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shapinglightOkay, quote from the wrong play, I know.
I have the day off today. This is because last night S and I went to Sheffield to see this. I knew I would need a day to recover afterwards.
I've had tickets for this for ages. Haven't dared mention it because I was scared of jinxing myself. Either something would go wrong on the journey, or we'd get there and the dreaded 'Mr so-and-so is indisposed and his part tonight will be played by...' announcement would be made. Turns out I was half right. The journey was indeed horrendous. It takes a good two hours to get from here to Sheffield on a good day. We had to do it in rain and howling wind in the middle of the Manchester rush hour (S could not get home from work any earlier than 4.15, the play started at 7.15). The traffic was terrible over the Pennines too. However, we got to Sheffield with half an hour to spare only to get totally lost trying to find the car park we'd meant to park in. Our GPS seemed unaware of the tramlines and kept wanting us to drive the wrong way down one way streets. :( In the end, just after 7, S - who is the nicest man in the universe - told me he would drop me off and go and park, so I gave him his ticket, asked a passerby for directions and ran. I got to my seat with minutes to spare.
S told me later that he arrived just as the play was starting. He and all the other late people (there were loads of them for some reason), watched the beginning on a video screen until they could be ushered into the back of the auditorium during a scene change. What a bloody performance!
As for the actual performance, I thought it was very well done - very spare set, C17th period costumes, no extraneous to the text faffing about - just some brilliant, brilliant acting. Othello is of course a very troubling play in many ways and the production didn't shrink from that. I don't know if I can even put into words how it made me feel. I swung from sympathy for Othello because of the depth of Iago's betrayal, to anger when he strikes Desdemona in public, to something approaching sympathy again by the end when he realises how low he's sunk. The young actress playing Desdemona was wonderful too. It was painful to see her youth and liveliness gradually faltering in the face of Othello's inexplicable anger, all the more so because the love between them at the beginning was so convincingly played.
But anyway, very controversial play, I know. All I can say is that I thought Clarke Peters as Othello was very, very good indeed (and boy, is he sex on two legs!), my only slight quibble being that the generic African accent he was using sometimes made the words a little indistinct. As for Dominic West as Iago, he by no means stole the show IMO, because everyone was so good, but Iago is a grandstanding part and he was brilliant in it. Totally convincing as bluff, honest Iago (the Yorkshire accent was a very good choice), one of the most unpleasant and memorable villains in literature.
I could witter on forever, but will confine myself to saying that the journey back wasn't nearly as bad (it had stopped raining and it was so late there was very little traffic). Got home about 1.30am. Knackered now, but it was worth it.
Here is the Guardian's overall review of the production and of the reviews of it. Must say, my opinion of the writer sank like a stone when he said The Wire was 'inexplicably' lauded. Idiot!
I have the day off today. This is because last night S and I went to Sheffield to see this. I knew I would need a day to recover afterwards.
I've had tickets for this for ages. Haven't dared mention it because I was scared of jinxing myself. Either something would go wrong on the journey, or we'd get there and the dreaded 'Mr so-and-so is indisposed and his part tonight will be played by...' announcement would be made. Turns out I was half right. The journey was indeed horrendous. It takes a good two hours to get from here to Sheffield on a good day. We had to do it in rain and howling wind in the middle of the Manchester rush hour (S could not get home from work any earlier than 4.15, the play started at 7.15). The traffic was terrible over the Pennines too. However, we got to Sheffield with half an hour to spare only to get totally lost trying to find the car park we'd meant to park in. Our GPS seemed unaware of the tramlines and kept wanting us to drive the wrong way down one way streets. :( In the end, just after 7, S - who is the nicest man in the universe - told me he would drop me off and go and park, so I gave him his ticket, asked a passerby for directions and ran. I got to my seat with minutes to spare.
S told me later that he arrived just as the play was starting. He and all the other late people (there were loads of them for some reason), watched the beginning on a video screen until they could be ushered into the back of the auditorium during a scene change. What a bloody performance!
As for the actual performance, I thought it was very well done - very spare set, C17th period costumes, no extraneous to the text faffing about - just some brilliant, brilliant acting. Othello is of course a very troubling play in many ways and the production didn't shrink from that. I don't know if I can even put into words how it made me feel. I swung from sympathy for Othello because of the depth of Iago's betrayal, to anger when he strikes Desdemona in public, to something approaching sympathy again by the end when he realises how low he's sunk. The young actress playing Desdemona was wonderful too. It was painful to see her youth and liveliness gradually faltering in the face of Othello's inexplicable anger, all the more so because the love between them at the beginning was so convincingly played.
But anyway, very controversial play, I know. All I can say is that I thought Clarke Peters as Othello was very, very good indeed (and boy, is he sex on two legs!), my only slight quibble being that the generic African accent he was using sometimes made the words a little indistinct. As for Dominic West as Iago, he by no means stole the show IMO, because everyone was so good, but Iago is a grandstanding part and he was brilliant in it. Totally convincing as bluff, honest Iago (the Yorkshire accent was a very good choice), one of the most unpleasant and memorable villains in literature.
I could witter on forever, but will confine myself to saying that the journey back wasn't nearly as bad (it had stopped raining and it was so late there was very little traffic). Got home about 1.30am. Knackered now, but it was worth it.
Here is the Guardian's overall review of the production and of the reviews of it. Must say, my opinion of the writer sank like a stone when he said The Wire was 'inexplicably' lauded. Idiot!