LONELYPOND PRESENTS

Haven’t talked Shakespeare in a bit, but the calls about Merchant of Venice (#merven) auditions are already starting so it’s moving back into the mull over space in my brain. And my holdover obsession from my last reading is RINGS. Three of them: Portia’s, Nerissa’s and Shylock’s.

Shylock has a ring, you say, I missed that. If you did, go back, because I can’t get the thought out of my head that it is THE pivotal moment for his character. As Shylock is having a meltdown over his daughter’s disappearance with his goods, having only just paused that to finish his meltdown over the unfair treatment of Jews and moneylenders, his fellow moneylender Tubal reports he saw a ring Jessica traded for a monkey. Shylock’s wife had given him that particular turquoise ring before their bethrothal. Tubal’s revelation comes at the end of a scene mixing Shylock’s rage and thirst for revenge over his daughter’s betrayal with Antonio’s ill fortune and the opportunity it affords Shylock to settle a lifetime of grievances (III i) This scene changes the whole tone of the play and Shylock’s interaction with the world around him. And Shakespeare tosses in this moment of sentiment/personal history/real emotion(?) after Shylock’s totally over the top, playing to the balcony seats, possibly staged and well rehearsed rant*. So we come to the make or break scene, but while most seem to focus on the big dramatic “Hath a Jew not eyes” speech, I find myself focusing on what Shylock says after, when left alone with his only peer in the play and discussing the trigger of his raging sorrow (Jessica’s betrayal). Taming of The Shrew (#tamingshakespeare) taught me to only pay as much attention to the “BIG” speeches as the play actually requires so what I find myself wondering is not does Shylock bleed but does he shed a turquoise tear over wife’s loss and daughter’s treason.

And now to the shredding. Well, it’s going to take an exceptional actress to convince me that Portia’s not just a bubbling fountain of egocentric, self important, smart ass cruelty. What she does to Shylock could be justified as over protectiveness of Bassiano but then I stumble over the cruel trick she and Nerissa play on their newlywed husbands. First, they give Bassiano and Graziano rings and make them swear never to take them off, give them away, etc. Then, Portia and Nerissa, disguised as learned doctor of laws and his clerk, demand the men give them the rings as payment. Later in the final act, Portia and Nerissa claim to have lain with the doctor and the clerk by virtue of their possession of said rings. Oy. I must say the men show remarkable forbearance. Almost (only almost) more than finding a Portia, I worry about finding a Bassiano who can make Portia seem lovable. And Portia never bothers to explain that it might be a response to some of Bassiano’s protests of his loyalty to Antonio during the trial. Shakespeare often leaves a kick in the teeth for directors in Act V (if he hasn’t earlier aka Act I, sc ii of The Tempest, which should just be a prequel titled The Duke Of Milan).

So while many people focus on the three caskets, gold, silver and lead, that challenge Portia’s suitors, I find myself obsessed with three rings.

*I admit to pre prepping the occasional rant while pacing in my office/backyard/empty theatre; haven’t you?

Well, none really. I have a stack of movies — we started the Netflix account + some borrowed — that I’d like to make a dent in. The list? Soapdish (Netflix) — ever watch a soap opera, ever laugh at Sally Field and/or Kevin Kline (yes, A Fish Called Wanda is a must see) — then Soapdish is a can’t miss. What else? Blythe — one of my theatre peeps — loaned me Tristam Shandy(movie/book skipping back + forth with the excellent Steve Coogan) + Bubba Ho Tep (Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis kick some mummy ass) at the end of #tamingshakespeare so I’d like to watch them so I can then arrange a meeting to get my first three Scott Pilgrim graphic novels BACK (yes, I am suffering from a lack of a nearly complete Scott Pilgrim graphic novel stack by my bedside.) Oh, and long ago my former editor + anime/animation connection Mel loaned me Steamboy and although I am reluctant to pop it in, I do want to give it a try. Most of the anime movies I’ve seen are too warcentric for me.

Speaking of movies, my buddies at The Web Files (@The WebFiles) continue to do excellent work and thanks to them I have met my new friends at Movies You May Have Missed (@MYMHM) — we’ve been having snappy conversations the past couple of weeks about remakes + Netflix + streaming movies. Both shows did fun, crossover episodes with each other this week and left me with a craving for MORE movies — The Web Files ep + MYMHM ep. It’s pretty amazing what’s out there on the intrawebs. Check it out…

And, self plug, follow @blinkkittylove’s feed on Twitter, check out the episodes on their blip.tv station, or have some musical fun with lyrics at the Blink Kitty Love site.

Have a great weekend. This is my new favorite song.

I am planning* on curling up with the how to manual for ToonBoom’s Studio 5 program so I can figure out how to have some more Blink Kitty Love fun. Crush you later ; )

*Unless I decide to get distracted by Jane Austen or Harry Potter or my three weeks behind stack of FT’s. Or one of the cats decides the 500 page manual is her (or his) new favorite nap spot. Come back Tuesday to see what won.

Watching the weather radar and this song in my head.

Two articles in the local papers about Taming of the Shrew and Theatre Under the Trees. The Dispatch’s does a great job of giving you a sense of what the Theatre Under The Trees experience is like and the Record’s article is a fairly lively overview of the play.

Newest internet finds:

Have been having fun with Shirt.Woot — a new t-shirt for $10 posted each night at 12:01 a.m. They have a Derby every week with new designs — this week’s theme was Tatoo (finalists); it’s a fun and relaxing way to get a look at (and vote for) some cool art. @apelad tipped me to it and his was the Monday shirt.

The Cabonauts starting following me — new web series — and I got to thinking that I might want to find out more about what’s out there. And then The Web Files starting following me, I caught their trailer, I’m a sucker for a good hat and a trenchcoat, I followed back, watched their first interview with Tay Zonday, liked the questions and thought this is a good way to get to know what’s out there…They’re up to 3 episodes so far — Safety Geeks SVI looks like a fun and funny show.

A flash of enthusiasm/inspiration visited and I decided it might be fun to put host Kristyn Burtt in a Blink Kitty Love episode and we exchanged a few e-mails. They are hoping to cover animation at some point, they’re just not sure how. I don’t think Blink Kitty Love is ready for the big time yet, but I am mulling over how to increase your favorite crazy crushing band’s fan base (as well as redesign their website) and it was nice to be taken seriously. So best of luck to The Web Files…I’m looking forward to picking up some tips from your future episodes. And maybe Ms. Burtt and Tammy can go out in their hats + trenchcoats for cupcakes and coffee (yes, in the next episode, Tammy puts on the hat + trenchcoat disguise to find out more about Ty’s girlfriend –TY HAS A GIRLFRIEND??????? Don’t worry, you’ll find out more about it after #tamingshakespeare’s over. Until then, check out your favorite episodes –and drop some redesign comments PLEASE — on the Blink Kitty Love site. Tomorrow (Friday), we do a special Guess or Sneak the 80’s Sax Solos.

And I really enjoyed the Apollo 11 rebroadcast. Thanks and props to John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for the experience. And NASA for joining in on Twitter.

And the Fourth Plinth is still happening. I pop in a couple of times a day — random bits of weirdness and/or mopping. Right now, very energetic guy with a guitar who just turned in his doctoral thesis.

Miss The Big Bang Theory, haven’t really had a chance to watch Eureka — although S.A.R.A.H. is tweeting about TIRDS?, still looking forward to the Wizards movie but can’t catch the first half of the vampire saga as we have SHOWS (very exciting; see articles above), haven’t see the newest Harry Potter yet, annoyed that (500) Days of Summer isn’t in town, a little excited about G.I. Joe, and tired. Don’t forget to pick up your Middleman DVDs next week and take care! I’ll miss you, but SHOWS! Taming of The Shrew rocks a park maybe not near you, but you’ll hear the laughter.

Have a great afternoon — and wish me nice weather.

And what, you wonder, is tech rehearsal for Theatre Under the Trees like…well, we borrow someone’s backyard, unload three carloads worth of stuff, put up the set, put on costumes, run the show, take off costumes, eat things you cook on a grill, put costumes back on, run the show again, break everything down, and reload it into three cars. Then I come home, notice I don’t have anything fun and semi-healthy to eat that can be dipped in milk, watch Flash friendly TV, and then Gayle goes to bed, I put on last.fm’s Radio FlashCatFlash and transfer pictures from my camera so I can e-mail them as promised to the York Dispatch’s Entertainment Editor. For the finish, I write a tersely worded costume notes e-mail to my costumer, who was the most disappointing part of the day.

It’s sad when the professional lets you down…no costumer at tech (and I asked politely aka begged) and thousands of questions. Gayle has been so busy coping with set, prop and spillover costume questions when I’m dealing with other questions that there really hasn’t been time for music. So we have two more rehearsals to see if we can work incidental music in, we’re ditching the keyboard and Gayle’s going to see if she can get enough up to speed on her clarinet that audiences will be able to hear “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate.”

Grump…but it was mostly a fun day in beautiful weather and lines flowed better the second time through. Costumes that were present and fit looked great. The 8-9 yr old troublemakers actually policed their own behavior after a glitch caused by overexcitement due to beach ball. I think that bodes well for the future (the self policing).

And I really need a producer + a stage manager + a full sized truck, but I have from the beginning. We will manage. It’s what you do when you tour. And Friday, we open and I find myself thinking I might start looking forward to it.

Oh, and wonder of wonders, I have cracked the big horrible awful Kate speech. You see, the thing is, it’s not a polemic about marriage or a declaration about the rights of womenkind. It’s notoriously tempermental Katherina ticking off her annoying little sister and Hortensio’s smug, witchy new wife. And with Bianca and the Widow’s reactions, you just get drawn into the scene instead of hurrying off your small children or thinking, gee philosophy of life is happening. And I am very happy about that.

And here’s a picture to commemorate the day — Petruchio, Kate and Grumio, after the wedding:

After the Wedding

Been watching a guy in his pajamas and an inflatable couch (in a quarter of my computer screen) raising awareness for housing needs and participating in a massive 100 day public art project in Trafalgar Square, London. A different person on the plinth every hour for 100 days. It started July 6 and was conceived by Anthony Gormley. Somebody should graffiti the plinth. Banksy?

And a lower brow note, no plinth or marble involved, finally caught an iCarly and a True jackson tonight…Sam suddenly has a twin in the best of silly sitcom traditions and they’re gradually working True back into the high school crowd. True going back to school is being covered in an upcoming movie: Testing True. iCarly also has a movie coming up, which I hope is better than iDate A Bad Boy.

The Hannah “who will she choose” 1 hour event was well done, fun + suspenseful. Big hit/happy Hannah loving Flash. Disney seems to have cracked this summer’s movies + events. Not really missing the Disney Summer Games.

Listening to Minimum sing on the Plinth. Pretty cool idea, I think; I’m bookmarking the page + will be checking back in. It continues through October.

In the personal, non plinth performance regard aka #tamingshakespeare, had a good rehearsal today and took some publicity photos. Need to send them to the local papers tonight + try to get some rest tomorrow. Need a day off + curling up with a good book or movie or newspaper. Sleep well. Or at least rest a little

I’m putting this on a t-shirt + adding a cape.

Found on a site listing Jeeves + Wooster quotes. P.G. Wodehouse to comfort me in this hectic time of approaching tech and dress rehearsals:

As sayeth the Jeeves: “I’m sure that your cool head and undoubted thespian powers will see you through the day, Sir.”

Good night.

Ok, Shakespeare (#tamingshakespeare) takes up a lot of time + mental energy. Traffic control with 7, 8 and 9 year olds takes up even more, so blog posting may be a bit erratic for awhile. But tonight at rehearsal, I was so IN THE ZONE…it was a great feeling, solving problems, dodging poetry + meter jams, hearing things right for the first time, moving actors and words and motion like everything was a painting, a symphony, a play, a whole entity that was clicking into its moment.

Personal notes: instrumental jazz drives me crazy after a bit, I prefer lyrics mixed in with my melodies; the little brother acquired a Hewlett Packard tower of some sort so we’re back to low level World of Warcrafting again while we work off the rust, and I really want to go on vacation. But first, I want to turn a kick ass Taming of The Shrew out into the world. We’ll see if the buzz/zone/focus survives Thursday and the return of the 12 and under crowd.

Twitter’s been fun(and yes, there is some irony underlying there); there’s all the #iranelection stuff and that somehow led to the gay activism #lgbt stuff and sparks occasionally fly off my twitterfeed these days, but they are directed at the political workings of the universe and not causing glitches in my internal mental circuits (NOTE: I need to subscribe to last.fm so I don’t get the have you been eaten by a bear graphic so often as I listen to Radio FlashCatFlash in the background. Flash is an ardent consumer of media — listener of last.fm, chewer of Entertainment Weekly.) Although, I did try follow an agent for awhile — I occasionally try to find new + interesting Twitter peeps, but it seems like the people on the inside of the “I’ve been published/I know the system/I’m not a Visigoth” wall shrink away from and patronize the strivers/hopers/schemers who think writing leads to JK Rowlings levels of success and billions and who believe that there’s an easy solution and that someone would actually tell them if there was. And that’s just tiring — the patronization: there is no easy solution; there’s only your own tolerance level for continuing to try. I suppose, to sympathize with the gatekeepers, smug or otherwise, that it’s also tiring getting harassed by people who want to be published. But I just don’t like the industries built up to take money/hope/energy from people with writing/moviemaking/painting/crafting/creating dreams. And who make little hoops for people to jump through rather than respecting honest effort. And the people who control access to the gates with assured superiority really tick me off - and no, I’m not sure that this agent was one of that breed, but it did trigger some memories. And yes, somewhere back in the day, my ancestors painted themselves blue and did things like tear down the towers of Rome. But then we learned to read the books and saved the civilization we once helped burn. And now we’re writing the blogs and drawing the webcomics and digitizing the viral videos.

Oh well, apparently, Twitter related mental glitches/rants still occur. But on a personal note, two of my WORST auditionees ever, who had the most trouble with the language, had turned into two of the MOST amazing and dedicated Shakespeareans by the time they stopped having time to spend their summers touring Shakespeare. Because they worked their asses off, they learned, they tried and I gave them opportunities and challenges. I am so thankful I took them up on their enthusiasm and bravery instead of dismissing their stumbling over the language. And I am so grateful it is a lesson I learned the FIRST time I directed Shakespeare. I remind myself of it before every audition.

Have been having a tweetversation about Henry James — someone’s reading “Turn of The Screw” and I suggested “Beast in The Jungle.” So I went looking for it to make sure that was the story I was talking about and found excerpts and suddenly thought, OMG, that’s what influenced Jane and Sally’s relationship in In The Bleak December. Wow. Amazing how what you’ve read and only remember the experience of gets threaded into what you write. And here I thought it was mainly Persuasion and Bellwether and Topsy Turvy mixed. Maybe the sequel could stand to be influenced by Taming of The Shrew. I can just see Jane grumbling “To me she’s married, not unto my clothes.” Now, there’s a place to start.

Speaking of married, we went to see The Proposal and were not impressed. No one seems to do dialogue anymore — or even put the stars in the same shot. you have faces, you have names, why worry about chemistry, communication, plot, script, the fast pace of banter…why not just linger on movie star faces. Oy. I watched Kissing Jessica Stein to recover my love of movies — now there’s a movie with some great conversations.

Now, so as not to be responsible for a total rant fest, I have hopes of (500) Days of Summer, which is apparently non linear. And I am still enjoying piecing together the upcoming Scott Pilgrim movies from Edgar Wright’s daily photos. And there’s the hope that Bandslam will actually rock. Must see Hot Fuzz sometime; NetFlix is becoming a must fit into the budget.

Anyway, thanks for listening; keep cool, get some sleep and some sun. And brush up your Shakespeare; it’s fun, darn it.

Not only is the Royal Shakespeare Company on Twitter, but they are running a tweet a love poem into “As You Like It” Contest(deadline 6/22/09). And the RSC search started with a Peter Aspden Culture column about tweeting, culture and the relevancy of the classics.

Good lunch with the FT with E-bay Billionaire and current philanthropist/movie mogul Jeff Skoll.

Vanessa Friedman, always informed and provoking of thought, this past weekend discusses Isabel Toledo.

Good Peter Aspden review of The World and Its Double: The Life and Work Of Otto Preminger.

And on a #tamingshakespeare note, have been working on Taming Of The Shrew both in rehearsals and out (currently trying to decide on image or word focus for t-shirt –actually, better to say, I am negotiating that point with Gayle. I have been informed that although it is not wide, the boardwalk problem has been solved) and I am enthralled by how much Taming is about clothes. Lines keep popping into my head: “I confess the cape” has always been one of my favorites. More recently, I have been mulling Petruchio’s succinct description of what his bride is getting into: “To me she’s married, not unto my clothes.” And then there is the lovely scene with the tailor where Shakespeare lets a character rant, and this one is right up there with the lovers’ ranting from Midsummer*. Out tailor is about 1/3 the size of our Petruchio so the contrast should be interesting:

“O monstrous arrogance! Thou liest, thou thread,
thou thimble,
Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail!
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cricket thou!
Braved in mine own house with a skein of thread?
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant;
Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yard
As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou livest!
I tell thee, I, that thou hast marr’d her gown.”

I think if I were inclined to check myself back into an academic’s garb, I might be inclined to write a thesis on the clothes of Kate Hall. Could be scintillating.

And on a quick Disney note, the Wizards with Hannah On Deck event looks like a blast. I don’t think we have a show that night (7/17) — Flash is not liking the rehearsal schedule, seems to still be growing and now we have What I Like About You time after rehearsal. The N has, of course, incurred our wrath with DeGrassi again — bumping What I Like on the weekends….and yes, I still miss Radio Free Roscoe being on a time I’m actually awake.

That’s a wrap, I believe. Looking forward to seeing The Proposal on Friday, then Metamorphoses on Saturday (friend in the cast, plus, yes, fan of Ovid — are you really surprised?), Sunday, back to Shakespeare –we do Act IV and V until they sparkle which means I could not be home ’til Monday — Shrew has SO many characters on stage at most times. I had blanked out the horrible traffic jams.

*Hermia’s rant:
“Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game.
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures; she hath urged her height;
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail’d with him.
And are you grown so high in his esteem;
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.”

Followed later by Lysander’s dismissal:
“Get you gone, you dwarf;
You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;
You bead, you acorn.”

Oh, just read the whole scene here (thank you, MIT)

My new favorite thing about the internet: Kingdom of Loathing.

Fun photos I’ve been posting on Twitter.

Great column on poetry by Harry Eyres.

Sarah Hemming (we can add a thing to 10 Things I Hate About Sarah Hemming) reviews Arcadia.

New iCarly/new True Jackson…fun. Max is always fun; Gayle apparently loves when True tells Dad stories; and I want Max’s car. Now, what was the iCarly episode about — oh, DIngo Studios — great fun to see Sam whapping people with a sweat sock; Gibby always fun, little bit too taking a dig at a Disney/Fox mutant hybrid, but a fair to midrange episode.

Eureka — watched second half of Season 3 first two episodes. First one, airing on July 10th and dealing with Carter’s replacement as sheriff, was rocking with whimsical Eureka goodness. Second one totally tanked, although if you like Jo in a sexy red dress you won’t care that every science fiction show in this and every alternate universe has done that storyline (and many have done it better). So need a tie breaking episode.

And so good night. That should tide you over for awhile. I have an agenda full of sleep, showering and Shakespeare. I like it.