Directors and Playwrights

Just some food for thought today: Don't let the playwright direct their own play unless you have a lot of time, money, and labor hours on your hands. This will be interesting. We'll see how it goes.

Two Gentlemen of Verona

"Betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope!"
                                                              -Renfield, Dracula

And so it would seem in USF's production of Shakespeare's Two gentlemen of Verona. Friends become bitter, and betray another's trust, only to circle back to the beginning when confronted by their grave misdeeds.

 I truly appreciated the 1920's setting. I can see exactly where the designers and director were coming from as this play is really quite stunningly similar to several elements in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, albeit with a much happier and more satisfying ending. Shakespeare was better at having most of his characters realize their faults eventually even though they may have reduced themselves into conniving little splotches of pond scum, (Referring to the fickle Proteus), for much of the play.

It was interesting to see how the man who scorned love found it and held it sacred once discovered and the man who readily admitted to love was the most willing to betray his former love as well as his best friend when confronted with a closer option than his girlfriend who was meant to stay at home.

This play was a wonderful mix of emotions. Sadness, hate, love, spite, humor, friendship, pride, and betrayal were all portrayed wonderfully. And of course, there was the very cute, and very well trained dog. I was very excited that they were able to make that decision to have an actual dog in the show rather than some poor soul in a doglike costume, although that does have a lot of potential for an entertaining relationship between dog and master.

The characters were very well set in to their purposes and they knew what they wanted, whether that be money, their first love, or the beautiful Silvia. And even with Proteus' deception and intrigue, the play ends happily with practically everyone getting what they originally wanted. Except for Silvia's father who had arranged the match between his favorite suitor Thurio and Silvia. Thurio, however, realizes that he will never have Silvia's heart and lets Valentine have her. In the end all those in From Verona along with the new addition of Silvia, triumph in love, and see the error of any mistakes and intrigues they may have performed.

Come, come, a hand from either: 

Let me be blest to make this happy close; 

'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.

Bear witness, Heaven, I have my wish for ever.

I have now seen every play that USF put on this summer and fall season. I can cross a goal off of my bucket list! And every play was absolutely stellar! Good bye for now folks!

Dracula

It was a dark and stormy night, when I went alone to see USF's production of Dracula! And of course, being the costume nerd that I am, I went prepared! Yes, I did in fact wear my homemade vampire teeth to the performance. I was that excited.

I've told you before, that I am likely to need to see a play twice, and I did go a second time a few days later, but even the first performance had me so enthralled in the story and the lore that I barely had time to even register the quick changes or what they might have used for blood to make the wardrobe crew's job easier when doing all the bloody laundry after each show. I did note some of the interesting costume choices, like the filmy fabric clothing the vixens that reacted interestingly with their either very deliberate or highly acrobatic movements. I loved the red collars, it looked like they were permanently stained the red of bright fresh blood from their nightly habits. 

Dracula himself was amazing! I loved the accent and the amazing amount of "don't-look-at-me-that-way-I'm-pretending-I'm-totally-innocent" look while trying to hold back the incredibly creepy nature of his ages old, starving vampire cravings. 

I was able to read at least part of the book before going, and while I noticed a few minor differences in some aspects where the play necessarily deviated from the material in the book, I think it was an excellent adaptation all together. Renfield was phenomenal in his switching between his insanity and his sanity. I've had his blood song stuck in my head several times since the first performance I attended and more frequently since the second time. Although I admit, as soon as I saw the violin, I knew it was going to be broken, and being a violinist myself, I cringed when Dracula saw fit to snap the neck off the instrument and mostly strangle Renfield with it. The friend I dragged with me to the second performance, reacted similarly.

Van Helsing was also an excellent character. His voice translates wonderfully to a Dutch accent and he spoke very convincingly. Lucy and Mina were also excellent. I almost cheered when Mina fought painfully against her own emerging darkness to doom the Count once and for all. And Lucy as the Bloofer lady was spine-tinglingly delightful.

Everyone was absolutely wonderful and other than the fact that there were only two vixens rather than the three that were in the book, the only thing that bothered me was that the blood was for the most part more of a transparent tangerine color rather than the either deep scarlet or vivid bright red that true blood tends to be.

Over all, I loved the show! I think it's been my favorite USF show this season! Very well done, and with amazing technical effects and costumes. (I had more time to examine them the second time around, on purpose rather than simply being distracted by the awesomeness of everything.) I would definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it to go this last week of the run! It's a great one to raise the Halloween spirits!

Hamlet Pictures

These are some of the beautiful people I get to work with! 

From top left:

Claudius and Gertrude

The Gravediggers

Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Hamlet with Yorik

Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius

Hamlet with Yorik

Hamlet as Wardrobe Head

Hamlet has begun, and as predicted, the costumes look epic under the stage lights. I am working as wardrobe crew head and I've started recognizing more of the responsibilities that come with being higher up on the working food chain. I fill in for any missing crew members, make sure notes are given to the correct people. I am also in charge of fixing everyone's costume malfunctions, enforcing food and technology rules,  and finding missing costume pieces before and after the show.

As head, however, I am not allowed to do any major quick changes in case I'm needed elsewhere. I also wouldn't normally be assigned a room to take charge over, but there's enough people that I still get that little responsibility. I also help with Laundry and delegate small tasks such as costume fixes and alterations to the other crew members. I've got a very competent crew, and it's been great so far! If they don't know something, they learn it quickly and they always try to be as helpful as possible. It's wonderful. I'm not sure what I would have done if I had a novice crew, or one that was disrespectful. It's all fairly new to me, being in positions of power. Yay for stepping out of comfort zones!

This has been a great experience for me. I've gotten better acquainted with both actors and technicians, gained a new perspective on what it will be like in a professional work place, and how to better manage people without being too pushy or too soft. I've had to find the happy medium between snappish and demanding and saying sorry too much. A very valuable skill to learn.