View: Next message | Previous message Next in topic | Previous in topic Next by same author | Previous by same author Previous page (July 1999, week 4) | Back to main OPERA-L page Join or leave OPERA-L Reply | Post a new message Search Options: Chronologically | Most recent first Proportional font | Non-proportional font ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 02:14:18 +0000 Reply-To: "H.E.Elsom" Sender: Discussion of opera and related issues From: "H.E.Elsom" Subject: A funny thing..., Regent's Park, 24Jul99 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Pseudolus Roy Hudd Senex Michael Tudor Barnes Domina Susie Blake Hero Rhashan Stone Hysterium Gavin Muir Erronius Ken Wynne Miles Gloriosus Peter Gallagher Lycus Peter Forbes Philia Claire Carrie Tintinabula Rebecca Hartley Geminae Sara Hillier, Rachel Matthews Vibrata Natasha Bain Gymnasia Fiona Dunn Proteans Ben Hicks, Vincent Penfold, Giles Taylor, Tony Whittle Director Ian Talbot Music director Catherine Jayes The open air theatre in Regent's Park is perhaps the last remnant of the tradition of publicly supported venues that host summer seasons of popular classics. It has fixed seating and (the person next to me, who kindly let me use some sun cream, assured me) state of the art lighting. But the season still seems to be devised by perming two of three of Twelfth night, A midsummer night's dream and The merry wives of Windsor, and adding in a Shakespeare-related musical. The audience seems to be a mix of tourists and peopl who have been going for years. I went partly because I'd never seen a live performance of A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, and partly because I was interested to see whether Roy Hudd, who made me giggle uncontrollably when I was very young, had Pseudolus in him. Hudd is an expert on the (British) musical hall tradition -- he has played Dan Leno and one of Flannagan and Allen --, a pretty good comedian in the same tradition, and a not-bad actor. He does Bottom regularly at Regent's Park, and Dennis Potter, presumably with his music hall background in mind, wrote a couple of roles for him. But his comic persona is that of a wide-eyed goofy clown with a lugubrious streak, not the extroverted camp of Frankie Howerd, who created Pseudolus, or the verbal agression of Zero Mostel, who played it on Broadway. My verdict on Hudd was not bad, again. He delivers the role, without much messing about and with pretty good communication with the audience. But he doesn't have the energy or villainy, or the sheer breakneck speed. This was a general problem -- the production never reached the hysterical pace where you could stop deciding whether a particular frantic entrance or exit was supported by the plot or just schtick. But it made up for it with general efficiency and good humour, and an amusing decor of lurid coloured mosaics and sixties "Roman" costumes all round. (Lycus' brothel creepers under scarlet toga and the Elvis lookalike Miles Gloriosus were particularly funny.) What was interesting about this performance was the presence of several very old hands among the younger actors who list The Bill in their CVs. Forum of course does Roman comedy as vaudeville, just as Shakespeare did it as Elizabethan low comedy. The character roles work amazingly well done in slightly old-fashioned Shakespearean style. Michael Horden in the movie wasn't exactly Shakespearean -- he had a line in more contemporary, though old-fashioned, lechers and buffoons. Gavin Muir was a camp, dodgy Hysterium, quite at home in drag and able to show Hysterium enjoing it as well. Michael Tudor Barnes was extremely theatrical but completely direct as Senex, only stepping out of the frame for the prologue to the second part. Most of the other performances were within the British comic tradition, which was more or less effective. Susie Blake was a battleaxe Domina, not quite passionate enough between wanting to kill her husband. Claire Carrie as Philia looked slightly too old for an ingenue, but sounded like Felicity Kendal to make up for it. Rashan Stone was an amiably gawky Hero, looking and acting more than an touch like Gary Lineker. The courtesans were something between vaudeville acts and Bond girls. The Proteans were excellently drilled, and particularly funny as the eunuchs with pink rubber bald heads and high-pitched voices. Catherine Jayes directed a small ensemble which was jolly rather than vulgar. By the way, it just dawned on me that there's perhaps an additional, extremely nasty, point to Lycus' name. The up-front meaning is presumably "wolf" as in lecher or predator, though the point is neither Plautine nor very obvious, unlike the other names. But he's described as a trader in female flesh. And Lycus is the king (in Ovid's Metamorphoses I) who cooks up a cannibal feast. Regards, Helen - H.E. Elsom he@helsom.demon.co.uk http://www.helsom.demon.co.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main OPERA-L page ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to the LISTSERV home page at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU.