Yesterday, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greenygal and I went to see the production of Three Musketeers at Synetic Theater, the local stage company that uses dance, Russian physical theater, and non-traditional interpretations in their performances. They're well known locally for putting on silent (wordless) production of Shakespeare. These are the people who put on the all-clown production of King Lear that was creepy as fuck.
Thankful, The Three Musketeers was not creepy.
The stage was dressed with three staircase that joined up to a walkway -- one staircase on each side, and then a central one to a circular gate that had an interlaced snake motif. At first, it looked innocuous, but the lighting changed it at various points to look very sinister indeed --greenygal said 'Eye of Sauron', I said 'Chamber of Secrets'. Synetic usually has just the one stage dressing, and various lighitng changes and different costumes on the ensemble make it is different things -- here this stage peice was the Musketeers' headquarters, Richlieu's palace, Versaille, a tavern, a dungeon, the field of honor, and the streets of Paris. Pretty good for three staircases!
I really liked the adaptation's Queen Anne, who explicitly said giving her diamonds to Buckingham was a stupid, foolish thing and she shouldn't have done it. It's nice that to have a character realize something that is obvious to the audience. I also liked that Athos actually asked whether trying to retrieve the diamonds was the right thing to do, since Queen Anne really had betrayed the king by giving them to Buckingham, and then deciding it was because the king's honor wasn't disgraced as long as it wasn't publically known and that averting a war between France and England, or France and Spain and Austria, was worth coverng up the Queen's foolishness.
Athos and Porthos were quite hilarious when they interacted, including the lines during guard duty about how Athos did not in fact have any wine since drinking on duty was forbidden so he'd gotten drunk beforehand, and how Porthos was like "a bear with a mustache". Which makes the fact that Porthos joins Aramais in drag later when the Muskeeters and D'Artagnan sneak into the King's ball all the more funny. Heck, the dialogue before they do that indicate the three musketeers have snuck into places with Aramais in drag before, because Aramais whines about how it's always him! Athos points out that he is the prettiest (and he is!) which makes Aramais wriggle like a puppy.
The actor playing King Louis was a trip, since Louis came off as fluffy, fluffy, and fluffy. He likes tennis and hosting balls, and is trying to teach himself golf so as to better understand the English; what he is not, is in anyway smart enough to stand up to Richlieu, or even notice he's being manipulated by the cardinal. It was the portrait of a man who is wonderfully qualified to be a golden retriever, and yet sadly is the absolute monarch of France. I felt a bit sorry for him, because what he really wanted is someone to love him (and he is so thoroughly delighted that Anne wears the diamonds -- after they've been retrieved -- and calls him 'my love') and yet is completely and totally in over his head. Otoh, his complete cluelessness lead to the charming bit at the end where he congradulates Richleiu for arrange to save France from disaster; Richleiu being forced to congradulate the musketeers and repeat their 'all for one' line was hilarious. I hope the actor for King Louis shows up in more Synetic productions, because his comic timing was fantastic, and he managed to keep in character right through the curtain call.
There were occasional unintentionally funny bits, such as the costuming on the Cardinal's Guards. Rochefort looked fantastic, especially after he steals D'Artagnan's hat, and Felton was appropriately menancing, but the ensemble was dressed in black uniforms with red cuffs, red Maltese crosses, and black domino masks -- to disguise things like this actor had just been Buckingham, or King Louis, or one of Queen Anne's handmaids. However, because of the cut of the costumes and the colors my reaction was, "Bucky Barnes, why are you suddenly evil? and French?", which I'm pretty sure wasn't what they were going for.
As in all Synetic productions, there were the occasional dark and disturbing parts -- most notably, while Athos and D'Artangan are being arrested and getting the crap beat out of them, Richleiu and Lady deWinter danced a tango! It was celebratory and combative and worked really well! There ws also Richlieu first scene, where Rochefort and Milady deWinter report to him, and for most of the scene, Richlieu is a disemboided voice -- and the lighting is such that for the first time you can see that the lattice-worked gate that is the center of the stage is actually entwined snakes (which is when my reaction was "He's not Sauron, he's Voldemort!).
Basically, it was a ton of swashbuckling, some tragedy with Athos and deWinter's backstory (her wanting revenge on everyone was great, but I missed why she thought her first murder was justified...), the sweetness of Constance and D'Artagnan's romance, D'Artagnan's complete puppyness, and generally a lot of fun and good dancing.
Next, Synetic is doing their A Midsummers Night's Dream adaptation, which I have seen before, but wouldn't mind seeing again. I'm actually thinking about buying a subscription for the season, since 2013-14 is The Picture of Dorian Grey, Twelfth Night, Hamlet … the rest is silence, and Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).
greenygal and I went to see the production of Three Musketeers at Synetic Theater, the local stage company that uses dance, Russian physical theater, and non-traditional interpretations in their performances. They're well known locally for putting on silent (wordless) production of Shakespeare. These are the people who put on the all-clown production of King Lear that was creepy as fuck.Thankful, The Three Musketeers was not creepy.
The stage was dressed with three staircase that joined up to a walkway -- one staircase on each side, and then a central one to a circular gate that had an interlaced snake motif. At first, it looked innocuous, but the lighting changed it at various points to look very sinister indeed --
greenygal said 'Eye of Sauron', I said 'Chamber of Secrets'. Synetic usually has just the one stage dressing, and various lighitng changes and different costumes on the ensemble make it is different things -- here this stage peice was the Musketeers' headquarters, Richlieu's palace, Versaille, a tavern, a dungeon, the field of honor, and the streets of Paris. Pretty good for three staircases!I really liked the adaptation's Queen Anne, who explicitly said giving her diamonds to Buckingham was a stupid, foolish thing and she shouldn't have done it. It's nice that to have a character realize something that is obvious to the audience. I also liked that Athos actually asked whether trying to retrieve the diamonds was the right thing to do, since Queen Anne really had betrayed the king by giving them to Buckingham, and then deciding it was because the king's honor wasn't disgraced as long as it wasn't publically known and that averting a war between France and England, or France and Spain and Austria, was worth coverng up the Queen's foolishness.
Athos and Porthos were quite hilarious when they interacted, including the lines during guard duty about how Athos did not in fact have any wine since drinking on duty was forbidden so he'd gotten drunk beforehand, and how Porthos was like "a bear with a mustache". Which makes the fact that Porthos joins Aramais in drag later when the Muskeeters and D'Artagnan sneak into the King's ball all the more funny. Heck, the dialogue before they do that indicate the three musketeers have snuck into places with Aramais in drag before, because Aramais whines about how it's always him! Athos points out that he is the prettiest (and he is!) which makes Aramais wriggle like a puppy.
The actor playing King Louis was a trip, since Louis came off as fluffy, fluffy, and fluffy. He likes tennis and hosting balls, and is trying to teach himself golf so as to better understand the English; what he is not, is in anyway smart enough to stand up to Richlieu, or even notice he's being manipulated by the cardinal. It was the portrait of a man who is wonderfully qualified to be a golden retriever, and yet sadly is the absolute monarch of France. I felt a bit sorry for him, because what he really wanted is someone to love him (and he is so thoroughly delighted that Anne wears the diamonds -- after they've been retrieved -- and calls him 'my love') and yet is completely and totally in over his head. Otoh, his complete cluelessness lead to the charming bit at the end where he congradulates Richleiu for arrange to save France from disaster; Richleiu being forced to congradulate the musketeers and repeat their 'all for one' line was hilarious. I hope the actor for King Louis shows up in more Synetic productions, because his comic timing was fantastic, and he managed to keep in character right through the curtain call.
There were occasional unintentionally funny bits, such as the costuming on the Cardinal's Guards. Rochefort looked fantastic, especially after he steals D'Artagnan's hat, and Felton was appropriately menancing, but the ensemble was dressed in black uniforms with red cuffs, red Maltese crosses, and black domino masks -- to disguise things like this actor had just been Buckingham, or King Louis, or one of Queen Anne's handmaids. However, because of the cut of the costumes and the colors my reaction was, "Bucky Barnes, why are you suddenly evil? and French?", which I'm pretty sure wasn't what they were going for.
As in all Synetic productions, there were the occasional dark and disturbing parts -- most notably, while Athos and D'Artangan are being arrested and getting the crap beat out of them, Richleiu and Lady deWinter danced a tango! It was celebratory and combative and worked really well! There ws also Richlieu first scene, where Rochefort and Milady deWinter report to him, and for most of the scene, Richlieu is a disemboided voice -- and the lighting is such that for the first time you can see that the lattice-worked gate that is the center of the stage is actually entwined snakes (which is when my reaction was "He's not Sauron, he's Voldemort!).
Basically, it was a ton of swashbuckling, some tragedy with Athos and deWinter's backstory (her wanting revenge on everyone was great, but I missed why she thought her first murder was justified...), the sweetness of Constance and D'Artagnan's romance, D'Artagnan's complete puppyness, and generally a lot of fun and good dancing.
Next, Synetic is doing their A Midsummers Night's Dream adaptation, which I have seen before, but wouldn't mind seeing again. I'm actually thinking about buying a subscription for the season, since 2013-14 is The Picture of Dorian Grey, Twelfth Night, Hamlet … the rest is silence, and Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).