all done!

[firstfrost]

Whee. Stagehanding for Theater at First is over. This sort of thing could be fun to do on a more regular basis, were it not for the flaw that it requires cancelling too much of my life for a month. As soon as I can expand "doing multiple things at once" into "being multiple places at once" I'll be all set, but my GM keeps insisting that I'm not in a weird-shit run.

• Scripted: I like the central theme of the play, of what has meaning in your life and what doesn't. I found it oddly jarring after multiple re-watchings, in that there are a lot of things that you can't think very hard about, or they just break (i.e. at what point are they back on script; how much of their dialogue have they already read?). But it's the only play of the lot that actually made me think about it, at all, so that's a plus. My life is, basically, the "great life"/"boring life" that they argue about, and it's nice to think about adding pink replacement pages to it (though one a day would definitely get tiring). Stagehanding was definitely a pink replacement page in my life. :)
• In the Jar: Not much actual Meaning here, but the bugs are really adorable, and their chitchat is funny. Plus the firefly lights are lovely.
• Passed Hordes: This is the only play I didn't particularly care for. Isabel is contemptuous of everyone, including herself, and Paul is vaguely likable in a lame sort of way. I'm pretty whole-heartedly a Noel Cowardian in that "I will accept anything in the theatre... provided it amuses or moves me. But if it does neither, I want to go home" and this one didn't manage to do either. But, hey, only ten minutes.
• Shakespeare Lives: I'm really sad that I can't see this one from backstage - it's played well at the front and into the audience, and it seems to have the most physical comedy. Goofy, but ten-pound sacks of fun.
• The Kiss: My favorite. Both amusing and moving! Really nice acting; the script could have been a lot less funny, but they were just really on. That's my chapstick they're mocking in their little improvisational riff!
• Shades: This one's hard to rate, 'cause I was in it instead of just watching. I'm not sure John was actually lower volume and never unsure, as played, but I liked listening to the various levels whether I beleived them or not. The monkeys are inexplicable, but were great anyway. :)
• Cabfare for the Common Man: This one just has too many props! The literal interpretation of Life As A Journey is a fun one, but there isn't really any more to it than that - it never got the second half plot twist that the other plays did. (And what the heck was up with the Land of Sad Coffee Makers?)

Comments

[dpolicar]

Well, if it was only gonna be once, I'm glad it was this one... you and the other stagehands really made Shades come together.

Incidentally: "I'm not sure John was actually lower volume and never unsure, as played,"... you know, that's a great point and it never once occurred to me during rehearsal. (slaps forehead) Oh well!

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

It made a certain kind of sense to me, actually--he was 'never awkward' because he was one of those guys who always acts supremely overconfident. That kind of affect could easily drown out something that's deeply felt but not easily expressed, like love--it'd take a while to hear it, right enough.

[dpolicar]

(nods) yeah! that's what I meant! Right!
(grins)

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Ah, I like that interpretation. Not that he's lower volume, but that his love is lower volume because it's subtle and he isn't?

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you signed on for this one. It's very much the 'throw you in the deep end and see if you can learn to swim' method of stagehanding, yes (if your first show had been, say, Twelve Angry Jurors, which calls for a single set, I wager you'd have found it taking up less of your life :)). We'd never have made it without you. :)