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| ... Gilbert (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr) and Hortense (Leah Harvey) eating fish and chips from a newspaper ... |
“A company of 40 actors, traces the tangled history of Jamaica and the UK throughout the Second World War until 1948 – the year HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury.” That is what one of the introductions to the play said.
I took notes on the second and thirds viewings.
I learn the most this way, with a pencil in my hand.
Still I couldn’t keep up with all of the information that comes on the website. I couldn’t keep up with all of the feelings that the play generates, either, and which I tried to keep track of until the exercise seemed overwhelming. Just a slight look, or a sagging of the shoulders of an actor and the story becomes so rich.
National Theatre Live. Such a privilege.
This week with being able to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, I am going to try to find a finer balance between watching and learning – though much of the learning is also watching, since there is so much delivered on the web about this play. Well, off to find some website now that gives the 10 or 20 most famous quotes in the play. That is always such a good place for me to start.
Arta
A captivating production. The acting, the staging, the moving set, the projections, the lighting. On top of being an excellent play, now they put it all together... well, you always know you will be wowed by the National Theatre, but they continue to amaze me each time I see a new production.
ReplyDeleteSuch hard themes. So hard to see that the racism of the 1940s is so similar to the racism of 2020.
I don't regret any of the hours I spent watching that production. Three times might be a bit much for some shows, but not this one. Just enough of those racism hurts that it was hard to really get comfortable during the play. I like that effect.
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