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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 7, 2018 9:55:42 GMT
Caught this yesterday. It's not perfect, but I enjoyed it. It opens with Pericles in hospital being attended by staff. He then recalls his story. The cast all play several parts, which largely works well, although a couple of times this did confuse me!
The production zips along, moving quickly from scene to scene. The advertised run time is 2 hours, no interval. In fact it is 1 hour 40 minutes.
The production is in French and the surtitles are far enough back to be relatively easy to follow from the front row. I was centre row B, so there was a bit of looking up, but it was fine. At times though the pace of the dialogue can mean that the surtitles flash along – don’t blink at this point.
Note that the rake in the Silk Street Theatre is excellent, but there is an extra row in front of row A and row A is barely above it – hence it is the only row where someone in front is likely to get in the way.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 7, 2018 10:38:23 GMT
I am really looking forward to this when it arrives in Oxford at the end of the month.
Cheek by Jowl never fail to produce something interesting
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Post by NeilVHughes on Apr 7, 2018 10:52:11 GMT
Thanks bellboard27 for the info, about to set off to see it this afternoon, good to know I am not the only one who likes to experience Shakespeare through the medium of surtitles. |
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 7, 2018 11:09:19 GMT
Thanks bellboard27 for the info, about to set off to see it this afternoon, good to know I am not the only one who likes to experience Shakespeare through the medium of surtitles. It's how he would have wanted it! |
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Post by NeilVHughes on Apr 7, 2018 16:51:50 GMT
Good to catch up with a rarely performed Shakespeare. Zipped along and anyone worried about surtitles it is amazing how quick you settle in to looking st the surtitles and performances simultaneously. The simple staging in the the Hospital worked well and found it much more humorous than I remembered,especially the wedding duels/dance and the brothel scenes. As stated by bellboard27 the role changing can catch you out as the actors costumes remain the same throughout. Prefer the reconciliation in Pericles over The Winter’s Tale, Pericles is a much more deserving character as his downfall is brought about by fate whilst Leontes bring it on himself. |
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 7, 2018 22:28:59 GMT
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Post by bordeaux on Apr 13, 2018 13:14:15 GMT
I'm normally a big fan of Cheek by Jowl (I really enjoyed their recent Winter's Tale, which several posters here didn't) but this is very disappointing. The hospital setting renders it all incoherent, there is no emotion, you can't help wondering what is at stake and why we should care. The reconciliations mean little if all we have been watching are the dreams of an ill, elderly man.
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Post by Jan on Apr 13, 2018 15:00:11 GMT
I'm normally a big fan of Cheek by Jowl (I really enjoyed their recent Winter's Tale, which several posters here didn't) but this is very disappointing. The hospital setting renders it all incoherent, there is no emotion, you can't help wondering what is at stake and why we should care. The reconciliations mean little if all we have been watching are the dreams of an ill, elderly man. I saw Cheek by Jowl's last production of Pericles in 1984. For quite a while I've felt their productions - which haven't really changed that much over the years - have been getting very stale and they seem almost old-fashioned now. Having a hospital as a framing device has of course been done before to stunning effect in the Michael Sheen "Hamlet" (I know you hated it Lynette) but even with Pericles it has been used before, I remember the Lyric Hammersmith production in 2003 used the same approach. |
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