Plays: The Alchemist

Friday night, I went to see The Alchemist, produced by The Baron's Men at The Curtain Theatre.  If you don't know, The Baron's Men are a local theatre group who work exclusively with classical theatre.  They produce a lot of Shakespeare's plays.  A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of working with them on A Midsummer Night's Dream, so I know from experience that they know the history of the plays they do, and work hard to create an authentic Elizabethan experience for the audience.  They even hand-make period costumes.  And they always perform at The Curtain Theatre, a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre built for them by Richard Garriott on his beautiful lake side property.

This production was no exception, from the costumed volunteers in front of the theatre checking people in and inviting audience members to play various games before the show began.  I tried all four of them and, even though I didn't win any of them, had a good time doing it.

The Alchemist, written by Ben Jonson, a contemporary of Shakespeare, is a bawdy comedy which takes place at the time of the Black Death.  As the Plague sweeps across England, three clever survivors, Subtle (Todd Kassens), Dol Common (Bridget Farias) and Face (Heath Thompson) scheme against a parade of characters in hopes of securing their fortunes for themselves.  Among them are a gambler, a tobacconist, a wealthy nobleman, a widow and her brother, and a pair of Anabaptists.

The script itself is imperfect, but in the hands of director Casey Weed and his talented cast, which also included Ben McLemore, Eva MeQuade, Sarah Lee, Harry Conner, Chris Casey, Jimmie Bragdon, Joshua Moretto, Michael O'Keefe, and a crew of dancers, townsfolk, and musicians, that wasn't a big negative for me.  It is also about three hours long, and, at times, it feels like it.  Again, though, the cast saves it.  The three leads in particular did a great job with their roles.  Thompson's comedic timing was spot on, and the three of them had great onstage chemistry together.  And, impressively, they managed to keep their energy high for the entire show.  That goes for the whole cast too: the physical comedy, which everyone in the cast had to do at one point or another, was well done and a lot of fun to watch.  It was clear that the actors were having fun performing it, which always makes a show more fun for me as an audience member.  They also included an audience-interaction element; in some places actors would directly address audience members, and the audience could respond, if they so chose.  It was fun to join in the big group audience reaction, such as booing or cheering on a particular character, melodrama-style.  Those moments helped keep the audience engaged through the duration of the play.

My only real criticism is that, at times, I found the dancers and townsfolk a bit distracting.  But, overall, a job well done.  Congratulations, Baron's Men, for creating this fun, and funny, experience.      

Cine las Americas: Yakuaya

Ok, so I already fail at keeping up with Operation: Conquer the Netflix Queue.  But, but only because yesterday was my only chance to go to Cine las Americas, an international film festival that focuses on the work of Latin filmmakers.  I went to a double feature of Ecuadorian documentaries.  The first was entitled A Wild Idea, a documentary short about the preservation of Ecuador's ITT Block.  It's one of the world's last remaining undeveloped rain forests, and the Ecuadorian government has developed the Yasuni-ITT Initiative to keep it that way.  Basically, the ITT Block is home to millions of barrels of oil which, if developed, would bring billions of dollars into the Ecuadorian economy.  However, it would also destroy the ecology of the area, depriving us of the natural resources of the forest and releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air, thus contributing to global climate change issues.  The initiative allows the country to leave those oil reserves untouched, thereby preserving the rain forest and its natural resources in exchange for payments from the world community equalling half of the dollar amount developing the oil reserves would yield.

In just under half an hour, A Wild Idea takes us through the history of the Initiative, gives us a glimpse into the beautiful heart of the rain forest, and introduces us to the indigenous people whose lives would be  destroyed by the development of the oil reserves in the ITT Block.  It's interesting to see the perspective of the people who actually live there.  Hearing their firsthand accounts of what happens to their lives when oil fields are developed is eye-opening, especially when paired with shots of polluted water sources and children playing around thick tar deposits, and the shots of the untouched rain forest are beautiful.  

Hopes were high for the Initiative, but at the time of filming, they were already running into some speed bumps, such as some countries not contributing as much as promised.  You can watch a trailer and learn more about the Initiative here.    

This was followed by an experimental documentary called Yakuaya, which literally translates to "water essence."  The film follows the journey of a drop of water as it makes its way from an arctic glacier to the ocean, and gives us a look at what it goes through and the lives it touches in between.  And it does so entirely without narration.  Much of the film is quite beautiful.  There is a section that follows a man as he paddles his canoe down a river, for example, that is stunning.  There is also a scene that shows a young woman showering that is really serene and lovely.  It also shows a water bottling plant, a group of villagers preparing fish for market, children playing, waterfalls, and a great deal more.  Its stated goal is to inspire reflection in its audience, which it achieved, for me at least, by just letting me watch and interpret each scene my own way.  In that sense, it's probably a very individual viewing experience, as different people will see the things on the screen differently.  The only places where I felt like narration might have been helpful were in a few places where the person, or people, featured in a preceding scene stare into the camera, with the effect that they are staring directly at the viewer, for a little longer than is comfortable.  But I applaud the filmmaker's effort to do something different, and overall, found it to be a beautiful and enjoyable viewing experience.  For a taste, check out the trailer.

Part two of my excuse for not watching one of my Netflix films yesterday: I also went to The Alchemist at The Curtain Theatre.  More on that later.

Obligatory Introductory Post

Hi.  Welcome to the new blog.

Inspired by my friend Cole, who writes the interesting and insightful vitagraph, american, I decided to start this blog.  Mostly, it's part of a project I'm starting that I've decided to call Operation: Conquer the Netflix Queue.  As you probably know, from January 2009 until December 2011, I was a graduate student at St. Edward's University.  In 2010, I started Last Act Theatre Company with some friends, and have been working almost constantly (or so it seems) on some project associated with that since.  So, I don't actually spend much time at home watching movies.  But whenever I hear of something interesting, I add it to my Netflix queue, if it's available.  As a result, my streaming and dvd queues combined now contain roughly 700 films.  I figure it's time to start watching some of these movies.  So, that's what I'm going to do.  The goal is to watch one per day, in the order in which they were added to the queue, and then post something about it.  I make no promises, though.  Some of them will be great.  Some of them will probably be terrible.  I think it will be fun.

In addition to that, I'll also write about movies I go see in theaters or plays I watch, especially if one of those things prevents me from working on Operation: Conquer the Netflix Queue.

I hope you enjoy reading it.  Feel free to leave comments/send emails or ask me questions.