Plays 'n stuff
Last week was the beginning of our soon-to-be intense performance viewing schedule. I don't think we've gone overboard just yet, but oh you wait. :)
So last Wednesday we went and saw our first STC performance (since I've been on staff). The Sydney Festival was going on, a big festival to celebrate the city of Sydney in summer. There was music, theatre, dancing, lectures, art exhibits and basically all manner of cultural activities held throughout the city in order exhibiting Australian artists. This year's theme was hope and renewal (no doubt to combat the GFC) and thus STC's festival show was called "Optimism", an adaptation of Voltaire's "Candide". (Held in the opera house. Woohoo, our first official "show" in the opera house!) Maria and Adam came along to take part in the inagural night of STC staff benefits.
The show successfully walked the fine line between darkness and hopefulness. An apparently well-known Australian comedian, Frank Woodley, played Candide, and did a fantastic job of building comedic repoire with the audience at the beginning of the play. This was necessary to alleviate the negativity encountered along the theatrical journey. The rest of the cast was also very good, but I was less impressed by the female characters. I don't think it had anything to do with the actresses, and certainly their roles in the book aren't helpful, but the continual brash mentions of rape really put me off, and other than the occasional sunny-ish dispositions, the women really had no redeeming qualities. They merely existed as opportunists ready to pounce at wealth. Objects of lust and desire to be used and abused at will. Although what can be hoped for when the basis is an 18th century French satire?
Anyhow, it was a good production, that we followed up with (get ready for it) Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" opera on Saturday. Opera in the Domain is part of the Sydney Festival every year, and it's one of the large, free events in a huge park in downtown Sydney. We sat on the grass amongst thousands of other free opera goers, surrounded by trees to the left, skyscrapers to the right, and giant bats flying overhead. We brought a picnic lunch and sprawled out on the grass, relaxing while watching the musical version of the most popular story of the week. Again, quite a good production.
Whoops! And I left this entry for a few weeks without coming back to update it. Well, this is going to just be a partial post and now I'm on to another post!
So last Wednesday we went and saw our first STC performance (since I've been on staff). The Sydney Festival was going on, a big festival to celebrate the city of Sydney in summer. There was music, theatre, dancing, lectures, art exhibits and basically all manner of cultural activities held throughout the city in order exhibiting Australian artists. This year's theme was hope and renewal (no doubt to combat the GFC) and thus STC's festival show was called "Optimism", an adaptation of Voltaire's "Candide". (Held in the opera house. Woohoo, our first official "show" in the opera house!) Maria and Adam came along to take part in the inagural night of STC staff benefits.
The show successfully walked the fine line between darkness and hopefulness. An apparently well-known Australian comedian, Frank Woodley, played Candide, and did a fantastic job of building comedic repoire with the audience at the beginning of the play. This was necessary to alleviate the negativity encountered along the theatrical journey. The rest of the cast was also very good, but I was less impressed by the female characters. I don't think it had anything to do with the actresses, and certainly their roles in the book aren't helpful, but the continual brash mentions of rape really put me off, and other than the occasional sunny-ish dispositions, the women really had no redeeming qualities. They merely existed as opportunists ready to pounce at wealth. Objects of lust and desire to be used and abused at will. Although what can be hoped for when the basis is an 18th century French satire?
Anyhow, it was a good production, that we followed up with (get ready for it) Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" opera on Saturday. Opera in the Domain is part of the Sydney Festival every year, and it's one of the large, free events in a huge park in downtown Sydney. We sat on the grass amongst thousands of other free opera goers, surrounded by trees to the left, skyscrapers to the right, and giant bats flying overhead. We brought a picnic lunch and sprawled out on the grass, relaxing while watching the musical version of the most popular story of the week. Again, quite a good production.
Whoops! And I left this entry for a few weeks without coming back to update it. Well, this is going to just be a partial post and now I'm on to another post!
Comments