Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. —Henry Fielding

20 March 2004

Another evening of theatre

...this one not nearly as good as yesterday's.  So I went to see Linda Bisesti's Romeo & Juliet.  Doing shit with Linda is totally fun because let me tell you the bitch is insane.  I adore her.  Really.  And Matt is so nice to me, so that makes for a nice evening.  I drove down to their place and got there around a quarter to 4.  Fuck the 405, seriously.  Then Matt drove the rest of the way to CSULB and thank Jesus for that.  It was a nice drive.  We talked about the actors I worked with in Sin Project and then we talked about Earnest and then we talked about my grad school options.  We talked very little about Love's Labour's, but I did give her my cuts (and a copy of Sin on DVD).


R&J was a mixed bag.  Act I is very sturdy and is also very good at times.  The fights are wonderful.  There's real blood.  The set is great and Act I has Mercutio and Tybalt and Benvolio.  Act II suffers, mainly because these three aren't in it, and Romeo and Juliet are insipid and boring.  Really boring.  Good stuff first. 


Chris Batstone as Mercutio.  Beautiful work.  There is a danger when playing Mercutio that one does not replicate the wonderful work Harold Perrinau did in the Baz Luhrmann film, and Chris Batstone manages his own riveting interpretation... a feat made more remarkable by the fact that he's getting nothing from the guy who plays Romeo [his name isn't important... trust me.]


My favorite actor in the show was Johnny Jenkins (unfortunate name, but...).  His Benvolio was really remarkable.  He feels his way through the part without ever feeling sentimental, and he speaks Shakespeare as fast as I've heard anyone speak it.  He really is quite wonderful.  [Linda says he's never done Shakespeare before... if she's right, this cat is a quick fucking learner.]


Chick who plays Juliet: awful.  Romeo: just weird.  I mean, he isn't even SAD when she dies.  He just kind of drinks the poison.  He was so unemotional that it was creepy.  Matt and I both thought so.  Lighting design: a mess.  I have no idea what she was doing (neither did she).  Paris: awful. Capulet: awful. Balthasar: awful. Montague: awful. The Prince: the worst thing about the show.  I want the Prince to be played by a man in the next production I see of this show... no offense to Elizabeth.


Linda ought to learn how to cut a Shakespeare play.  She just doesn't know how to do it.  And a first act that lasts an hour and a half is UNFORGIVABLE.  Absolutely unforgivable.  There is just no reason for that.  Also, Act I ends in a wrong place.  She has it ending after Romeo says goodbye to the friar and heads off to have sex with his wife.  It ought to end after Tybalt's death... at least in this production.  The way Linda has staged Tybalt's death is really cool.  There's this fabulous image of these guys carrying him off.  And then instead of a fade to black, we get "Gallop apace..." but Juliet SUCKS. I always think that's one of the most neglected things in directing and playwrighting.... how does act one end?  It needs to end with a bang so that the audience comes back after intermission.


Linda has much to be proud of with this show, I think.


I got my tickets for F.W. Murnau's Sunrise, which they'll be screening at the Academy of Motion Pictures on Thursday!  Yay!  I think Sarah and I are gonna go.


I saw Brian.  We hugged.  He didn't remember my name.  But we talked for a while and he told me all that was going on with him.  He's playing Pale in Burn This, which is just great for him.  I'm not gonna go see it though.  I mean, he didn't remember my name.  Depressing.  It reminded me of Imaginary Love.  I imagine shit all the time.  Who is Brian to me or I to Brian that I should weep for him?  He is cute.  No, damn good looking.


I got hit on by some thirtysomething guy at CSULB.  No thanks.  Not my type.  (I am not desperate, you may have noticed, just alone.)


I'll probably never see Brian again.  Weather continues, charming.

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