Just as the disillusioned Claudio of Much Ado About Nothing put it, "Let every eye negotiate for itself, and trust no agent."
The agents in this case being the ever so distinguished panel of judges at the Finals of the Inter School Shakespeare Drama Competition which true to form, was fraught with the usual upsets and nasty shockers. But more of THAT in a bit.
Finally, here is my rant on the proceedings, knock yourselves out :)
How disappointed I was to watch the bored monotony in which the actresses delivered their lines in Twelfth Night by Hillwood College. For that was all they did. I found no diversity of emotion in Viola and little understanding of character in Olivia. How is it possible that in a play like Twelfth Night where you have romance, comedy, dilemma, cross dressing and role play to make things interesting, the performance was as dull as the compere of the show? To remain awake I plugged in my iPod(Thank you Steve Jobs) and listened to Moves Like Jagger. What can I say? It enhanced the performance!
Considering that Taming of the Shrew was handled by the same director as that of Twelfth Night, I kept my headphones on. But I took them out again in ten seconds- never did I expect such a different performance from the same director. Predictably, Katherine the cursed donned a blood red Saree as she hopped around on stage screeching away till thy kingdom come. My eardrums will never be the same again, that much is for sure. That being said, I can't dispute the fact that her projection was insanely strong, as was that of the entire cast. In their thirty minute performance, no once did the projection or the momentum lapse. Energy levels were tangible, in comparison to all the other performances of the night where most of the actresses looked disturbingly exhausted. (What do directors do to these kids?) Petruchio lived up to all the accounts we have heard of the performance, never really resorting to indulgent, over-the-top slapstick comedy presented by the rest of the cast. Her performance was everything we would expect of Petruchio- quirky, persistent, crafty, humourous. On the other hand, Katherine's was everything this competition expects of the role- shrill, manic and overdone. While this undoubtedly takes a lot of effort and energy it doesn't put forward any real challenge i acting. In fact it completely masks the other dimensions of Kate- in that she is as witty and intelligent as her husband to be, and because of this the portrayal was lacking in dimension- while staying true to the tone of comedy, it is still possible to bring in more detailed characterization. Why did all performances of Taming of the Shrew fail to do this?
As I said before, Measure for Measure is my favourite of the problem plays. Having watched this performance before, I sat back and looked forward to Newstead's performance. Despite a slight drop in performance compared to the semis, I was not disappointed. A bustling scene in a market place is an unusual way to begin Measure, but it made things interesting. One of the best things about this performance was the attention to detail. Without any hysterics , the opening dumb-show effectively depicted the lawlessness in Vienna (as per that little post threesome scene!) and Angelo's reaction to it. Clever. Disappointingly, the projection dropped slightly at times, as did the pace of the play. Being a drama without many climax scenes, the play suffers when the pace lags- it needs continuous back and forth, back and forth dialogue. Nevertheless the acting and direction was solid- Isabella's character showed some definite improvement, and the acting of the main roles was strong. It was great to see that the excerpt somehow managed to capture all that is important in Measure- the subterfuge, the hypocrisy, the schemes, the complexities of character. All in all, the most visually pleasing performance of the competition.
In terms of overall acting- of the main roles and the supporting cast, St. Bridget's was the strongest by far- no overacting and oodles of poise. But why, why did the cast/ director mar what was at the semis a clean, solid performance with the painfully over-symbolic dancers/ spirits? The skin beside my fingernail is still scarred where I bit it in absolute frustration. Avatar-esque figures are redundant. Amateurish. Indulgent. Leave aside this faux pas and the acting was sound. Iago was absolutely stunning. Othello had improved by leaps and bounds since the semis. The performance looked good. It maintained momentum. But oh dear God, those figures in black. Eek.
Day Two. Reeling from the shock of the results of the previous night (I have an opinion on that which I will give, never fear, I have not forgotten) and once again armed with Mr. iPod, I awaited the performances by the guys.
Taming of the Shrew from Ananda College was cleverly directed. Here, unlike the other performances of Taming I sensed some interiority in Kate, which was a refreshing change, Like Girls' High School, these guys localized the play, and unlike GHS, made good use of colloquialism to make sure that the change of context did in fact make sense. Here too there was the occasional sense of indulgence in slapstick, crowd pleasing humour but thankfully too much. The reactions of the support cast were particularly good in this play- the actors didn't look like the were responding to practiced cues but genuinely partaking of the action. Unfortunately the pace lagged several times, which took away from what was otherwise, a strong performance.
On to Coriolanus. I sat precariously perched on the edge of my seat as I watched a confident, arrogant and yet occasionally vulnerable Coriolanus pull off his portrayal with spectacular ease. Every moment of his performance was genuine, well paced, well thought out and insightful. All the potential of the play- which is usually not exploited very well- was harnessed by Caius Martius (Coriolanus) who was well supported by the portrayal of Senator Agrippa. Once again this was a classy performance- great costuming, set and lighting. The only glitch was the occasionally weak ensemble cast from whom a little more in terms of reaction was expected.
In torment, I watched the minutes tick on languidly during the performance of Othello by St. Benedicts. What a criminal waste of a good concept and a good context. For such a daring concept to work, the acting has to be absolutely spot on. Yet Othello was indifferent only cutting an intimidating figure as he stood at middle stage point, glowering stonily at the scene before him. Once again, Iago lost the plot, with absolutely no apparent understanding of the character he was portraying. But, I stand by the fact that given better actors, that performance could have been a winner.
Thankfully, St. Thomas' underplayed the chaos ever so slightly in comparison with their performance at the semis. Petruchio was even stronger than before, putting up an easy, polished performance. Overall, the performance was distinctly more slick than before, complemented by a very apt soundtrack.But once again the performance fell into the cliche slapstick trap and though it has the audience in fits- is the laughter of an audience the only criteria in the judgment of a great performance?
Which brings me to the judges. First we are made to wait for an annoyingly long time before we are graced with their presence on stage, and then we are lectured to about sonography. I beg your pardon, ladies and gentlemen, but what. the f*** is sonography? How does the use of "the reflections of high-frequency waves to construct the image of a body organ commonly used to observe fetal growth or study bodily organs" (freedictionary.com) have ANYTHING to do with drama? Did Mr. Danziger get out on the wrong side of the bed that morning?
Well, obviously. I mean to say, how are we as the audience/ members of casts to expect quality and justice in judging if the judges' vocabulary and understanding of drama appears to be monumentally flawed?
This I am told, is the norm at Shakes. I have said this in comments on my other rant- why do schools stick with this "sufferance is the badge of all our tribe" attitude and fail to protest? What would happen to this thirty something year old competition if the schools were to band together and opt out of the competition until a more genuine attempt is made in bringing in some more qualified judges?
