Theatre Visits
These holidays are not just for doing some travel throughout the UK but I've also planned a few trips to see shows. In the last 4 days I've seen two very different shows. The first was Stomp and then yesterday I saw Matthew Bourne's Edward Scissorhands. Both were wonderful shows in very different ways.
Stomp blew me away for the sheer energy and creativity of it. There were some slightly tacky comedy bits in it, and the show would have been jsut as good without those - there was no need to try to create a storyline for a show that is essentially based around creating rythm and music from rubbish. There were 3 sequences that had me open mouthed, they were one using rubber hoses, another with zippo lighters and the third was using water containers. I know rubber hoses can be musical - hey I'm a brass player and i grew up in a country where didgeridoos are part of the indigenous culture - but the way the ensemble made the hoses sing, not by blowing down them but by bouncing them on the stage was something else.
The Zippo lighters were great, something so quiet and subdued in amongst a generally loud, OTT show was great. Look on the Stomp website (http://www.stomp.co.uk/02c_sketchbook.htm) for an idea of how they get the Zippos to play. But the water containers was the best. Again I know that those things can be used as drums, who hasn't enjoyed banging away at an empty container before, but they way they got them to almost sing was fabulous. By throwing them slightly and then tapping them, so they were really resonant, the ensemble managed to get some real music happening. I don't know if they tuned the containers (sounds silly, but i mean by putting some water in them) or if it was just the slightly different styles of each performer, but there were definate tones coming through, and the combinations really were marvelous.
Edward Scissorhands was just brilliant. i'm going to run out of superlatives and start repeating myself, there really is no way i can properly explain it. Although Matthew Bourne is better known for his reinterpretations of classical ballet (think all male swan lake) this wasn't so much a ballet as a story book told through dance. I can see why Tim Burton was happy for it to be produced, it was so far beyond what you might imagine. The dancing was fabulous, but the costuming, the sets, music and the amazing ability of the cast to convey emotions made the whole thing. There was one bit where Edward is first showing his feelings for Kim and they dance through a dream scape of topiary figures. The figures come to life and dance as well. The costumes! I can't imagine how the dancers saw through them, or got into them. there were no obvious joins, no thin looking place over the eyes - it just looked like solid plant matter, well the artificial plant matter, but a solid costume none the less. The show was just under 2 hours long, but it felt like i had been there for less than half that time. It really was entrancing. If i had the money, and time, i would see it again and again, I know there are things i missed and bits where i didn't properly pick up on the full meaning or emotion. I really am glad i decided to go. I thought about going when it was in london, and was too busy to see it when it was in birmingham. I thought i had missed it until i saw that they were doing it in Nottingham, it's nice being reasonably close to two fairly big cities.
I'll be seeing Miss Saigon later in the month, I'm looking forward to that as well. I know I'll be horribly poor at the end of these holidays, but right now I'm enjoying the experiences too much to worry about that.
Stomp blew me away for the sheer energy and creativity of it. There were some slightly tacky comedy bits in it, and the show would have been jsut as good without those - there was no need to try to create a storyline for a show that is essentially based around creating rythm and music from rubbish. There were 3 sequences that had me open mouthed, they were one using rubber hoses, another with zippo lighters and the third was using water containers. I know rubber hoses can be musical - hey I'm a brass player and i grew up in a country where didgeridoos are part of the indigenous culture - but the way the ensemble made the hoses sing, not by blowing down them but by bouncing them on the stage was something else.
The Zippo lighters were great, something so quiet and subdued in amongst a generally loud, OTT show was great. Look on the Stomp website (http://www.stomp.co.uk/02c_sketchbook.htm) for an idea of how they get the Zippos to play. But the water containers was the best. Again I know that those things can be used as drums, who hasn't enjoyed banging away at an empty container before, but they way they got them to almost sing was fabulous. By throwing them slightly and then tapping them, so they were really resonant, the ensemble managed to get some real music happening. I don't know if they tuned the containers (sounds silly, but i mean by putting some water in them) or if it was just the slightly different styles of each performer, but there were definate tones coming through, and the combinations really were marvelous.
Edward Scissorhands was just brilliant. i'm going to run out of superlatives and start repeating myself, there really is no way i can properly explain it. Although Matthew Bourne is better known for his reinterpretations of classical ballet (think all male swan lake) this wasn't so much a ballet as a story book told through dance. I can see why Tim Burton was happy for it to be produced, it was so far beyond what you might imagine. The dancing was fabulous, but the costuming, the sets, music and the amazing ability of the cast to convey emotions made the whole thing. There was one bit where Edward is first showing his feelings for Kim and they dance through a dream scape of topiary figures. The figures come to life and dance as well. The costumes! I can't imagine how the dancers saw through them, or got into them. there were no obvious joins, no thin looking place over the eyes - it just looked like solid plant matter, well the artificial plant matter, but a solid costume none the less. The show was just under 2 hours long, but it felt like i had been there for less than half that time. It really was entrancing. If i had the money, and time, i would see it again and again, I know there are things i missed and bits where i didn't properly pick up on the full meaning or emotion. I really am glad i decided to go. I thought about going when it was in london, and was too busy to see it when it was in birmingham. I thought i had missed it until i saw that they were doing it in Nottingham, it's nice being reasonably close to two fairly big cities.
I'll be seeing Miss Saigon later in the month, I'm looking forward to that as well. I know I'll be horribly poor at the end of these holidays, but right now I'm enjoying the experiences too much to worry about that.
posted by bronwyn | 4:24 PM
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