This is the post you don't want to read.
Oct. 12th, 2008 10:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windemereThere, I gave fair warning.
So, back in February I booked a ticket for Love's Labour's Lost in Stratford-upon-Avon for October 11th, and promptly put it out of my mind, since I was more pissed off I'd missed out on Hamlet then anything. And then, about a week ago, I got really, really excited. A)I was going to go be a Shakespeare Geek for a day in the real Stratford (not the knock-off in Ontario I grew up going too). And B) I was going to see David Tennant.
So I got up at the un-Godly hour of 6am to catch a train to Birmingham and then to Stratford. And it was sunny and warm and just lovely when I got there. And also, at 10:30, already packed with people! I wish I'd been warned about the carnival that was completely taking up all of main street. So, I wandered down to the tourist centre in search of a map (which I didn't really find) and decided that since it was a nice day, I'd take the tour bus around. So I did. And it was a nice trip, I have to say. But I didn't have time to get off anywhere, so I just stayed on for the whole thing. And then I walked down to the Courtyard theatre to pick up my ticket and find lunch. Wow, busy! And then it was time to find my seat...way up at the top (that's what you get for cheap tickets).
I don't know how many of you have read Love's, but it's not really that enjoyable a read. I'd never seen it performed though, and wow, does it make a difference! I couldn't stop laughing! However, by far (and I'm really not being biased here), the star of the show was, of course, David Tennant. He played Berowne, who is one of the 4 men out to get the 4 ladies (the princess and her maids). And from the moment he walked on stage, which was actually before the play officially starts, the audience was, well, captivated. He really does have stage presence. I mean, I've seen quite a few well-known actors in Stratford Ontario and Toronto, and some of them are so remarkably commanding when they walk on stage you can't take your eyes off of them (christopher plummer springs to mind), but this was just...wow. He also uses the whole bloody stage and the rather impressive tree as his playground, scampering here and there and obviously having a lark himself. he just makes it looks for effortless. However, unlike other plays I've seen where one person steals the show, the other actors were very good and also enjoyable to watch when they had the stage to themselves. A couple of them really stood out; the young girl who played Moth, especially.
The most entertainment though, for me and probably any other DW fans in the audience, was watching David play a character very different from Ten. And he does make it believable. However, every now and then he'd make a motion, or put an inflection in his voice, or even say something that was just so The Doctor. The audience certainly enjoyed it.
I'd recommend everyone go see it, but it's sold out. And most of you don't live in England anyways. However, I am now firmly set on going back the end of the month to try to get Hamlet tickets (because OMG, David Tennant and Patrick Stewart) and actually get to see a bit more of the Shakespeare houses and simply enjoy Stratford, which is such a beautiful town. I want to move there.
You can all go back to hating me.
So, back in February I booked a ticket for Love's Labour's Lost in Stratford-upon-Avon for October 11th, and promptly put it out of my mind, since I was more pissed off I'd missed out on Hamlet then anything. And then, about a week ago, I got really, really excited. A)I was going to go be a Shakespeare Geek for a day in the real Stratford (not the knock-off in Ontario I grew up going too). And B) I was going to see David Tennant.
So I got up at the un-Godly hour of 6am to catch a train to Birmingham and then to Stratford. And it was sunny and warm and just lovely when I got there. And also, at 10:30, already packed with people! I wish I'd been warned about the carnival that was completely taking up all of main street. So, I wandered down to the tourist centre in search of a map (which I didn't really find) and decided that since it was a nice day, I'd take the tour bus around. So I did. And it was a nice trip, I have to say. But I didn't have time to get off anywhere, so I just stayed on for the whole thing. And then I walked down to the Courtyard theatre to pick up my ticket and find lunch. Wow, busy! And then it was time to find my seat...way up at the top (that's what you get for cheap tickets).
I don't know how many of you have read Love's, but it's not really that enjoyable a read. I'd never seen it performed though, and wow, does it make a difference! I couldn't stop laughing! However, by far (and I'm really not being biased here), the star of the show was, of course, David Tennant. He played Berowne, who is one of the 4 men out to get the 4 ladies (the princess and her maids). And from the moment he walked on stage, which was actually before the play officially starts, the audience was, well, captivated. He really does have stage presence. I mean, I've seen quite a few well-known actors in Stratford Ontario and Toronto, and some of them are so remarkably commanding when they walk on stage you can't take your eyes off of them (christopher plummer springs to mind), but this was just...wow. He also uses the whole bloody stage and the rather impressive tree as his playground, scampering here and there and obviously having a lark himself. he just makes it looks for effortless. However, unlike other plays I've seen where one person steals the show, the other actors were very good and also enjoyable to watch when they had the stage to themselves. A couple of them really stood out; the young girl who played Moth, especially.
The most entertainment though, for me and probably any other DW fans in the audience, was watching David play a character very different from Ten. And he does make it believable. However, every now and then he'd make a motion, or put an inflection in his voice, or even say something that was just so The Doctor. The audience certainly enjoyed it.
I'd recommend everyone go see it, but it's sold out. And most of you don't live in England anyways. However, I am now firmly set on going back the end of the month to try to get Hamlet tickets (because OMG, David Tennant and Patrick Stewart) and actually get to see a bit more of the Shakespeare houses and simply enjoy Stratford, which is such a beautiful town. I want to move there.
You can all go back to hating me.
