Sunday, October 25, 2009
Donmar’s Impact Echoes From London to New York
NYTimes.com: "IN the opening minutes of the new production of 'Hamlet' on Broadway the massive stone towers at the rear of the stage slide slowly apart to reveal another looming facade, a craggy expanse of brick painted shiny black."
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3 comments:
I saw Cabaret and it was one of the most incredible experiences of a show I have ever seen. Donmar is a great producer and certainly changing theater as we know it. Of course with sucess, comes failure and to hear how Hamlet is not as great as it could be is suprising, when the hype for this show has been so high strung and as it seemed, without mistake. To hear how the show fails in some areas, makes me realize most of their shows that make their way to New York are for finacial sucess, then actual theatrical sucess. Although Cabaret was great, it is dissappointing and contray to public hype, that Hamlet is not as good as it would be. And apparently neither was Guys and Dolls by the same Director. So why would you hire him again?
I love theaters that have a specific type of look and atmosphere to them. Depending on what play is being performed, I think this type of theater can create a fantastic mood for the audience from the very moment they enter the house. It's not necessary, but I think it is always very interesting when a theater can enhance the atmosphere of the play through the interior architectural design of the theater. It doesn't work for all shows, and not all theaters, but its fascinating when it does happen.
I think that the story of this theatre is inspiring. It is incredible that such a small theatre can have this effect on London Theatre and then even back here in the United States. It seems that Donmar has in some aspect changed how people look at theatre. I agree with the article in that with this design for the stage it is important for the audience to focus on the text and with Shakespeare I believe that is an important thing.
I have been reading a few different articles about this particular Hamlet and I can see now in hearing about the theatre space how this production of Hamlet is different from many others that I have heard about. It seems as if it would be fascinating to watch. The cool thing is that with such a minimalist set the lighting becomes even more important than before and
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