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jaalaWell, I'm here at university. I gave my parents a brief tour and they left for Fredericton (then Ontario) while I unpacked yesterday. I'm switching my default userpic for a fews days to a photo of the house I'm living in this year. (Off the website. Nothing special, but it gives the right impression when I say I'm living in an official residence, but it's not really residence living.
* * *
I quite enjoyed the first part of Henry VI. (It was an abridged version, as most are, combining Henry VI parts 1, 2, and 3 into two plays.) The first act moved at the pace of the average music video (that is, lightning fast) and while it was energetic, exciting, well acted, smoothly and innovatively staged, I found that I did not get involved emotionally and hence my interest (though it was there) was only superficial. I surprised myself, because I had read that its fast pacing was one of this productions strong points.
The second act, on the other hand, I loved unreservedly. Several of the relationships and situations set up so fleetingly in the first act grew to fruition; and with the focus less on battles in France, heredity, and various absurdities of war, and more on backstabbing, machinations, and character flaws within the English court. But most of all, the action slowed down and I actually got to watch the subtleties of stage acting come through. I was drawn into the story, cared about the characters, got angry at the conspirators. So overall, I really liked it. The young cast (most were/are recent apprentices) was impressive, while the experienced old hands were the frosting on the cake. A few things I just have to say:
My favourite bit was probably when Henry finally gives an indicating that he's catching on to the treacherous ways of his relatives, as he recovers from fainting. (What, doth my Lord of Suffolk comfort me?/Came he right now to sing a raven's note/Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers?"I found it one of the most gripping moments of a very gripping second act.
* * *
I had the pleasure (?) of witnessing the initiation of the "house" (group of houses, actually) frosh this evening. Various disgusting combinations of foodstuffs (e.g. garlic powder, jello, oatmeal, vinegar, etc.) were crawled through, fallen upon, pillowfought with, and flung at each other. I was there to see the new people (none of whom are in my particular house, actually), cheer them on, and see what types of things are usually done at the initiation finale. I missed it last year when I was a first year student because I was sick. Really, I was sick! (Like anyone's going to believe that.) I got myself out of bed at 7am on Sunday, had army paint smeared on my face, wore a single T-shirt for four days straight, participated in a bunch of silly games, yelled myself hoarse, and so on, but was too ill by Sunday evening to run around in muck.
* * *
I have to register tomorrow because I procrastinated on mailing in the form for too long this summer. I had been trying to decide whether I could hack intermediate French, whether I would hope they ran Basic (review) French this year, or just take the diagnostic test and hope I didn't fail. I've always regretted dropping French in high school, and now I can't take the follow-up to Linguistics 2001 (which I really liked) unless I take a language. I ended up deciding I couldn't handle French at 8:30 in the morning so that was that, but I forgot the deadline and missed it.
So I'm now filling out a separate form for autumn registration and I'll be standing in line a lot tomorrow.
* * *
I quite enjoyed the first part of Henry VI. (It was an abridged version, as most are, combining Henry VI parts 1, 2, and 3 into two plays.) The first act moved at the pace of the average music video (that is, lightning fast) and while it was energetic, exciting, well acted, smoothly and innovatively staged, I found that I did not get involved emotionally and hence my interest (though it was there) was only superficial. I surprised myself, because I had read that its fast pacing was one of this productions strong points.
The second act, on the other hand, I loved unreservedly. Several of the relationships and situations set up so fleetingly in the first act grew to fruition; and with the focus less on battles in France, heredity, and various absurdities of war, and more on backstabbing, machinations, and character flaws within the English court. But most of all, the action slowed down and I actually got to watch the subtleties of stage acting come through. I was drawn into the story, cared about the characters, got angry at the conspirators. So overall, I really liked it. The young cast (most were/are recent apprentices) was impressive, while the experienced old hands were the frosting on the cake. A few things I just have to say:
- Rami Posner is going to get few chances to play heroic or non-eccentric roles; that in itself wouldn't necessarily be bad, but the poor man has ended up with ethnic and stereotypes parts these past two years
- the Tom Patterson stage allows you to be delightfully close to the action no matter where you are
- speaking of which, our seats were so high as to almost touch the ceiling; we could hear the light filters changing and the actors walking by underneath the seats
- I had to suppress the temptation to say (Kevin McDonald-like), "Evil! Evil!" whenever Margaret, Richard, and Suffolk were dissembling
- okay, I admit it: Michael Therriault is adorable; rather, he's adorable himself, but also used his acting skills to play the king very convincingly childlike and naive. (I especially loved his shocked and embarrassed reaction when Suffolk says that Margaret will "answer our hope in issue of a king.")
My favourite bit was probably when Henry finally gives an indicating that he's catching on to the treacherous ways of his relatives, as he recovers from fainting. (What, doth my Lord of Suffolk comfort me?/Came he right now to sing a raven's note/Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers?"I found it one of the most gripping moments of a very gripping second act.
* * *
I had the pleasure (?) of witnessing the initiation of the "house" (group of houses, actually) frosh this evening. Various disgusting combinations of foodstuffs (e.g. garlic powder, jello, oatmeal, vinegar, etc.) were crawled through, fallen upon, pillowfought with, and flung at each other. I was there to see the new people (none of whom are in my particular house, actually), cheer them on, and see what types of things are usually done at the initiation finale. I missed it last year when I was a first year student because I was sick. Really, I was sick! (Like anyone's going to believe that.) I got myself out of bed at 7am on Sunday, had army paint smeared on my face, wore a single T-shirt for four days straight, participated in a bunch of silly games, yelled myself hoarse, and so on, but was too ill by Sunday evening to run around in muck.
* * *
I have to register tomorrow because I procrastinated on mailing in the form for too long this summer. I had been trying to decide whether I could hack intermediate French, whether I would hope they ran Basic (review) French this year, or just take the diagnostic test and hope I didn't fail. I've always regretted dropping French in high school, and now I can't take the follow-up to Linguistics 2001 (which I really liked) unless I take a language. I ended up deciding I couldn't handle French at 8:30 in the morning so that was that, but I forgot the deadline and missed it.
So I'm now filling out a separate form for autumn registration and I'll be standing in line a lot tomorrow.
