Today I have to give a bit of a blogspank* to Bell Shakespeare.
Flicking through Saturday's Spectrum section of the Sydney Morning Herald, I came across a large advertisement for their latest production of Othello.
Having just reviewed it positively in The Daily Telegraph I thought they may have used a quote of mine. They certainly did... and some more.
There it was in black and white - "Masterful... Blair's most accomplished performance to date" Daily Tele.
I went back to the copy. I never said 'masterful'. Where on earth did that word come from? They could have chosen from a wide range of positive quotes, but they end up using a bit of creative license to attribute words that the Daily Telegraph never said.
Has any else come across any other arts marketing departments making up quotes? This is my first foray into mainstream criticism and I am just amazed that this has happened straight away.
My editor was not impressed. Misquoting critics is not cool Mr Bell Shakespeare.
blogspank: vb. when a weblog points out unprofessional or the questionable behaviour of an individual, organisation or other blog.
Friday, 6 July 2007
To mourn a mischief
Posted by Nicholas Pickard at 11:37 am
Labels: General Comment, Theatre, Theatre Critics
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10 comments:
Nicholas you have been introduced to the oldest trick in the theatrical book. Review quotes that start and end with ... are always highly suspicious. A recent production at a mainstage theatre had received mediocre reviews for the play and especially the direction, one review saying something along the lines of "this should have been a great production however it failed to achieve anything close to etc etc" and sure enough the Saturday paper quote was: "...a great production..." I must saying inventing words is a step beyond anything I've heard of. Isn't that breach of your copyright?
Making up words is usually outside creative pullquoting, but hey. My favourite example was when Carillo Gantner pullquoted a review of mine in the Bulletin, where I said of his acting" "It is, in its own way, a tour de force. Every young actor should see it, in order to know what to avoid." Which became, with the help of the infamous dots: "...a tour de force...every young actor should see it...The Bulletin".
Time honoured does not mean ethical, of course.
Very naughty BSC. Let us know what response you get. Surely an apology and swift changes would be appropriate – of course it was probably just an error randomly generated by a computer with a sense of humour. For while I would agree that the performance was Blair’s “most accomplished to date” I think it was far from “Masterful”.
I thought the production was very interesting and enjoyed it a lot – perhaps in spite of its rather profound performance shortcomings.
Blair's performance seemed to me to be one where he adopted [perhaps was directed to adopt] a few postures/physical positions to try & overcome what I have come to see as his habitual physical patterns as an actor.
What you refer to as “mesmerising movement that verges on ancient ritual and dance” I saw as his typically uncontrolled physicality – though its incidence was much reduced by the adoption of a series of straight-jacket poses – hands held tight behind back etc. I have always found his lack of discipline in this area very distracting. It removes from his work the clarity that good storytelling requires.
His usual lip smacking and chewing remained and his eye flutters repeated through the show seemingly without rhyme or reason. I was in the front row so this may have not been so obvious further off. Some have interpreted these gestures as a ‘preview’ of the last scene’s fit – but if that was how they were intended I found them very unconvincing – poorly placed and ignored by everyone else witnessing them.
To drive another nail in, I felt that he was often unable to make sense of the verse as the emotion increased.
Other drawbacks from my perspective were Walsman’s droning voiced Desdamona – which flattened all poetry to nothingness - perhaps big spaces are too much for her vocal technique to maintain the flexibility required for poetic language and my final whinge is about Wren’s performance as Cassio, which felt to me to come from the ‘aw-gee-shucks’ school of acting.[A personal prejudice perhaps.] It seems quite common for characters of that type to be played as if they’ve had an intellect bypass. Surely the character is more interesting the more dimensions they have.
That said – none of these things stopped me enjoying the show and Graham’s Iago was engaging and charming, Butel’s Roderigo a fabulous, frenzied madness of love and lust and Chris Ryan a fascinating presence – was his white face a ‘shadow’ of Othello’s black one? Was he conscience to both Othello and Iago? Was he us – the witness to the destruction of a great man? All of these I hope.
Stunning lights and the use of the oil drums to add percussive punctuations were other successful elements to a show that was either moderately well directed or brilliantly directed [depending on your theory of how Potts handled Blair’s performance].
Finally, though there was fascination there wasn’t much emotion to the experience. Thus the focus of the play moved from Othello to Iago. One colleague’s reflection that I found interesting was that it turned the play into one about a liar who, for their own gratification, leads a credulous dupe to their doom. Which really makes it a play for our times. The next election will test that theory.
Thankyou for your keen insights Noam..! It's wonderful that such diverse reactions have been stimulated from the reviews and the production.
You are certainly not alone in your views of Blair's performance, but it does appear that many people's response to the show are often dictated by where they sat... which is a very interesting element in this debate.
I have to concede that I agree with much of what you say of Walsman's vocal range. I recall thinking the same when I saw her in Company B's Peribanez last year.
And I also agree with you on Chris Ryan's characterisation... probably the most interesting directorial decisions of Othello. I suspect you are spot on about the symbolism of his white face... Wasn't it him that was blinding Othello in the very opening sequence?
The drums and staging were not as effective for me. You can see the full text version of my review here where I talk of that:
http://artsjournalist.blogspot.com/2007/06/review-othello.html
Your colleagues take on the impact of Blair and Graham's performances is very amusing... John Howard as Iago. What a stunning image! Next it will be Roderigo as Peter Costello.
Graham's performance is certainly the strongest Iago I have seen - and I only compare it to the Cheek By Jowl production that played at the Sydney Theatre in 2004 - where it was the complete opposite.
Othello in that version was an enormous presence on stage, both in physicality and character and Iago was more of a snivelling and jealous weazle.
That is one very big reason why I found Blair's Othello so intriguing. For me it turned the stereotype of Othello on its head, and I do believe that it worked.
Yes, on reflection the oil drums could have been integrated into the show more completely.The ensemble's music was an attractive addition to the show but the drums could have added dynamism to the soundscape.Drums, guitars and the whole cast on stage producing sound to augment the action - sounds like an exciting idea.But so many ideas start off that way, don't they.
Tell me, Nicholas, was the M word used in a photo caption or a headline? Or on any other page of the Tele that day?!! Then you're fair game! (Heh!) A certain ballet company (of the national variety) often attributes headlines to critics. Much to my chagrrrrin.
Hey, I see you have another review in today (Monday July 9th). Let's see if you maintain your 100% quoted quota with Dead Caesar.
Just to follow up on Alison's comment, I recall another production (Stephen Sewell's Sisters, if memory serves me like an Iron Chef) in which one glowing review after another was quoted. The last one read, simply, "An unmitigated disaster."
Guess who? (No, not me... her!!)
As for Walsman's voice... I'm inclined to attribute the 'drone' to technique. When I've seen her in big theatres (Peribanez -- in the fucking barn at the Seymour Centre -- Othello in the 860 seat Playhouse Theatre in Melbourne) I've noticed a flatness, a strain. But she rocked in the Wharf 1 theatre, in The Shape of Things.
Star stuff. Really.
Yes I'll add a positive vote for Leanna's voice in smaller spaces--she was wonderful in La Dispute and very good in Old Masters, both at Wharf 1. The sad fact is that these days in spaces larger than that many younger actors need body mikes to be properly heard and give their voices resonance. What the f*** are they teaching them at drama school if not to speak? David Mamet once said any actor who couldn't be heard unassisted in the back row of a thousand seat Broadway theatre is in the wrong profession. Perhaps they could frame that quote and put it on the wall at NIDA.
I am really glad that there are some alternative viewpoints on this. I did not have the fortune of seeing either La Dispute or Old Masters.
Old School, I couldn't agree more with you on the training of young actors. It reminds me of a story that Bogdan Koca told me when he appeared in a show at the Opera House a couple of years back.
The sound design of the show insisted that every actor be microphoned in the Playhouse. Koca was furious and refused. He ended up caving in to the demand, but had an agreement with the sound operator to have his microphone turned down to practically off so that he could freely project into the auditorium.
Yes I believe that was Benedict Andrews' production of "The Three Sisters." Now I shall contradict myself, because in fact that was a production (much like Andrews' extraordinary "Season at Sarsaparilla") in which he was deliberately using technological devices, including amplified soundscape, as part of his overall concept. So in that rare example I would take issue with Bogdan (marvellous actor) and say that it was his responsibility to go along with the director's vision. But that is very different from young actors who simply don't have any vocal skills, which is more the norm than the exception.
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