Saturday, January 22, 2011
Synetic Theater in Washington Does Wordless Shakespeare
NYTimes.com: "For their first attempt at wordless Shakespeare — that’s right, wordless Shakespeare — the husband-and-wife leaders of the Synetic Theater company chose to apply their physical-theater aesthetic to “Hamlet,” counting on audiences’ familiarity with the plot.
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9 comments:
Amazing! As a dancer-turned-thespian, I am excited and intrigued by highly physical theatre and the blurring of the line between dance and theatre. When physical movement is allowed to drive a story forward and build on the vocabulary of a play, I think some truly innovative work can arise in theatre. Clearly I am not alone. More impressive, still is how successful they have been. I think the key is telling familiar, oft-told, and well-written stories in their unique way. By picking a canon that most theatre going public (perhaps most of the public period) is highly familiar with, it's easier to continue to know what is going on without being told. There's a reason so many plays, movies, and musicals have their main character plainly state right-out what it is they want. I don't think it's poor storytelling, just specific clarity. Having to portray that in a way that is new theatrically but familiar humanistically is a fascinating challenge Synetic has given themselves. As a Baltimore native, I'm a little ashamed I haven't heard of them, but I will make a point to see them as soon as possible.
When I lived in Wash,DC I missed their Hamlet but managed to catch their production of Macbeth (which happens to be my favorite Shakespeare, PS) and sufficiently had my mind blown. It was...well, simply and understatingly, amazing. It managed to capture everything we strive for in our art. Maybe I wasn't entirely unbiased as I know the play pretty well but I didn't miss a beat in a silent production of a playwright whose only remaining legacy is, really, his words. I'm thrilled to hear that not only did Synetic survive since then (I never did catch another production as I moved to Philly not long after) but that they're being acknowledged for all of their ground-breaking and inspiring work.
This sounds absolutely wonderful! At first I thought that it was going to be a strictly dance oriented version of these shows. What is really interesting for me is that they also incorporate mime into the performances too. I am glad that they are so well received, and it is great to see that they are able to make these performances so new and refreshing and unique. Especially with something like Shakespeare, which has been done over and over for so long. To think of and have such a successful outcome for pieces that are sometimes hard to reinvent, is impressive. In a slightly similar way, the senior mask movement piece from last year of Macbeth was along the same lines. Different as well because there were many different actors as well as it was just as much about utilizing the masks as about the piece. I just hope that innovation and like this continues to happen and progress the ideas and concepts of theatre.
If I can't start off a cynic: no one really understands 100% of any Shakespeare play so to some extent we've all seen Shakespeare without all the words. But anyway, this looks pretty cool. My brief, yet pretty intense, foray into peformance has been within silent forms: pantomime and clown. The best theater can be done without words, the best communication can be done without words. Buster Keaton, even though he eventually made talkies because of studio contracts that he couldn't break, felt there could be more communicated without words than with. To return to my first comment, what better way to clarify Shakespeare than by getting rid of all the words that make him the greatest (or not so greatest) playwright ever. I'd be interested to see this and see where they go. Would be great to see them pick a story that isn't' so easily recognized like Cymberline or Winter's Tale, and see how much can be communicated. That would be a true testament to their work.
I attended the 2010 Helen Hayes and people were still debating whether Synetic Theatre should be included at all. Why not include every ballet and opera too? I see how it fits within the theatre world as a new type of expression and communication of stories, but it does sit on a very blurry line. Is it really right to win a Helen Hayes for Best Lead Actor in Macbeth without speaking a word of Shakespeare? Dancers have to act when telling the story of their ballet, but it's not the same as a play. However, I also recently visited Prague where their most popular form of theatre is backlight/pantomime performances and they certainly believe them to be part of the "theatre" genre. I do think that Synetic Theatre is doing something innovative and I believe they are actually capturing the core of what theatre is, they are doing the same thing as traditional theaters, but in the language of movement.
i think that this is a brilliant idea. so often the words and themes of shakespear productions are interpolated into an environment other than that for which it was written. these same themes which trancend generations also trancend words, and it is wonderful that someone has finally found a way to display this.
Nic Marlton
The greatest thing about this is that a performance of wordless Shakespeare will allow the audience to focus on the brilliance of the story and the characters. Besides, who isn't looking to do Shakespeare in a new way! This is absolutely a way to appeal to the masses. However I'm sure there will be the English majors and truists that worry about losing the language. It is true that language is a huge part of Shakespeare, the innuendos, the iambic pentameter, the old english. In my opinion this is an endeavor that should be admired and pursued!
I think that Synetic Theatre is doing something brilliant. They are simply taking advantage of the fact that Shakespeare's greatest characters have become iconic. They have realized that, for people who are aware of the story that the words of Hamlet tell, the story is easily recognizable. I don't feel that what they are doing is detracting from Shakespeare's work at all, but is adding to it by taking another look at his characters from a new, fascinating perspective. I personally love the way that choreographers are able to tell stories and talk about characters through movement only. I hope that this new genre of theatre will continue to grow and gain success, thus allowing choreographers and dancers to shine and allowing those bored with Shakespeare to see his works rejuvenated.
A friend of mine is the production manager for Synetic-- it was a big day for her when her company was featured on the New York Times Arts page. Neat.
It sounds like these guys do some neat theatre with a very interesting premise. You see dance shows with all sorts of story lines. Or no story line. There are movement pieces that sometimes tell a story. And then there's these guys who physicalize the works of everyone's favorite bard. Synetic's popularity and success speaks volumes about the uniqueness of their work and how much audiences want to see something "different." I would love to see one of their productions, not only to enjoy it as a piece of art, but also to see if it makes any more sense than a normal Shakespeare show does to me!
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