Othello v Titus
Sun, 6 Aug 2000, 11:22 amGrant Malcolm13 posts in thread
Othello v Titus
Sun, 6 Aug 2000, 11:22 amHaving spent the previous night at Bell's Dream I was looking forward to an evening of contrast with Shakespearience's Othello v Titus.
I'll confess it wasn't entirely without some trepidation. While I shared much of Robert Cook's enthusiasm for Gibson Nolte's performance in the recent Macbeth, I'd wished someone had taken a nail gun to his somewhat undisciplined interpretation of Macduff and stapled his feet to the floor!
However, I had seen Gibson's Winters' Tale at Kalamunda last year and I was confident that, as a director, he had a firm grasp of the bard and I was looking forward to seeing how he and his fellow director Claire Hooper tackled these condensed versions.
It's difficult not to draw comparisons between the original sources and Kaiser's shorter versions. Shakespeare's Othello and Titus Andronicus they are not. That said, the stripped down texts stand perfectly well in their own right and succeeded admirably in performance.
The contrast with Bell Shakespeare was at once apparent in the almost complete lack of setting and the very simple costuming - not to mention the size of the venue. For all this, the company filled the space with inventive performances that invited the audience to share their journey.
Each play is performed by a cast of three and thankfully, with skillful editing, each actor plays at most only three parts. Shifts in characterisation together with single items of costume or rearrangments of hair neatly distinguished one role from another.
The plays move quickly. The performances are dynamic and the energy never flagged. Titus is as obscenely funny as Othello is tension packed. The invention and passion held the small Blue Room crowd firmly in its thrall.
Some more work on vocal technique might have assisted to carry the otherwise excellent performances of Booth and Keen, but it was a delight to see the development of Toby Malone as a performer. If occasionally physically understated his almost melodramatic vocal range was admirably suited to the roles. Rebecca Pithers performance was the highlight for me with extraordinary assurance, sensitivity and vocal clarity.
And I have to ask... Rebecca is that you? I thought you looked very familiar, but I didn't read the programme until i went for coffee after the show. Can it be that i really directed you when you were ten years old???
Cheers
Grant
I'll confess it wasn't entirely without some trepidation. While I shared much of Robert Cook's enthusiasm for Gibson Nolte's performance in the recent Macbeth, I'd wished someone had taken a nail gun to his somewhat undisciplined interpretation of Macduff and stapled his feet to the floor!
However, I had seen Gibson's Winters' Tale at Kalamunda last year and I was confident that, as a director, he had a firm grasp of the bard and I was looking forward to seeing how he and his fellow director Claire Hooper tackled these condensed versions.
It's difficult not to draw comparisons between the original sources and Kaiser's shorter versions. Shakespeare's Othello and Titus Andronicus they are not. That said, the stripped down texts stand perfectly well in their own right and succeeded admirably in performance.
The contrast with Bell Shakespeare was at once apparent in the almost complete lack of setting and the very simple costuming - not to mention the size of the venue. For all this, the company filled the space with inventive performances that invited the audience to share their journey.
Each play is performed by a cast of three and thankfully, with skillful editing, each actor plays at most only three parts. Shifts in characterisation together with single items of costume or rearrangments of hair neatly distinguished one role from another.
The plays move quickly. The performances are dynamic and the energy never flagged. Titus is as obscenely funny as Othello is tension packed. The invention and passion held the small Blue Room crowd firmly in its thrall.
Some more work on vocal technique might have assisted to carry the otherwise excellent performances of Booth and Keen, but it was a delight to see the development of Toby Malone as a performer. If occasionally physically understated his almost melodramatic vocal range was admirably suited to the roles. Rebecca Pithers performance was the highlight for me with extraordinary assurance, sensitivity and vocal clarity.
And I have to ask... Rebecca is that you? I thought you looked very familiar, but I didn't read the programme until i went for coffee after the show. Can it be that i really directed you when you were ten years old???
Cheers
Grant
RE: Othello v Titus
Thu, 10 Aug 2000, 12:26 pmWalter Plinge
I must confess to not having seen much professional (or amateur) Shakespeare in the past, so I have very few performances to compare 'Othello v Titus' with.
But, from my few experiences, I can say that this blew nearly all of them out of the water. It certainly blew me away.
Unfamiliar with both plays (and I call myself a theatre student?) I was certainly in for some surprises. I couldn't believe that Shakespeare could actually conceive some of the gruesome ideas that came up in these plays (particularly Titus, 'cullinary' in the program synopsis has a rather different meaning to what I had expected...).
The plot was dense with action. So much happened in the forty or so minutes that each performance took that I could hardly find time to sip my glass of wine. And even though each performer played several roles, it was still fairly easy for the unaware audience member to get the gist of what was happening. It definitely helped with such strong and well characterised performances from the cast.
The two plays had different directors (Claire Hooper directed Othello and Gibson Nolte directed Titus) and were fairly different, yet equally as brilliant. Titus was a bit more abstract, and included some rather funny dance segments choreographed by Hooper, though I personally felt a bit naughty for laughing at the subject matter. :)
In the battle of Othello v Titus I would definitely call it a draw.
Well done to the cast and crew.
Michelle Sowden.
But, from my few experiences, I can say that this blew nearly all of them out of the water. It certainly blew me away.
Unfamiliar with both plays (and I call myself a theatre student?) I was certainly in for some surprises. I couldn't believe that Shakespeare could actually conceive some of the gruesome ideas that came up in these plays (particularly Titus, 'cullinary' in the program synopsis has a rather different meaning to what I had expected...).
The plot was dense with action. So much happened in the forty or so minutes that each performance took that I could hardly find time to sip my glass of wine. And even though each performer played several roles, it was still fairly easy for the unaware audience member to get the gist of what was happening. It definitely helped with such strong and well characterised performances from the cast.
The two plays had different directors (Claire Hooper directed Othello and Gibson Nolte directed Titus) and were fairly different, yet equally as brilliant. Titus was a bit more abstract, and included some rather funny dance segments choreographed by Hooper, though I personally felt a bit naughty for laughing at the subject matter. :)
In the battle of Othello v Titus I would definitely call it a draw.
Well done to the cast and crew.
Michelle Sowden.
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