Theatre that Just is

This was a play review I wrote back in college that I wrote before acquiring the software that permits me to properly edit my work. As such it required some editing of its own. I have to admit that this is rubbish but I, well, I just need to post something.

14^th March 2005

The Funny Thing

(A junior) College’s “A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” was everything I expected it to be. That is to say it was every thing I expect a college play to be like. I would not call it a professional quality production. It certainly was not something I would want to see again but I don’t feel that it was a waist of my time.

The show began with what had to be the worst case of over microphoning that I have ever laid ear on. I could hear the hissing of the speakers and the rise and fall of sound as technicians struggled to keep up with the weak vocal quality. This stopped being a problem as the show got going and there was some sound to cover the hiss.  However, the show remained very metallic and never allowed actors to build significant air speed. 

The lighting left nothing to be desired. There was only one lighting effect of note, being the light around the stage that flashed for a large mystical number. However, lighting does not always have a major roll to play in theatre. Sometimes lighting the show is all it needs to do. There were some effects using colored gels but then that is really less of an effect as the reality of light being sent at the stage is that it is all colored and only appears white because of the even nature of its distribution.

         

The set construction was centered around a known illusion stile depicting that the show is supposed to look staged. Despite the functional reality of the set, people appearing on the second story of every home, all the surfaces were flat painted wood. We are supposed to see the show as it is, a show, not a depiction of reality. If that were removed what we would have is a rather dark comedy about a slave fighting for his freedom and a man looking to take a slave as his wife. Either are not good premises for comedy as they are very dark. Would the foolishness of Hero, lusting after a woman that has never met him, be anything but sad if it were not for a constant reminder that this is just a show and nothing more? 

         

Directorially the show was well staged with movements that were very witty. In fact now that I think about it I may have enjoyed it more had I not been forced to listen to it. The caste was particularly well played. Characters had to interact with each other wile keeping in time with the movement of other actors. The references to American idol were over the top. I have to say that (the Director) may have been implying that the vocalists from that show suck in general but the effect was just not funny. Some of the other things were just lost on me. I’m not a fan of many of the modern shows to which he makes reference.

         

However, this is a play that lends itself far better to this style of theatre than many of the other works like this that I have seen. Take those little add-ins by the director. The language was such as to blend in easily with small added jokes about what was on television last week. I think one of the men should have had a wardrobe malfunction. Like the man in the white dress having his fake boob falling out and bouncing across the stage. That would have been funny. 

         

The makeup was, very made up, especially for older characters except for Hero’s father who looked as if he had none at all. I also have to say that it was thickly applied. Again this may be to add to the “staged” appearance but it was not totally universal and it didn’t appear to have any real distinction between who had it and who did not.

         

So there it is. It was a fun little show but nothing to write home about. There hasn’t been a show I really liked in a long time. So it’s possible that my standards are too high but then if I had the time for more theatre I would go to more theatre. So for them moment I will need to be content with theatre that just is. 

Opportunity

19^th March 2012

Dear Cassi,

Today was one of those days when you get a kick in the teeth. My director informed me that his actress for the shoot this weekend is occupied during the day and as the new version of the script requires daylight we are out of luck.

       

I fear the script is too personal for this fellow to change so even after the expenditure and the work this project is put on hold. The worst of this is that it now cannot make deadline for the contest in intended it to enter. A half million dollars and we will never take our shot at so much a prize. Watching so great an opportunity evaporate like quicksilver is painful. I am no stranger to this hollow feeling but it still stings.

       

The world has no sympathy for folks like I who hustle and bustle about in the oddest way. What I will find in this wondering I cannot say nor wish I to as yet know for I will find the product to be unworthy of the walking and then would just stay home.

       

What I need is an ambling of sorts, but where to amble to I do know not. All I know is that I have a need for this movement.

Never get stagnant, little sister

Richard Leland Neal

Also updating today!

Random Street Theater a Comic

http://randomstreet.blogspot.com/

Jonny American a webcomic

http://jonnyamerican.blogspot.com/

Experience in a Play

This file is dated 23^rd October 2004 and is an essay I wrote in college regarding my experience as an actor in the play ‘Dracula’. To be honest I have almost no memory of writing this, but the events I speak of are clear in my mind. I should have been complaining about the director not doing enough to address actors lighting things on fire and threatening other cast members, but that’s another story.

Experience Paper

I must say that this production was no different than most productions that I have been in. I was well loved by most of the cast, well hated by some, and left a definite mark on the production. However, there are some things that did strike me as needing improvement.

         

The first of which is props. They were not provided in a timely fashion which is what prompted me to provide some of them. The package and the knife were the most significant as they were functional props that required handling that affected character development. I felt that the scene with the package was slightly awkward and this may have been ironed out if we had longer to work with it. This is also true for the flask. I had some difficulties with it in the first act and needed more working time to get used to it. I feel I had trouble with the examination as well but that is my fault. I was under the impression that I was to have more tools during that part of the play.

Another of my concerns was the deadline for ticket sales. I would have liked an explanation for that. I put out twenty five hundred coupons for this play and personally escorted people to the ticket window knowing that I could not get credit for them. Is there no way to encourage people to by tickets sooner? Will the department okay coupons that will expire on the deadline and be useless before the play opens?

It took more than a week to get the fliers I had okayed and I had to be very lean with them. In the future, I will have to use the back if I am to place this information on them and that will double the printing time. It will however give me room for parking directions.

Another difficulty I had with this play was navigating between the dialect coach and the director. At times they did not agree, and it was hard to keep it all straight. I have no suggestion on how to remedy this, it seems to be a fact of theatre but that is the difficulty that I had.

One of the other aspects that seem to be unfixable is volume. I had to try and speak at the level of my fellow actors to avoid feedback from sound adjustments and the American College Theater Festival representative noticed this to be a problem of the show. My only advice on this subject would be to perform more effective warm-ups. I used Sphinx and knee-bend monologues for this and I found that it forces the body to project as well as exercising concentration skills. It works well for me but I have always been louder then the average actor.

That is what I have to say about my experience with ‘Dracula’. I regret that I could not be more helpful but I was given no criteria for this assignment and can’t really say that I know how to go about explaining my experiences. 

Honesty is a Fool’s Fame

This is a letter that never got mailed, but I mailed one like it and it cost me my job. Honesty is a fool’s fame, and this was straight from the heart. I thought better of sending this letter and had forgotten about it until I was asked to stay home one day so I didn’t get over time.

I had worked at this place for a few years as a Security Officer contracted from another company. Then they had changed guard companies following a buyout. Needless to say, this is a complicated situation involving four companies and a lot of angry guards.  

I was still a fool for saying anything about my feelings for the new guard company. It’s true that if the company had listened they would have saved money in the long run. They cut their nose off to spite their face, but then, so did I.

22^nd April, 2007

         

Mr. (Security Director),

I’m the security officer you met at (a truck terminal) last Monday. I noted in the new post orders procedures that bring security personnel into harm’s way. Moreover, the hiring standards of this new security company are unacceptable. They do not require a high school diploma.  

Had you stood in that guard house and spat in my face you would not have insulted me as much as you have by believing officers of such poor quality can do my job. These officers cost (the shipping company) hundreds a day in driver overtime. That will rise to thousands when freight volumes increase.

Over the last two and a half years I have received countless reports of inconsistent security procedures across the country. Some of these reports are as severe as guards not logging inbound loads at all. 

I have fought (the old shipping company) and now (the shipping company) for the last two and a half years to secure adequate conditions for security officers at (my terminal). Sir, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. That describes both my attitude toward you as a client and your attitude toward security companies.

What’s needed at every one of your terminals is a long standing relationship with security officers who are adequately paid. I cannot even begin to resolve your problems with security until I have a stable reliable crew of guards willing to do the job.

Let me inform you that your facility is the first I have worked for under (My security company) that paid its post supervisor less than sixteen dollars an hour. The industry average pay for Security Officers in the United States is thirteen dollars an hour.

I don’t believe you need this level of pay. However, security companies will give you what you pay for not what you need.

Honestly,

Richard Leland Neal