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I all too rarely go see a play; but my luck for seeing good performances is holding up in the last few years.
About a week ago, I saw Jean Anouilh's Antigone, in a new translation by Zander Teller. Zander is a friend of our friend Dave from Pittsburgh, who managed to see two plays during two and a half days in New York. Dave makes em feel inadequate.
The play was good. I had never seen the Jean Anouilh version - I just vaguely remembered the Greek myth from high school. The performance was quite intimate - a tiny theatre with maybe 25 people and 40-odd seats. Angus Hepburn in the role of Creon was outstanding. Several other actors had no lines at all (Eurydice) or just one line (the messenger) and I just don't know what motivates an actor to take on a role like that.
After the play we want out for drinks with Zander (translator, director), Micah (producer) and Dave - it pays to know people. I was amazed to hear the short run of the play - about ten performances in twelve days (apparently equity rules state that longer runs have dramatically higher salaries). Even so, they'd gone through over a thousand applications and over three hundred auditions. I never realized quite how much work goes into a play, and how little lasts beyond the performance - I guess I should complain less about the ephemeral nature of my own work.
About a week ago, I saw Jean Anouilh's Antigone, in a new translation by Zander Teller. Zander is a friend of our friend Dave from Pittsburgh, who managed to see two plays during two and a half days in New York. Dave makes em feel inadequate.
The play was good. I had never seen the Jean Anouilh version - I just vaguely remembered the Greek myth from high school. The performance was quite intimate - a tiny theatre with maybe 25 people and 40-odd seats. Angus Hepburn in the role of Creon was outstanding. Several other actors had no lines at all (Eurydice) or just one line (the messenger) and I just don't know what motivates an actor to take on a role like that.
After the play we want out for drinks with Zander (translator, director), Micah (producer) and Dave - it pays to know people. I was amazed to hear the short run of the play - about ten performances in twelve days (apparently equity rules state that longer runs have dramatically higher salaries). Even so, they'd gone through over a thousand applications and over three hundred auditions. I never realized quite how much work goes into a play, and how little lasts beyond the performance - I guess I should complain less about the ephemeral nature of my own work.
