bethb's Diaryland Diary

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reminisceing about old prop babies

I went to see Arg0nautica last night at ye olde shakespeare machine. it was weird that it wasn't weird to be back in that building. i didn't really have any feelings of 'i miss this' until i took some literature and saw some photos (they're finally using full production shots instead of lame actor close-ups) of lady windermere's fan and i thought of the time becky and i and maybe eric too, were quietly behind the curtain tacking these huge tassels on the sides of the large poof before the first preview while the audience funneled in.
i also got a pang of sadness when i saw the table they're using in the gift-shop area. i don't know why. it was like i just missed all the old furniture that i use to be in charge of.
argo, i thought, was good. it wasn't quite as magical as pericles, but i don't think anything ever will be. there was some great puppetry (and some not so great) but the harpies were cool, and the baby (did i ever write about my adventures trying to lash a remote control hand to a baby doll so it would move on its own here? it was a nightmare) was actually quite effective.
maybe just for me with my baggage with prop babies and the shakespeare theatre...
when we did macbeth, MK wanted an actor to take this baby doll and whap its head on the edge of a bench with a signifigant cracking sound so i cut the back of a baby doll's head off and bolted the head onto the neck so it wouldn't fly off, cast a bunch of head-backs, and for the sound put a plastic cup inside the baby's head, covered it with the cast plaster piece, and sent it on its way.
it was cut after either the invited dress or first preview because apparently seeing a big man whap a doll on a bench was too much for anyone who actually squeezed a person out of their vagina to see, so the guy ended up taking the baby forcibly off stage.
in argo, an obviously cloth doll is lowered through a hole in the ceiling and is manipulated by 5 strings. the effect is quite good, particularly when the stage is quiet and all you have is the 'tok-tok-tok' of the baby's wooden feet and hands on the stage, and a soldier comes in and cuts the lines up high and the baby falls silent.
it was really simple and beautiful. a lot of the show is...although i thought the costumes looked a little cheap. it's not a show that originated at the shakes. it was brought in. the set was fine, and the cast (most of whom were exceptionally atheletic) used it well. which is another difference, there's no way you could have gotten some of the shakespeare machine's usual actors to have used the set the way mary got this cast to use her set. that was a problem walt had in tempest, he wanted to see actors climb these two big quarter-pipe looking things that, honestly? i thought were a little unactable. but some of the actors in that cast flat-out refused to climb ladders and such which made for a very small acting space.
not that i cared. as soon as tempest opened i was going to paris.
i didn't see mary or dan there last night. i don't know if they even came to town, i imagine mary probably did, but usually if a show has been up and running at other places, the set designers rarely make the trip. maybe for opening night.
i would have liked to have seen dan again. working with him (and mary) was by far one of the most rewarding moments in my entire time at the shakespeare.
wow, i'm getting all reminisce-y weird.

7:25 a.m. - 2008-01-21

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