I do haunt you still

[sovay]

The Actors' Shakespeare Project's The Duchess of Malfi rocks my world. You who are in the Boston area, I suggest looking into tickets; it is a revenge tragedy, but onstage it reminded me much more of a film noir, an atmosphere which is not at all suggested by the set design—a strip of stage between two one-way mirrors of audience, light spilt like blood or finality between doors always locked, unlocked to be locked again, never ajar; no one is ever untrammeled, private, alone—and therefore all the more interesting to me. Bill Barclay as Bosola, Jennie Israel as the Duchess. There are bones underneath the greatest of houses. You can die suddenly or by degrees or they can be the same thing. What would I do, were this to do again? Also, in performance? Surprising quantities of Webster are funny. Of course, the same holds true for Sweeney Todd. In short, a terrific evening with nineweaving, rushthatspeaks, and gaudior—I will have to hunt down eredien on my own time—and we did not freeze to death hiking from South Station to the China Pearl to the recently ex-warehouse Midway Studios, which was a plus. I hope to write more on this topic tomorrow. I should probably at least try for sleep first.

We are only like dead walls, or vaulted graves,
That ruin'd, yield no echo. Fare you well.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

no one is ever untrammeled, private, alone—and therefore all the more interesting to me.

why all the more interesting? (asked not belligerently, but in curiosity)

For myself, I can see how this would be true simply because most of our lives, we're interacting with people; mainly we don't have the privilege of being untrammeled and alone--and also because drama and story are often (but not always) more intense when they involve more than one person.

But how about you, why for you?

[sovay]

But how about you, why for you?

I think we have crossed wires. I was speaking of the sense of film noir: which is not at all suggested by the set design . . . and therefore all the more interesting to me, because it must therefore be an effect of the original text and not this particular production.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

aha--got it. And wow, yeah--Webster, an anticipator of film noir!

[sovay]

And wow, yeah--Webster, an anticipator of film noir!

Seriously. Come to Boston; tell me if I'm wrong. It's running through the first of February.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

With that long a run time, maybe I can actually manage it--thanks for the link!