This post is about Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, the play that I went to see at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre tonight. But it's midnight and I'm super tired, so I'll do it tomorrow. I just need this here to remind me to do it. Toodles.
*****
So yesterday I went see an Elizabethan play. It was pretty much a Shakespeare play, in old English and all, only it wasn't actually by Shakespeare. It was performed at the Globe Theatre when it first came out in the 1600, and so the performance in the reconstructed Globe last night would have been pretty much exactly as it was as when it was first performed. Minus the super modern plastic raincoats that they were selling for 2 pounds, and the electrical lights they used when it got dark. And the hidden sprinkler system in case the place caught on fire (the whole thing is pretty much made out of wood, and the original Globe burnt down). The night was an activity in experiencing standing up to watch at play, like the poor people would have done in Shakespeare's day. Except they stank a lot more.
The play is centered around themes of God and the devil and faith and logic. It is about a smart German guy called Faustus, who decides to sign his life to Lucifer in return for 24 years of guaranteed life, and Mephistopholis, a little devil, as his servant.
'Twas a little bit hard to understand what they were saying sometimes, but then I just admired the costumes and stuff. They were pretty cool. So old school. And the sets too. They even had people physically drawing the curtains, and when some of the devil-like characters came out, they were literally like paper mache horse heads. Or actors carrying a metal head and body.
The place is pretty small, and there's a little part of the stage that juts out to the centre of the 'O', so the actors could actually stand right in the middle and address the crowd. But that also meant that they were acting out there right in the middle of the audience, so when they spat food (just celery sticks) and threw things around, the poor people closest to the actors copped it.
*****
So yesterday I went see an Elizabethan play. It was pretty much a Shakespeare play, in old English and all, only it wasn't actually by Shakespeare. It was performed at the Globe Theatre when it first came out in the 1600, and so the performance in the reconstructed Globe last night would have been pretty much exactly as it was as when it was first performed. Minus the super modern plastic raincoats that they were selling for 2 pounds, and the electrical lights they used when it got dark. And the hidden sprinkler system in case the place caught on fire (the whole thing is pretty much made out of wood, and the original Globe burnt down). The night was an activity in experiencing standing up to watch at play, like the poor people would have done in Shakespeare's day. Except they stank a lot more.
The play is centered around themes of God and the devil and faith and logic. It is about a smart German guy called Faustus, who decides to sign his life to Lucifer in return for 24 years of guaranteed life, and Mephistopholis, a little devil, as his servant.
'Twas a little bit hard to understand what they were saying sometimes, but then I just admired the costumes and stuff. They were pretty cool. So old school. And the sets too. They even had people physically drawing the curtains, and when some of the devil-like characters came out, they were literally like paper mache horse heads. Or actors carrying a metal head and body.
The place is pretty small, and there's a little part of the stage that juts out to the centre of the 'O', so the actors could actually stand right in the middle and address the crowd. But that also meant that they were acting out there right in the middle of the audience, so when they spat food (just celery sticks) and threw things around, the poor people closest to the actors copped it.
Rachel and I were running a bit late, and we were soaked cos it had been raining pretty hard while we were walking. We literally walked in, and Rachel turned around again to try to buy a raincoat, but the doors were already shut.
It rained for some of the first half, which made it a bit hard to hear cos everyone was rustling their plastic raincoats.
At the interval we were tired already, so we went to sit in the gallery for a while.
The play was from 6.30 til 9.15ish, so when it started it was still kinda bright, and it actually got dark as the play went on. That was pretty cool.
Enjoyable night becoming more cultured.
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