God, I love a good classical performance - the BBC Prom Beethoven's 5th was wonderful, and cost just 5 pounds (had to stand for this price, of course). Going to see if I can attend Mozart's Requiem at the Barbican Hall tonight, after this afternoon's Regent Park production of Romeo and Juliet, which I need to see one last time, and this being my last chance, the last performance - and it looks like it's going to rain and they don't perform when it rains, so hopefully it doesn't rain!
The interview with the Globe's Master of Text largely went wonderful. It's amazing how those first few simple questions are so necessary - "Please tell me a little about yourself," "Please tell me how you came to be involved here," etc. - questions like these really seem to relax the person being interviewed. And a hearty beforehand thanks helps too. Okay, so the Master of Text, as I found, doesn't really have a big hand in altering the texts, but functions more as what I understand to be a cross between a dramaturg and voice coach - he or she helps the actors understand and embody the text, and whereas the director functions as the eye, the Master of Text functions as the ear, though the director still controls the multiple meanings of the word "vision" in the production. So my prepared list of questions may or may not have been ideal - there was some off the cuff improv, as there always is and must be in interviews, but the answers I was getting kept bringing me back to my questions, hinting that they might be fruitful after all, so I asked those - and yes, fruitful, but in a tricky way, because the MoT doesn't have the first-hand knowledge/ reasoning behind the choices to alter the scripts but certainly does have a good second hand knowledge - but, indeed, this may have been better because we were able to discuss a little of each production. And I of course got an insight into behind the scenes at the Globe, which, if I can't directly translate into my project, will still always be endlessly useful and amusing to me - the gentleman I interviewed, a very kind and helpful man, even showed me - quickly, and not quite going in, of course - the tiring house and the green room!
And I've now got 3 Irving scripts with all alterations and have much, much better system, if time remains, to map out the other 4 he has (offhand I think there are only 7 Lyceum Acting Editions of Irving's productions of Shakespeare's plays). Turns out the best, simplest way to transcribe is - if you can find the right website - to download the scripts in word and then mark or highlight or whatnot the changes. I remember my first day tackling the scripts actually spending nearly the whole day typing out Romeo and Juliet - only got about half way - when I figured that I needed a better way - at this time too I was debating about how much punctuation mattered to my project - it does matter generally, but not as much here I've decided - then I tried just typing out the cuts and transpositions specifically, but still that took a lot of time: the beauty of the whole script the way I'm doing it now is I can look when I like easily at what's been altered, just looking for the highlighted bits.
In Humanities One at the British Library - the room where most of my archival research has been done - doesn't have the scripts of Olivier and Gielgud, but Manuscripts may - I spoke with the man at Enquiries on Thursday and he's going to pass on my enquiry to a specialist in the building - hopefully I'll hear back soon, like by early Monday would be nice! If I can look at at least two scripts from each - preferably from the same decade - I think I'll have a sense of what's going on. Then I can do all that fleshing out/ sorting through criticism, autobiographies, letters and such.
It's odd, I mean I'm only going to have essentially a few snapshots, but I now have this sense that maybe, within my lifetime, I might actually obtain a good knowledge of the entire history of Shakespearean staging, and all related topics - acting and staging styles, changes in thought, society, criticism, &c - the list actually is pretty big - and absolutely, my experience here is going to support my passion and career in other endless ways - I've seen interesting ways of handling what's called colorblind Shakespeare, am ever so slowly formulating ideas on how a production works or doesn't, am seeing how even a great production can be reductive (crushing a play into a single theme), am starting to grapple with what some of the greatest directors and scholars of recent years believe the future of production necessary to be and seen some abortive attempts of others to apply these theories . . . SO, SO MUCH.
Other hopefully minor setbacks . . . had hoped to go to the Globe Research Center for a few days and look at the scripts of the current productions and maybe some director or actor notes - heard they kept such in their archives - and applied to visit well in advance as you're supposed to but got a - very polite - email saying that current production info is kept off the shelf until the season closes. Unfortunate!
SO, trying quickly to figure out how best to organize the remainder of my time, determining what's only here and what I'll still have access to in the U.S. Lots of the supporting evidence - autobiographies, etc. - we have in the Dimond Library actually so I think I'll just sample some more of that here for my presentation and then return to them at Dimond later when I'm writing my thesis. I think primarily what I should focus on is scripts and maybe a few essays and texts on my subject, humor . . . perhaps I'll still try to visit the Globe Research Center for something, or - well, at least - I definitely want to visit the Globe Education and Exhibition Center, which may not be directly relevant but is a MUST, there's lots there otherwise very fun and useful. Also want to sample the audio archives at the British Library - they have lots of productions recorded on CD - perhaps focussing on one play and it's productions for the last few years.
ANYWAY.
Visited St. Paul's Cathedral yesterday. A beautiful place, really magnificent. Climbed all the way to the top - 500 + steps, sometimes very steep and with very narrow, short hallways, little more than low tunnels to shimmy up and got some wonderful photographs. Couldn't take any inside but got lots of outside. Whispering Gallery nice, Stone Gallery pretty high up, Golden Gallery - at the top - very narrow and with the railing surprisingly, frighteningly low (probably actually belly level but still, that high up there should maybe be more separating you and the hundreds of feet drop to the ground?). Really a nice journey.
The interview with the Globe's Master of Text largely went wonderful. It's amazing how those first few simple questions are so necessary - "Please tell me a little about yourself," "Please tell me how you came to be involved here," etc. - questions like these really seem to relax the person being interviewed. And a hearty beforehand thanks helps too. Okay, so the Master of Text, as I found, doesn't really have a big hand in altering the texts, but functions more as what I understand to be a cross between a dramaturg and voice coach - he or she helps the actors understand and embody the text, and whereas the director functions as the eye, the Master of Text functions as the ear, though the director still controls the multiple meanings of the word "vision" in the production. So my prepared list of questions may or may not have been ideal - there was some off the cuff improv, as there always is and must be in interviews, but the answers I was getting kept bringing me back to my questions, hinting that they might be fruitful after all, so I asked those - and yes, fruitful, but in a tricky way, because the MoT doesn't have the first-hand knowledge/ reasoning behind the choices to alter the scripts but certainly does have a good second hand knowledge - but, indeed, this may have been better because we were able to discuss a little of each production. And I of course got an insight into behind the scenes at the Globe, which, if I can't directly translate into my project, will still always be endlessly useful and amusing to me - the gentleman I interviewed, a very kind and helpful man, even showed me - quickly, and not quite going in, of course - the tiring house and the green room!
And I've now got 3 Irving scripts with all alterations and have much, much better system, if time remains, to map out the other 4 he has (offhand I think there are only 7 Lyceum Acting Editions of Irving's productions of Shakespeare's plays). Turns out the best, simplest way to transcribe is - if you can find the right website - to download the scripts in word and then mark or highlight or whatnot the changes. I remember my first day tackling the scripts actually spending nearly the whole day typing out Romeo and Juliet - only got about half way - when I figured that I needed a better way - at this time too I was debating about how much punctuation mattered to my project - it does matter generally, but not as much here I've decided - then I tried just typing out the cuts and transpositions specifically, but still that took a lot of time: the beauty of the whole script the way I'm doing it now is I can look when I like easily at what's been altered, just looking for the highlighted bits.
In Humanities One at the British Library - the room where most of my archival research has been done - doesn't have the scripts of Olivier and Gielgud, but Manuscripts may - I spoke with the man at Enquiries on Thursday and he's going to pass on my enquiry to a specialist in the building - hopefully I'll hear back soon, like by early Monday would be nice! If I can look at at least two scripts from each - preferably from the same decade - I think I'll have a sense of what's going on. Then I can do all that fleshing out/ sorting through criticism, autobiographies, letters and such.
It's odd, I mean I'm only going to have essentially a few snapshots, but I now have this sense that maybe, within my lifetime, I might actually obtain a good knowledge of the entire history of Shakespearean staging, and all related topics - acting and staging styles, changes in thought, society, criticism, &c - the list actually is pretty big - and absolutely, my experience here is going to support my passion and career in other endless ways - I've seen interesting ways of handling what's called colorblind Shakespeare, am ever so slowly formulating ideas on how a production works or doesn't, am seeing how even a great production can be reductive (crushing a play into a single theme), am starting to grapple with what some of the greatest directors and scholars of recent years believe the future of production necessary to be and seen some abortive attempts of others to apply these theories . . . SO, SO MUCH.
Other hopefully minor setbacks . . . had hoped to go to the Globe Research Center for a few days and look at the scripts of the current productions and maybe some director or actor notes - heard they kept such in their archives - and applied to visit well in advance as you're supposed to but got a - very polite - email saying that current production info is kept off the shelf until the season closes. Unfortunate!
SO, trying quickly to figure out how best to organize the remainder of my time, determining what's only here and what I'll still have access to in the U.S. Lots of the supporting evidence - autobiographies, etc. - we have in the Dimond Library actually so I think I'll just sample some more of that here for my presentation and then return to them at Dimond later when I'm writing my thesis. I think primarily what I should focus on is scripts and maybe a few essays and texts on my subject, humor . . . perhaps I'll still try to visit the Globe Research Center for something, or - well, at least - I definitely want to visit the Globe Education and Exhibition Center, which may not be directly relevant but is a MUST, there's lots there otherwise very fun and useful. Also want to sample the audio archives at the British Library - they have lots of productions recorded on CD - perhaps focussing on one play and it's productions for the last few years.
ANYWAY.
Visited St. Paul's Cathedral yesterday. A beautiful place, really magnificent. Climbed all the way to the top - 500 + steps, sometimes very steep and with very narrow, short hallways, little more than low tunnels to shimmy up and got some wonderful photographs. Couldn't take any inside but got lots of outside. Whispering Gallery nice, Stone Gallery pretty high up, Golden Gallery - at the top - very narrow and with the railing surprisingly, frighteningly low (probably actually belly level but still, that high up there should maybe be more separating you and the hundreds of feet drop to the ground?). Really a nice journey.
Outside, before going up, sat in Paternoster Square and sipped an iced coffee and read while listening to a live jazz band set up in the square - very good band, played some Frankie Blue-Eyes and even, to my great delight, a wonderful rendering of the main theme of "Aristocats."
"Oh, everybody wants to be a cat, because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at . . ."
(And I just love Sinatra too, I hope when I take Musical Theatre this fall and I learn a little about, you know, how to sing, I'll be able to belt his songs out whenever I feel like it, which is often whenever I'm in a good mood.)
Monday I've just got to take off from the research - maybe I'll add next Saturday to replace - because a very good friend I've made here - Emmanuel, from Sierra Leonne - is leaving later in the week and he's wanted to join me for my Greenwich trip but is usually busy on the weekends so we're going to go Monday. Looking forward to it!
Going to be a good show week too. Revenger's Tragedy at the National, a highly physical abbreviated Grotowsky influenced Macbeth (outside the National), Wives again at the Globe. Yay! (I feel most calm, most excited, most at home in the theatres.)
**Later entry, Did get to see Regent's Park Romeo and Juliet again today, in the afternoon (and in daylight), and happily marked the heck out of my script; got even those spliced scenes that I thought'd be too tricky. Failed to see Mozart's Requiem at the Barbican - alack, sold out! Place seems very posh, too posh - meaning pricey. Might be able to see an inexpensive performance of something or other at Wigmore Hall in the morning: must hunt online to confirm info. Oi, wish I could add on another two weeks (or years) to my project, just starting to really feel at home + get a sense of how to do this sort of thing effectively, moving around barriers like water or crashing through them like a Juggernaut. Rarely ever got lost anymore, in fact am asked for - and able to provide - directions most everyday! (Easiest are the tube questions, next streets - it seems others are a bit confused by the lack of street signs too -, lastly bus routes - have been using the bus occasionally for a little over a week but the routes aren't in my mental map yet.)
No comments:
Post a Comment