Shake it up Shakespeare!
Just a short post to say that 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' is going fine, although the cast is exhausted and Shakespeare himself may be spinning in his grave. We had a few hairy moments on the preview and first night, what with bits of the set being on stage at the wrong time, a couple of lines skipped and one memorable moment when I was wallopped by an errant door (it was totally my fault as I should have moved away!)
But the audiences seem to be enjoying it and eventually, when I feel less tired - probably tomorrow after I have had a good and well-deserved lie in - I will start to enjoy it more too!
In other news, the Stagecoach kiddies workshop went really well and they wowed their audience during their performance of 'The Dracula Spectacula' at St James Cavalier yesterday. Oh and Maltagirl GOT AN ' A' in her English A level exam. As if we had any doubt!
But the audiences seem to be enjoying it and eventually, when I feel less tired - probably tomorrow after I have had a good and well-deserved lie in - I will start to enjoy it more too!
In other news, the Stagecoach kiddies workshop went really well and they wowed their audience during their performance of 'The Dracula Spectacula' at St James Cavalier yesterday. Oh and Maltagirl GOT AN ' A' in her English A level exam. As if we had any doubt!
posted by princess buttercup @ 2:31 PM
12 Comments:
At 4:50 PM,
Hsejjes said…
Did you see the Times today? Seems Bocca liked it. I will be comming next week to see it.
At 5:09 PM,
princess buttercup said…
Yes he did! Hope you enjoy it too!
At 7:12 PM,
sharonspiteri said…
Darnit I want to be rich so I can fly down for the weekend Shaky perf etc.
At 1:26 AM,
MaltaGirl said…
*blush*
Looking forward to seeing the play! *bounce*
At 12:15 PM,
princess buttercup said…
Yay Maltagirl! Yes Sha, if I was rich enough, I'd fly you down myself!
At 5:19 PM,
Anonymous said…
mela ergajt irxuxtajt guz??
At 6:13 PM,
princess buttercup said…
Hey Guze, glad you enjoyed it! Yesterday was a brill show, and you were a great audience.
Re: backstage people, I know... they are so noisy sometimes I may throttle some of them before the run is over.
Hehehe and thanks re: legs - they're a bit white I thought, maybe some fake tan is in order?! On second thoughts, I just can't be bothered!
At 10:51 AM,
princess buttercup said…
Hello again Guze, I agree with you on the point that most TV writing sucks, true.
Another problem we have here is that the budget for TV serials, sitcoms etc also sucks. Even if we had the best writing, we still wouldn't reach the heights/professionalism of countries such as the US and UK because there simply isn't enough money to, for example, pay the actors and crew well, buy decent cameras, props etc. Here time is really money so, for example, very few TV 'directors' allow their actors to rehearse, which results in 2nd-rate acting being caught on screen and transmitted to the public, when a simple rehearsal might have made the finished product marginally better.
After all, what you are seeing on stage is the result of approximately 6 weeks of rehearsals! When acting for TV here, it is usually a case of 'action'... and even if there are mistakes, the director usually says 'u ija, it's not bad... let's go on to the next shot'.
Having said that, I do believe that theatre and TV acting are two distinct things. By this I mean that there are many actors who shine on stage and suck on screen (or vice versa). This happens abroad too. The technique for acting on stage (where you have to be a bit larger than life because the audience is 'far away') and on TV (where a close-up can even expose the spots on your forehead) is marginally different and I dont think that there is one single actor here in Malta who has really nailed it in the TV acting department. As you said, it is not impossible to be great at both, but it does take a lot of talent, dedication and versatility.
Which brings us to the question of training. There's not a lot of it here, is there, for my generation at least. With the mushrooming of theatre schools here, the situation may arrange itself somewhat for future generations of actors. Also, until a professional kind of theatre is created (where people don't do a play in the evening and have to get up for their 'real work' the next morning, work till 5 pm and drag themselves to the theatre for another performance), I fear that it will be very difficult to get really good all-rounders.
Anyway, am really glad you enjoyed the show. And the band, who are fantastic! I don't know what they will do next year to top it... maybe the actors will have to parachute out of a light aircraft or something equally spectacular!
At 12:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Woq she sed!!! yo guz - glad you enjoyed it. it's a bit of fun fluff and we're having a blast too! however re your original comment - it's NOT original !! hehe!! it's a rip off of any Carry On movie ever made!! having said that though - i agree that some ideas are pretty cool. i ADORE the ice-cream bike for example. and the band just ROCKS. they are amazing. they have covered up so many of my mistakes *blush* and they really really know their music. i don't want to say bye to them. in fact i may handcuff myself to the saxaphone!
At 2:55 PM,
mistoqsija said…
I watched Merry Wives yesterday. Cor, you were AMAZING ;) Loved the wig and the false lashes.. great sixties glam and both you and Da Kween looked awesome in those costumes. :) I really enjoyed it!
At 11:52 AM,
princess buttercup said…
Hi Mistposija - sop glad you enjoyed it! I'm loving it all... except those horrible eyelashes which may look good, but the glue we use to stick 'em on REALLY stings!
At 6:01 PM,
princess buttercup said…
Oh, and Queen P my dahlink, I dont really agree with the comment you made about it being a 'bit of fun fluff' - fun sure, but not exactly fluff! I think we have all (including yourself and also herr director) worked really hard - us to learn all those bloody gazillion lines and give a jolly good show and him by being inventive and quirky! Anyway, love ya and see you tonight! PS: *sung to the tune of the conga song* "Only one more conGA, Only one more conGA!!!" YEAH!
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