Thirty Days Meme: Day 14 - Candide
Sep. 7th, 2013 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitWe went up to Stratford-upon-Avon again today, this time to see Candide, a new play by the RSC writing in residence Mark Ravenhill, inspired by the book of the same name by Voltaire. This time we were in the Swan Theatre, rather than the main RSC Theatre. The Swan is smaller, more intimate and in a sense more like an old theatre with the design of the balconies. It also has bench seats rather than individual seats. Like the RST is a thrust stage and we were on the side in the second row, so close to the action.
It was an interesting play, and I think it will take a while to properly absorb all that happened. The play begins in the time that the original book was set, but then moves up to date, back into Voltaire's time and the final act is set about 10 years in the future. It was an interesting concept, which I'm sure would bear further thought, I'm just not sure I'm going to give it though.
The costuming helps a great deal. The first act is set as a play written from Candide's journal and performed to Candide to bring him out of the depression he has fallen into. All the "actors" in the "play" are dressed in costumes made from the same blue and white patterned material which pulls the action together extremely well.
My favourite part of the play: when Candide leaves El Dorada on a sheep powered by children's balloons. I was very glad I wasn't Candide being winched all the way to the theatre ceiling; he may have had a harness on, but it was an awfully long way up.
We go to Stratford again next Saturday, when we shall see the same company.
It was an interesting play, and I think it will take a while to properly absorb all that happened. The play begins in the time that the original book was set, but then moves up to date, back into Voltaire's time and the final act is set about 10 years in the future. It was an interesting concept, which I'm sure would bear further thought, I'm just not sure I'm going to give it though.
The costuming helps a great deal. The first act is set as a play written from Candide's journal and performed to Candide to bring him out of the depression he has fallen into. All the "actors" in the "play" are dressed in costumes made from the same blue and white patterned material which pulls the action together extremely well.
My favourite part of the play: when Candide leaves El Dorada on a sheep powered by children's balloons. I was very glad I wasn't Candide being winched all the way to the theatre ceiling; he may have had a harness on, but it was an awfully long way up.
We go to Stratford again next Saturday, when we shall see the same company.
