Month: June 2016
“You should never read just for “enjoyment.” Read to make yourself smarter! Less judgmental. More apt to understand your friends’ insane behavior, or better yet, your own. Pick “hard books.” Ones you have to concentrate on while reading. And for god’s sake, don’t let me ever hear you say, “I can’t read fiction. I only have time for the truth.” Fiction is the truth, fool! Ever hear of “literature”? That means fiction, too, stupid.”
– John Waters
Fandoms, from someone else
Today I am flying back from Copenhagen, so please find for your enjoyment and intrigue, an article written by a much better writer about the tremendous problems that fandoms are creating for themselves: Ta-dah!
All credit must go to Devin Faraci, for it’s a very interesting article.
“So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away. And in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall.”
– Roald Dahl
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
— Frederick Douglass
BBC at Midsummer
So before I even begin: this was bloody excellent, and I disagree with anyone who says otherwise. Deal with it.
The BBC produced an excellent feature-length A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of their celebration of William Shakespeare this year. The original script was given a treatment by Russell T. Davies (of Queer as Folk and Doctor Who fame), and this shows through in the use of bombastic visual effects and the combination of impactful lines with the orchestrated score. Though purists have lamented the excision of certain scenes and lines, along with the shuffling about of lines between characters, each of the changes has been made for a good reason (expedience of plot being the primary, comedy coming in a close second), and results in a slick, streamlined production.
The conceit of this version is that Athens is ruled over by the tyrannical Theseus, complete with stark black-and-red liveried guards and telescreens to keep an eye on the populace. For viewers used to a more light-hearted interpretation of the play, this jars against their expectations, but it rapidly becomes the norm. Similarly, while the fairies are often used as a foil to the seriousness of the city of Athens, using magic and mischief to lighten the mood of the play, here the tone of the fairies is initially similar to that of Athens itself. Titania and Oberon do battle, with their respective fairy bands prepared to fight for the monarchs. The use of this conceit gives the opening a dark tone, which brings the production in line with classical comedy – everything must go from low to high; with characters ending the play elevated from their initial position – quite literally in the case of the final scenes, where Theseus’ palace is sat on a cliff overlooking the city.
The cast is universally magnificent. Maxine Peake and Nonso Anozie play off one another as a surprisingly combative Titania and Oberon, while Hiran Abeysekera’s Puck is by turns menacing and mischievous, but almost entirely marvellous. John Hannah’s authoritarian Theseus oozes menace from every pore (especially when he holds the iPad of Power*). Though an enormous number of her lines have been cut from the final production, Eleanor Matsuura’s cool hatred as Hippolyta works well against Theseus. The real stars are the lovers, however. Paapa Essiedu, Matthew Tennyson, Kate Kennedy and Prisca Bakare all deserve praise for their (mostly) believable relationships, and their characterisations of each of the young characters.
Credit must also be given to the mechanicals; despite their being the comic heart of the play, and this production featuring Bernard Cribbins as Snout, Richard Wilson as Starveling and Matt Lucas as Bottom, none of them overshadow the main plot, or threaten to overstep their part. A balance is struck between the main plot and the subplot to give each just the right amount of screentime before their inevitable collision.
As part of the changes made to the script, Davies has included a handful of LGBT twists on the original to bring the play into the twenty-first century. Which is fantastic. Demetrius falling in love with Lysander is played for laughs, and is perfect within the context of that scene. Titania and Hippolyta being in love also makes sense in this version of the play, as Titania is consistently working for Hippolyta and against Oberon. Even Flute gets a romance with one of the un-helmeted guards at the close of the play. Naturally, this has caused, let’s say, consternation amongst certain groups, but this interpretation makes absolute sense, and works very well within this production.
Really, there’s no reason not to watch this production unless you have a particular dislike for Shakespeare, magic, or Russell T. Davies. My only complaint would be that BBC Wales does keep on using the exact same sets across its programming, and though the Cardiff National Museum is a lovely building, I would like not to see it one day. Similarly, though the set for ‘Trap Street’ from Doctor Who was very good, again, it would be nice not to see it one day. But as I say, that’s my only complaint in a show that is quite simply put, magical in almost every single way.
And as Puck himself says:
“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended—
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.”
* Other tablets of power are available.
** Photos used here are property of the BBC.
Bookaccio 