March 20, 2016
It is almost spring! Morning overcast and chill are in high contrast to our warm and sunny days. Oh well.
Jill Bell's birthday is coming. Aries!
I
went to see an excellently written play last night, "The Andersonville
Trial" by Saul Levitt. How many of us were taught in American History
about the deaths of fourteen thousand Union prisoners held in the
Georgia compound that, toward the end of the Civil War (how can any war
be "civil??"), became, literally, Hell on Earth for the unfortunate
soldiers? It may have been Hell for their captors as well. The problem
that I had was that the performance was exceedingly uneven. I singled
out one performer in my review and was too tired to really discuss other
performances, save the guy who had only a few lines, but was believably
present through the entire play.
Coming
home I thought about the diverse acting styles that the director had
failed to reign in to insure that the production lived up the the
text. The apparent deliberate neglect of human beings is the
foundation for the play. That enormous issue must be instilled in the
actors. If it had, it was not immediately apparent to me.
I
got to thinking about the seven chakras of the body as discussed in the
Hindu faith. A chakra or 'center of power' starts with the Root Chakra
at the base of the spine with "openings" up through the center of the
body emanating up through the Crown Chakra at the top of the head. Each
of the actors in this play seemed to be dominated by energies coming
from different areas of their bodies. The least effective cast member,
the judge advocate, was thinking more about remembering his lines than
presenting the story. Others in the cast came from different
techniques, delivering either truly thoughtful deep emotion or what they
thought was a strong delivery. Becoming a character is an individual
effort guided with the over all vision of the collaboration with a
strong director. One of the most boring discussions, to me, is a
discussion about how to act. Suffice it to say that when all of
the cast members are on the same page and in the same play thanks to a
director's vision (or maybe in spite of it!), then magic can happen.
It's
Palm Sunday and a local priest is on the TV news having a ball
sprinkling folks with water as they wave palm fronds in the air. Happy
Easter.
There's
a sale at Harbor Freight today! The fog will lift. Off to the
Playhouse this afternoon. Dinner with a good friend. Another play to
review. How much does Matthew McConaughey make from those silly Lincoln
commercials? Would you ever have a car like that? Seriously.
March 20, 2016
michaelsheehan
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