The Fruminous Frankenstein & Theater Neepery in General

[neadods]

The days that The National Theatre lists for their simulcasts of Frankenstein are not the days that Shakespeare DC lists for their showings of Frankenstein, not even when you take international dates into consideration. So how that works, I don't know.

I do know that thanks to the efforts of a local Sherlockian, I'm part of the gang seeing it March 21, which has CumberCreature. Downside: Well, you see the pictures; the makeup's going to make him look like badly shaved monkey's ass. Upside: For 20 minutes *his* ass is going to be butt naked and it's for sure I'm not going to be looking at his face unless the camera people are very cruel.

Turns out that I don't even have to change cities to see it again if I want to see the reversed casting. I probably won't know until I've seen it the once if I want to or not - if I just want to bask in the unsutured Fruminous Cumberbatch, there's plenty of his work on Netflix. On the other hand, if I'm completely and absolutely blown away, I'll probably rush to the box office during the intermission along with most of the rest of the hall, probably.

Even having the choice makes up a teeny tiny bit for not being able to see the Tennant/Tate Much Ado. As will seeing the Seana McKenna Richard III, the show I was most excited about seeing in 2011 until Much Ado and Frankenstein came along.

Also, they just announced a major extension of The Importance of Being Earnest in NYC - without most of the current cast, but still with Brian Bedford's Lady Bracknell, so I may give suricattus another shout about trying to go up & see it.


Really. With all this fabulous theater, I'm completely calm about not being able to go see Much Ado who do I beg, bribe, or blow to ensure it's filmed? Hamlet was a money tree for RSC, BBC, & PBS, I'm just sayin'...


On a side note, the original novel Frankenstein is a free ebook y'all. I haven't read it in 20 years (it was required reading in a history of science class, of all things) but now I've got a copy I can check out before the show.

Comments

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

They may have to play it canny for the cameras, but I observe (whistles innocently) that the Olivier has a revolve which is in play during the whole opening scene. No angle unexplored.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I am SO looking forward to seeing all this performance.

But until then, I'm going to be worrying that the camera people are going to be mean to us all. And that would break my heart.

[tiggerallyn.livejournal.com]

I read a review of the play on The Guardian's website, and I have to admit that I am sorely tempted to come down to DC for one of the broadcasts.

The March date, though, is right out for me.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

So, come in April and crash on my couch.

[tiggerallyn.livejournal.com]

At the moment, I'm not thinking that far out. :)

And, really, I don't live that far away. The Greenbelt Metro stop is like forty minutes from my house.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

The show is phenemenal in every possible way. Enjoy!

(Also, not just his ass...)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Shall I go ahead and get that second ticket then?

(Also, not just his ass...)

So I hear. If the camera people focus high, you'll hear the wail of disappointment all the way from there to there.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Shall I go ahead and get that second ticket then?

Definitely. Miller's Creature and Cumberbatch's Victor were both superb.

If the camera people focus high, you'll hear the wail of disappointment all the way from there to there.

And it would be justified. There's a whole lot more than exterior plumbing that would be missed by that. The physical work in the whole opening sequence is completely and utterly jawdropping. I was exhausted on Miller's behalf after about two minutes.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I was exhausted on Miller's behalf after about two minutes.

Cumberbatch has said that the role wipes him out and physically hurts (he doesn't say which role; he may mean both). He's so exhausted at the end that he's asked people *not* to publicly post pictures of him from the stage door.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

I assume he was referring to the Creature, though Victor is no walk in the park. Either is an emotional marathon. Victor has a burst of physical workout near the end, but the Creature is top-to-toe physical engagement from start to finish.

[big-wired.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I still have my paperback copy of Frankenstein, the original by Mary Shelly, and there is a foreword in it by Mary Shelly itself. I had to read it for an English class I took in university, and the foreword by Marry Shelly is a very interesting, fascinating, and somewhat creepy experience.

This is someone who's been dead for over 200 years old, IIRC, and she's talking about the one thing she found creepy that became the basis for her book. It's also touching because we're reading it now, it's still viable and available and the themes and lessons of it still work. It's timeless.

It reminds me of the 4th season of Doctor Who, where the Doctor gives Catherine Tate a copy of a mystery novel from the author they just met, and it's in its fifth million edition. There's something really magical about that.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

There's something really magical about that

Frankenstein is one of those ideas that has wormed its way into culture, into very thought.

[fyrdrakken]

I'm kind of wistful about the odds of me seeing this (unless it gets made into a DVD, or broadcast on my local PBS like the Tennant-Stewart Hamlet was).

Oddly enough, one of my sister's birthday gifts last week was a nice hardcover edition of Frankenstein, as per her request.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I have the same wistful hopes about the Tennant/Tate Much Ado - and from everything I've heard about this, it would probably be a great DVD. On the other hand, with PBS already fighting for money, I don't know if they'd dare film something with a nude scene for fears of being called purveyers of porn.