The Play's the Thing

Love's Labor's Lost, as performed down at BYU, was set up as a radio show during the war.  The question is, did this add to the theme of the play, or detract from it?  As the audience comes in to sit down, jazzy music is playing, periodically interrupted by war adds.  The play also ends with another add.  Throughout the play, there is almost constantly a jazzy background music.  This all adds to the atmosphere of a radio show.  But why would they choose this for the play?

In Shakespeare's day, there were no radios.  The fact that the King was British and the Princess was French was significant, because France and Britain were enemies for most of their history.  Their love symbolized a uniting of the countries for the time, and thus had political as well as personal meaning.  In the play at BYU, the French and the British were both on the same side during the war.  The fact that they fall in love does not have the same meaning as it did in the play Shakespeare wrote.  It looses some significant meaning in the new context.  Although it doesn't seem likely, it might have made more sense if the play occurred at the end of the war, and the Princess was from Germany, or one of the other countries on the other side.  Then their love would once again have symbolized the joining of two enemies happily, the opposite of what happened in Romeo and Juliet.

March Madness Finals

For those of you who don't know, in a previous blog I mentioned that there is a group that does a Shakespeare March Madness.  Well, the finals have arrived, and it has come down to a fight between Beatrice and Lady Macbeth.  Who do you think should win?

The Play in Provo

Saturday, I drove down to Provo to see Love's Labor's Lost.  It was very funny, and the actors were great, but that is really all  I can say about it.  I did not care for the play much when I read it, and I still feel apathetic towards it.  None of the characters seemed very believable to me, so it was hard to care too much about what happened to them.  

Overall, I don't know if the three hour round trip was really worth it.  Traffic was terrible on the way down, and on the way back to Bountiful there was a crash on the freeway, and rubberneck syndrome kicked in full force.  When I got home, I went directly to see my little sister perform in Beauty and the Beast Junior.

My favorite thing about the play was the music.  Peter Murray was amazing.  I was good friends with his sister in high school, so it was fun to see him performing.  I loved the way the music set the atmosphere through the whole thing.

While I did not actually dislike the play, I didn't like it, either.  This had nothing to do with the actors, and everything to do with the play itself.

Casting Chloe

I am definitely open to suggestions on this one, but here are some actresses I could see doing the part.

Carey Mulligan: played Kitty in the Keira Knightly Pride and Prejudice, appeared on a Doctor Who episode, and was in Northanger Abbey.

So far, she's the only one to strike my fancy.  Like I said, any input would be great.

Kleopatra

Okay, I have totally fallen in love with the idea of Kleopatra being played by Katie McGrath.  She plays Morgana in "Merlin," the TV series about how Merlin became the great wizard and Arthur the great king.  At first, you absolutely love her, and feel sorry for her, but then she starts to become one of the villains in the show.

Casting Atalanta

Here are a few possibilities for Atalanta, from Meleager
Kelly Macdonald: played Helena Ravenclaw and "Peter Pan" in finding neverland

Penélope Cruz: from Pirates of the Caribbean, on stranger tides

Miranda Otto: Played Eowyn in Lord of the Rings

Updated Shakespeare March Madness

Here are the results of the first round.

Remember to cast your votes at: http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/