Via fuunsaiki at obasc I just read that BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting a production of The Duchess of Malfi on October 12, starring Sophie "you probably know her from Hotel Rwanda but I'll always think of her as the Queen in the Beeb 3 Richard II" Okonedo in the title role, and Jonathan "Richards II and III in the RSC Histories" Slinger as Ferdinand, her creepy, incestuously-minded, and lycanthropic twin brother. This news has MADE MY DAY, since those of us in the States can listen to the production via the Drama on 3 website.
review of Edward II, dir. Sean Graney, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 10/4/08
So I wrote a whole lot about CST's Edward II in email and am editing and posting it rather than structuring it formally as a review. A lot of the thinky is added since then and happens throughout the post.
I do want to point out that the description of the production contains a lot of discussion of some pretty horrific violence, both canonical and via-interpretive-decision, so if you don't want to read about that, you should be warned. There was a lot of it in the production.
Heading in a pubwards direction, because if I do not do it now then I will fall asleep in post-ceilidh exhaustion, and I would rather wait till later to do that.
Okay, so, not actually my dead gay king, since my dead gay king is Richard II rather than Edward II, but I am filled with goodwill for all dead gay kings right now.
Anyway I am back home after a long brutal drive -- okay, the drive itself was not bad, just that it's hard to maintain energy for the drive back when you don't have the whole "ZOMG DEAD GAY KING PLAY AHEAD" motivation. Coffee, however, is our friend.
The Dead Gay King Play itself was, incidentally, fucking awesome though not flawless; of that there will be much, much, much more in this space in the near future, because I have a ton of things to say about sex and violence and audience complicity and race as it pertains to casting, but I am knackered, and am not sure whether I need sleep or just a shower to get it all to cohere in post form. Turns out you can do Edward II in an hour and fifteen minutes, though, and still make it flow really well (though they had to patch up bits sometimes with expository dialogue). Also when presented that way it really emphasizes what a violent play it is. I was pretty wrecked afterwards. (THAT ENDING OMG FUCKING HELL)
AND I met up with a friend from my undergrad choir, completely by chance. And she bought me beer! So that was totally awesome.
“Okay, I am in traffic on Navy Pier and I will be blogging about this quite a lot when I get home, uh but for now in case any of you are full of suspense -- holy fucking shit! Edward II was, for the most part, amazing. Um, there were some flaws, which I will discuss, at novel length in my livejournal, but once it got good it got really really really fucking good. So, Chicago people, definitely you should go see it -- bear with it for the first fit, which is a little bit off, but it gets really good once the killing happens. I will post about it more, but I'm still feeling a little bit kind of exhilarated and simultaneously thinky, and I have to drive for five hours. So that'll be fun.”
“I am standing here looking out over Lake Michigan on Navy Pier. It's a beautiful day out, not too hot, but sunny. I have seen, since arriving here, approximately twenty minutes ago, about nine billion children, quite a few actual sailors -- which I do have to say I've never seen before on Navy Pier, despite the name -- and a bunch of pirates, who were singing show tunes. It makes slightly more sense in context, but not really. It is very disturbing to wander through a bunch of souvenir stands, places selling dip-and-dots (?), a truly terrifying build-a-bear (?) display, and that sort of thing, when you know that your evening is going to culminate in ass-pokering. Um. But, that's okay. Ah....I am getting all of the random blithery stuff out of the way, so when I blog about the play later, I will not get distracted by pirates and sailors and that sort of thing. Altho I think that Edward II would probably have appreciated that. Um, it is....an hour and fifteen minutes until curtain, and I am going to go find something to eat. So I will probably not talk -- probably not post again, until after the play's over, in which case I will be either squeeing madly or complaining. So, have a pleasant afternoon! (sound which could possibly be show-tune-singing pirate in background?)”
“I have just driven past the Bolingbroke Glass & Mirror Factory, and I know it's there, but it is one of those things that to me will never stop being amusing, and what I think that is a sign of? is that I am a completely pathetic dork. Um, but it means I am almost to Chicago as well! and that is great, because my butt is currently very numb, but it is in better shape than Edward II is going to be at the end of the evening. So that will be fun. -- I really like doing these voice posts when I'm travelling. It feels like you guys are all coming along with me. Which you might not actually enjoy very much in real life, because when I go to see productions of drama, I invariably get all hyperactive and dorky, but I would enjoy it! and I am a bit of a sadist, who loves you all. Anyway, I will talk to you all -- probably while bored, waiting for the show to begin.”
“I just drove past a mile marker that said it's 107 miles to Chicago, and I can't help but feel that the Department of Transportation really missed an opportuity there. By the way, while I do have slightly under half a tank of gas, but no cigarettes. And while I am wearing sunglasses, it is not at all dark.”
“I'm making this phone post from Springfield, Illinois, on the way to up to Chicago, for Gay King Weekend! Um, although I realize that _every_ weekend chez <lj user="angevin2"> is Gay King Weekend. This is an extra-special Gay King Weekend, because I'm going up to see Edward II at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and it's going to star Jeffrey-'Hal-in-the-leather-pants' Carlson, also known as Draco Hamlet, so that's going to be awesome. Um, but right now I am going a lot of driving, right north up I-55, and one thing that I do want to complain about is that while Illinois has a lot to recommend it -- um, since it's the home of Chicago, which is possibly my favourite place in this country that I've been to (obviously I wouldn't have a favourite place I hadn't been to, but anyway) and Chicago is the home of hopefully our next President -- yaaay -- also the home of my parents, who provided the world with me -- hurraaaay -- but one thing that I will say against Illinois is, it's a very boring place through which to drive. It's very flat. And there is nothing but corn. Lots and lots of corn. Really, just epic amounts of corn. And I realize that being America's breadbasket is delightful, but it's a really boring place to drive through, especially when it's early in the morning, so there is that. So I am driving, well, I am not driving now, at McDonald's, where I stopped to (something something), and I am just about to take off and head -- be heading up to Chicago. And I will call in with a hopefully much more interesting update than this one, in a few hours. Have a pleasant morning!”
Neal Stephenson's latest is good enough that I took it on the Tube with me - a thousand-page hardback. Saying that, though, I do have some grumbles about it. ( Here be spoilers )
You Higuri's spectacular Ludwig II, which is in fact a manga biography of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and which has as much psychosis, gay sex, clockwork, and Neuschwanstein as you would expect, has finally been licensed. Digital Manga got it, which annoys me as they will probably treat it as a standard yaoi title (which, no) and god only knows whether they will have any footnotes or anything, but I will finally be able to read it without sitting there peering at my French dictionary. Seriously, this is Higuri's best work by far and it will be awesome.
Via rymenhild: Stephen Colbert and Stephen Greenblatt compare the presidential candidates to Shakespeare characters.
Also, it warms my heart to know that there is a blog devoted solely, without exception, to reviews of French onion soup. Except that after reading it I really want some French onion soup.
We got an orchid around about last July, and it bloomed a surprisingly long time; the internet suggested that if given the correct pruning, fertilizer, light, temperature etc. it might bloom again, but we live in a basement apartment and I wasn't able to manage conditions that carefully. Now that the fall has set in, it's not getting enough sunlight anymore at all, and I don't see how it could last the winter where it is. Would anyone local like it? Even if you can't make it bloom again, it's a nice green leafy thing.
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