Post by lynette on Oct 19, 2018 17:42:10 GMT
this is a short run so I thought I'd post a thread. I can’t find it on other threads.
A good effort is what I say but some serious errors. Of course, packed with kids, school parties and a few with parents, gps etc. I took my two gsons and explained the story twice beforehand, once with the synopsis on the website and once with cutlery, spoons the Antipholases and cake forks the Dromios, etc. But despite this it wasn’t clear in the play why Adriana was chasing her husband and what happened to him. There was chasing around, far too much but not a clear follow of the plot. It was Ant of Eph who explains what has happened to him and this was spoken well by the actor but had not been preceded by the action and so hard for the kids ( 7+)to place and didn’t add to the clarity at all. So a muddy ending.
The gold chain episode was very well done. Adriana and sister were excellent.
At the beginning the two actors playing the mum ( changed from the dad but Dromio of Eph still said 'him' at one point! ) and the duke grabbed the attention of the kiddies but then the exposition by the children was muffled and messy so they lost the momentum. I’ve always said, let the actors do their thing. And children watch children all the time, what they want is some magic created by professionals. They used a girl from the audience for the 'officer' which was amusing but too cutesy.
It ran for 90 minutes. Of course getting a crowd of kids in and out in an interval is probably a nightmare but I couldn’t help thinking that a full production with an interval would be better for kids in the end. I expect the timing is partly because of transport because the kids have to get back to school. I found 90 mins a bit tedious frankly and there was plenty of shuffling.
I admire the effort and if this is the only Shakespeare a junior school pupil sees than so be it. I’m greedy, I want more.
A good effort is what I say but some serious errors. Of course, packed with kids, school parties and a few with parents, gps etc. I took my two gsons and explained the story twice beforehand, once with the synopsis on the website and once with cutlery, spoons the Antipholases and cake forks the Dromios, etc. But despite this it wasn’t clear in the play why Adriana was chasing her husband and what happened to him. There was chasing around, far too much but not a clear follow of the plot. It was Ant of Eph who explains what has happened to him and this was spoken well by the actor but had not been preceded by the action and so hard for the kids ( 7+)to place and didn’t add to the clarity at all. So a muddy ending.
The gold chain episode was very well done. Adriana and sister were excellent.
At the beginning the two actors playing the mum ( changed from the dad but Dromio of Eph still said 'him' at one point! ) and the duke grabbed the attention of the kiddies but then the exposition by the children was muffled and messy so they lost the momentum. I’ve always said, let the actors do their thing. And children watch children all the time, what they want is some magic created by professionals. They used a girl from the audience for the 'officer' which was amusing but too cutesy.
It ran for 90 minutes. Of course getting a crowd of kids in and out in an interval is probably a nightmare but I couldn’t help thinking that a full production with an interval would be better for kids in the end. I expect the timing is partly because of transport because the kids have to get back to school. I found 90 mins a bit tedious frankly and there was plenty of shuffling.
I admire the effort and if this is the only Shakespeare a junior school pupil sees than so be it. I’m greedy, I want more.