![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Theatre Review: Othello (Globe)
Sep. 24th, 2018 09:11 pmWe've had rather a lot to do with Shakespeare's Globe during its summer season. I may try to give an overview of the whole thing once we complete our summer viewing with Eyam in early October; but in the meantime, I'll deal with the two we saw just before our holiday break.
I was originally going to do them in one posting; but I've found so much to say about Othello that I'm posting it and Emilia in separate entries, so -
Othello (The Globe)
I'm going to have to confess that my views on this piece might be unreliable. The reason for this is that, during a crucial scene, the lady sitting next to me leaned in and whispered "I think I'm going to faint!" Cue a complete shambles in our seating-section, during which my neighbour was hoisted as far as the hastily-vacated bench below us, stretched out, feet raised, water produced, volunteer-ushers in rather useless attendance etc etc. Finally she was removed ... only to be returned and hoisted back in again - just as the scene ended at the interval.
The reasons why I sound less than sympathetic are (a) The scene that our whole section missed was the one where Iago gets to grips with instilling horrible suspicions in Othello's head; and (b) the only person in the entire block who got to see the scene in its entirety was the fainter's partner, who sat stolidly staring at the stage whilst the world whorled around him. Pah!
[//rant\\ I've always said that the main problem with The Globe and its seating arrangements isn't the hard wooden benches or restricted space and views; it's the rest of the bloody audience! //rant over\\]
( Read more... )
I was originally going to do them in one posting; but I've found so much to say about Othello that I'm posting it and Emilia in separate entries, so -
Othello (The Globe)
I'm going to have to confess that my views on this piece might be unreliable. The reason for this is that, during a crucial scene, the lady sitting next to me leaned in and whispered "I think I'm going to faint!" Cue a complete shambles in our seating-section, during which my neighbour was hoisted as far as the hastily-vacated bench below us, stretched out, feet raised, water produced, volunteer-ushers in rather useless attendance etc etc. Finally she was removed ... only to be returned and hoisted back in again - just as the scene ended at the interval.
The reasons why I sound less than sympathetic are (a) The scene that our whole section missed was the one where Iago gets to grips with instilling horrible suspicions in Othello's head; and (b) the only person in the entire block who got to see the scene in its entirety was the fainter's partner, who sat stolidly staring at the stage whilst the world whorled around him. Pah!
[//rant\\ I've always said that the main problem with The Globe and its seating arrangements isn't the hard wooden benches or restricted space and views; it's the rest of the bloody audience! //rant over\\]
( Read more... )
