hamlet was really good. And I don't know, I know some versions of the text suggest he's in his 30s, but that never made sense to me. Insert argument for Hamlet being a teenager or whatever here. I don't care about the dramaturgy. I guess just as a still young person, with comparatively little distance between now and being 17 (although of course that gap is growing, it was an especially visceral experience) it elevated the stakes for me, somehow. And it gave the sense for me that the characters were more existentially trapped than if they'd been older people more able to reason. It made Hamlet's mistakes more justifiable as an inability to handle the sensory overload of his father's death/murder and his mother's incest. He's like, 17, of course he's going crazy at all this shit! Oh, and of course Ophelia doesn't know how to handle it either. Oh fuck and now her boyfriend killed her father, oh and she drowned herself (question mark?) oh no poor thing...

But then at the end, the players play their instruments, and Hamlet gets up and so does Ophelia and they dance together. And sincerely, that was my favorite moment of the play. I felt my eyes water just a little bit. It was so sweet and moving, their dancing in the afterlife or whatever it was or wasn't, and the audience clapping/applauding to the beat of the music.

I also liked Lily's Revenge. I'm even less able to be objective of the production, because I actually know people who worked on it. But I'm happy to say I throughly enjoyed it. I loved the costume and production design, which is clearly where most of those Harvard/ART "dollar-dollar bills y'all" went, and especially the movement (which was done by my dance teacher Yo-el, hi Yo-el!) and I thought it was really fun and engaging.

Was it innovative? That's a deeper and trickier question. I was talking to a friend of mine after the show who has much more history than I do with queer theatre, and was around when the various performance art aspects it was integrating were being conceived, and in that department he wasn't particularly impressed and for the sake of not misquoting him I won't go any further. I did recognize the constituent cultural studies materials around gender and cultural and societal norms being referenced and accessed throughout the piece... more or less, I think. And I guess it didn't read to me as a member of generation Y as an attempt to "shock" ala Rocky Horror, the popular reference template for this genre of work, although it did clearly gesture flamboyantly towards Brecht and all the verse and meta theatricality reminded me of Marat/Sade and Peter Weiss. So in that sense, it was of a piece for me of our current cultural landscape of repurposing and remixing. German post modernist theatre technique meets Japanese Noh theatre meets a drag show. The significance of which I'm still processing.

Anyhow, one way or the other it was definitely a spectacle, and an event I'm glad I experienced. As for the length, that didn't really bother me too much. The pacing and placement of intermissions was such that I didn't feel a compelling need to check my phone's clock and I'd been encouraged against doing so by being given a wax paper baggie thing to place my deactivated phone in to. Given the interactive nature of the production, I was concerned what significance that would harbor later on, but it was essentially a gimmick meant to remind you to engage with the "here and now" of the performance, one of the play's themes.

And of this moment, those are my responses as an audience member and "theatre person" to the plays I've been able to see when I haven't been in the theatre myself, doing my own show! I think I like this format, maybe I'll try revisiting it... maybe.

To Train Or Not To Train? (it's a rhetorical question)

Hello blog. I'm writing this chunk of blog post from backstage at Uncle Vanya. Which, have you bought your ticket to yet? Its pretty great. Anyway this is week two, and we've been extended through November 11th! So there goes your excuse to miss this once in a life time piece of theatrical inspiration. 

So speaking of which, I saw the Globe Theatre's production of Hamlet today at Emerson. How was it? I liked it. I enjoyed having such a young Hamlet, it put the play in a context that made sense for me. My closest connection to the text was from doing that sort of anti Hamlet in college that I've referenced which actually had a vaguely similar conceit. And I liked all the minimal staging and the effort to bring some of the atmosphere of the old globe to the Paramount. Anyway, I'm going to try and read it this week and come up with more of a response. 

During intermission, I got an email confirming I'd been accepted to the month long intensive training with Shakespeare and Company, out in Lenox. Before you congratulate me on anything, it's not an accomplishment so much as an inevitably of my application. Which is to say, it's $4000, for the month of January in Western Mass, and considering the economic situation of most actors I don't imagine it's especially competitive. But it's sort of ironic that I received my official acceptance while watching a Shakespeare play, and since I wasn't cast in that show I blogged about going up in that same time frame, I'll probably do it.

And I'm looking forward to it. All of the people I know who've gone through the training speak very highly of it, and this will be my first exposure to a conservatory-esque environment, as opposed to all the evening and extension classes that have made up my training, I'll live and breath acting and Shakespeare for at least a month, and that's exciting, right? It'll be hard too, being away from home and my friends and family and especially my girlfriend. But worth it, I hope.

So thats where I'm at, and also figuring out what to do next. The trouble is it will keep me from doing a show until March or April, which will leave December relatively barren, and that kind of worries me, as I always feel my best when I'm active creatively and doing stuff and having a reason to leave my apartment. Especially during the winter time, which is always tough, with the cold and reduced day light, etc.

But I have this blog, my music, oh and my podcast which has been going actually pretty well. It took me a few tries after the first one to get in a groove but I released a new one and have another on the editing dock I'm happy with. So far I've had three "guests", one of them recurring in the form of my friend Jesse, and some other peeps I have in mind to invite on. My goal starting out was just to get to where I dont suck and I feel I'm accomplishing that. The question now is, when do I go on iTunes? Usually in your first day or two on the service you get listed as a new show and with that some base number of downloads which then drops off. How much it drops off depends on how good your product is. I've moved to a new, higher quality recording method, and have gotten much slicker at editing. Sooner or later I've gotta bite the bullet and take those steps. Which, actually I'm excited to do.  

And excited for what the future holds! Which, well, is anxiety until I get cast in my next thing. But there auditions, and since I keep booking things I must be doing something right. Whatever that is, I've just got to keep on keeping on, doing what I do. 

Dealing with Disappointment (And remaining grateful)

So, I had an audition and was called back for a local educational Shakespeare theatre company this week. You know the one. For the callback, I was asked to prepare sides for Mercutio and Bottom, two of my dream roles. Normally in these situations, I've learned to distance myself from the possibility of being cast, but seeing as I really wanted the gig, and also to work with the director, someone I know and respect quite a lot, I didnt. I allowed myself to want it, to think about getting it and that maybe i could and would. I really tried to prep the sides as best as i could.

Of the sides, one was Queen Mab, which I actually mostly know having learned it for another audition at Stoneham, previously blogged about. So i tried to relearn it. In addition, we were given the first scene between Demitrius and Helena. But the thing that really took me was Bottom's Dream, and what a dream of a piece it is. 

I read Midsummer Night's Dream when I was in middle school and then saw it in the round at Northshore music theatre, as we would do with Romeo and Juliet the next year. It was my first real exposure to Shakespeare. I remember liking the production, and Puck in particular. I'd hadn't given much thought to Midsummer since, it's one of those plays everybody does that theatre people poo poo as being safe or redundant as a production choice. I always figured, being a comedic actor, I'd do Bottom sooner or later. I did all the clowns in Shakespeare plays in college and at one time sort of aspired to make them my bread and butter. Little did I know just what a role Bottom is, and realizing that sucked me down the rabbit hole of desire that often leads to disappointment. 

I don't often indulge myself that way, of really wanting something like that, unless it's something with someone I know pretty well and can count on getting something in, and even then I temper my expectations. Because disappointment is painful. We've all been tnere, it's nothing new. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I maybe focused too much on Bottom and not enough on the two person scene that i did first and which was really my audition. My scene partner was great, she played the role and attacked it with a lot of energy, which I responded to and we improvised all sorts of fun stuff, it was really cool. But who knows how good I actually was, I don't, and it doesn't really matter. What they needed were people to drive to schools and do stage combat (the shows were Midsummer, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, far amount of sword fighting), I have neither a car or stage combat experience, so there you go. I shouldn't say that, of course they needed talented people, and there were plenty of them at the callback to choose from (who did have cars and stage combat experience). After that reading, I was released and I basically knew what that meant. But another girl in that position asked to read her second piece and they let her. I'm sure it didnt matter in the long run but if nothing else I wanted to show someone my Bottom (haha I'd already gotten into the character!) so i asked to stay and read it. They were very kind in indulging me, and laughed politely and complimented the piece. I thought it was pretty funny, but who ever knows, and ultimately irrelevant.

No, not irrelevant, being defeatist about it doesn't accomplish anything. The optimistic rationalist in me, the voice of other people who maybe don't work in this business for example is saying "but maybe they saw something and will think of you for something else because of it" and yeah, maybe. And of course it didn't hurt. And it gave me something else to take away, another layer to the experience, in that I was at the audition and I did my best to get in the most auditioning while I was there and try out this piece I'd been working on. One of the auditioners even said, when I expressed my delight at discovering Bottom, "if nothing else you have a new audition piece". 

I found out from a friend at the callback, while waiting to do last night's performance of Vanya, that he'd gotten the role and my heart sunk. It was offficial. I tried not to wallow in my disappointment but it was with me through preshow and the first act. I think my castmates sensed it and tried to indirectly cheer me up which was very sweet of them. By the time of act 4, I was busy doing show stuff I have to, and feeling better. After a beer, a glass of wine and some cathartic guitar playing at the reception my spirits were feeling buyoed. Such is the power of music, theatre, and alcohol, right? Oh and of course, the most important of all, friendship.

And now its on to the next thing. I have an audition Monday, oh and three more weeks of Vanya to do. I thought of writing "to get through" but the show's such a pleasure to be a part of, get through what? Perform in a beautiful production of a play i love by my favorite writer ever with people I like and enjoy being around? To quote the Vanya, "what a rough deal. Where's the rough part?" And furthermore "to gratitude!" 

Review! Uncle Vanya at Apollinaire Theatre through November 6th (putting on my critic's hat for once)

Well, hello! Lately I've been thinking about reviews, seeing as I just opened a show and my cast mates and I have been hoping that someone would come over the river for a second time to give our revival of Uncle Vanya a write up, and move us closer to the goal of a sold out run like last time.

So I thought to myself, "I have a blog, why don't I review the show?" Normally, I don't use this space for theatrical criticism of local work, because being a part of the local theatre community and inevitably having personal relationships to someone or something or some aspect to any given production I see, I can't hope to be critically objective. Nor do I want to be when I go to the theatre. I always go into a show, no matter what it is or who I know in it or what I know about it, really wanting to like it, right? Don't we all want to see something worthwhile? Especially when we have friends involved! Then you have even more impetus to authentically enjoy the work! Well, I'm friends with everyone in the Vanya cast and crew, and getting to watch them work night after night through rehearsals, tech and now performances with an audience and all that entails... it's simply a delight. And it deserves to be written up in review form, so that's what I'm going to do, throwing any and all pretense of critical objectivity right out the window where it belongs.

Thus far, audience reactions have been uniformly, profoundly positive, as they should be, because it's a beautiful production. Comparing the current iteration of the production to last year's, is apples and oranges. And I say that with a strong sense of objective conviction. But I can say assuredly that the performances of my compatriots from that previous version, Ron Lacey as Astrov, Ann Marie Shea as Marie, Kevin Fennessy as Telegin, Ann Carpenter as Nanny and Erin Eva Butcher as Sonya, have only grown deeper with time and continue to grow new, subtle and wonderful levels of meaning while also shifting to accomodate the new energies brought by Kate Paulsen as Yelena, Jack Schultz as the Professor and Diego Arciniegas in the title role. I've seen these performers go through the process of first rediscovering everything about the previous production while also exploring everything new brought by the additional cast. Whom for their part have enhanced the existing frame work of the production by bringing their new discoveries which then combined with the expansion of the work laid out... is simply breathtaking. I wrote previously of how conscious this time around of the play's sense of breath, and how perfectly laid out every beat of the story is. Danielle Fauteux Jacques has explicitly directed each and every beat of that story, and Chekhov's poetic contrasts and flawed characters feel as modern as the moment we are living in with her skilled and subtle hand.

This is to say nothing of the production's design, with elegantly constructed, period accurate costumes by Toni Bratton Elliott, effective sound design by Emily Ledger which takes advantage of the buildings natural acoustics... which brings us to the productions most novel and perhaps brilliant aspect which ties all of these parts together, it's site specific staging with set designs by Nathan K. Lee which make you feel the three dimensional weight of the estate around you as you travel from room to room.

Guiding you on this journey, and periodically serenading you, while making occasional appearances in the action... is Mike Handelman. Who is writing this blog post (it just got meta). It's all pretty effective, the whole effect of him playing music through the preshow, leading the audience from room to room and acting as the bridge between the audience and the world of the estate. And you know, he does an OK job at it. Alright he's pretty good. (I can't give myself too high praise, now can I?) (Oh no I accidentally gave myself most of a paragraph)

This is truly a marvelous and unique piece of the theatre the likes of which have never been seen in Boston to my knowledge. It is truly a once in a lifetime production... revived! And maybe made even better. Miss out at your own risk, last time the run sold out quickly and it's due to do so again!

PHEW that was really difficult. Just like, coming up with different adjectives for everything and stuff... that's the last time I try to write a review. But I felt it was necessary to celebrate the work being done in this production by my friends, the cast and crew, and I feel a review is a fitting extension of the experiential nature of this blogging endeavor. Wouldn't you agree?

Well that's my exercise in self promotion. Oh if you want tickets, go here: http://www.apollinairetheatre.com/productions/productions.html

Acknowledgement (I turned 24 among other things)

It's Columbus Day! By which I mean to say Indigenous People's Day. In my old days of blogging on Livejournal, recently revisited in a conversation recollecting my ten year friendship with my friend Vinny, this would call for some serious politicizing in the vein of Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States". But I don't know, just go read that.

And since it's Columbus Day, that means it was recently my birthday. I guess depending on the year I would have approached that negatively or positively. But let's remember a positive memory.

Like my 19th birthday, following the debacle that were my attempts to get into college (my admissions list Bard, Hampshire, Sarah Laurence, Eugene Lang, and Emerson, uh yeah not exactly too many safety schools) I was doing an eight week workshop in acting for film at New York Film Academy, and living with my brother's friend on the Upper East Side. For my birthday, all of my classmates came to my apartment, surprised me with a birthday cake and sang to me (something about that always gets me) and celebrated. Considering how difficult a year 18 had been, it was the best birthday ever, feeling the love and warmth of being surrounded by new friends and my brother, it made the future seem more possible.

Which turned out to be true, as things are definitely going pretty well. I guess I want to acknowledge how happy I am with where I'm at. It's taken me a long time to get here, but as my friend Steven pointed out over birthday observance beers "I've grown up". I have friends. A steady relationship. The beginning of a career. I have so much to be thankful for.

The friends and the relationship in particular come as something of a surprise, as their both things I struggled with as a younger person. But I'm not that person, I guess I'm a grown up now, sort of.

And this is a good time to acknowledge that. Hey, it's another "I feel good about myself" post, but this one is birthday themed. So yeah, happy fucking birthday to me.

There's a bunch of other stuff, but I need to go grocery shopping so let's him them quickly.

First, did you buy your tickets to Uncle Vanya? It's been great seeing this show come together, and if you missed it last time, don't make that mistake again! Get your tickets on Goldstar http://www.goldstar.com/events/chelsea-ma/uncle-vanya or from http://www.apollinairetheatre.com/!

After that, listen to my podcast, which I need to blog about since I feel like I've made a lot of progress as a broadcaster and audio engineer which will soon be reflected in the episodes I'll posting in the near future. Find it here! http://www.buzzsprout.com/7119

And while we've been doing podcast stuff, we've been recording music so check that out too. http://soundcloud.com/mike_handelman

Have a happy holiday! Just don't go oppressing any more indigenous people's. Read Howard Zinn instead.