Opening and Other Up-Dates

Saturday night was the Opening for See How They Run at Circle Theatre in Fort Worth.

A very funny show.  The audience howled and clapped - adding ten minutes in laughter, so that actors had to find ways to vamp until their next line could heard.  A nice kinda problem!

I'm pretty happy with the Tudar style, half-timbered set.  There had to be a few minor compromises on the details of this one due to real-life-situations which took up some of the builder's time, but nothing an audience would notice.  It happens.

I spent the afternoon before opening in Fort Worth.

The Kimbell Art Museum had few visitors (they're between big shows and knee deep in construction), but part of their wonderful permanent collection was on display, so I was happy to visit favorites like Elisabeth Vigee LeBrun's self portrait and Matisse's L'Asia.

Ancient pieces are currently featured.  There's a lovely bronze head with amazingly curling hair.  A lovely crouching marble Venus.  A few red-figure vases...  How, I wondered, could the Greek vase painter of 2500 years ago make the gory death of Pentheus so beautiful?  Even his dismembered torso (partly hidden by the display stand) has dignity and beauty.  You can see it below, or better on the museum's website  HERE  (Click on the Pic for a detailed close-up.)  There's a wonderful crispness and richness to the lines that define the characters in this tragedy and a balance between linear and solid-area painting that I admire.  Decorative ceramic painting is an unforgiving art - it's hard to fix a mistake - so the sure hand here is remarkable.

In many ways this illustrated story is similar to a modern graphic novel.  The original viewers would have known the story and not needed the museum's cue card explaining that King Pentheus had forbidden the worship of Dionysus (or Bacchus, the wine god and the king's own cousin).  He forbade the women of his kingdom (his aunties and mother included) to take part in these rites.

Well.

You can imagine a Greek god's reaction.

Pentheus's mother only recognized her son's head on her sharp stick after the wine induced frenzy faded.

The longer you look at and think about this scene of the insulted god Bacchus's revenge, the more disturbing this beauty is...

The Death of Pentheus, Kimbell Art Museum, believed fair use

Construction of the new addition to the Kimbell Museum is proceeding.  New concrete work is finally above grade.  A few long beams have been delivered and set in place.  Wrapped in such heavy black plastic, I wonder whether these are wood beams?  Or pre-cast concrete unusually well protected?  You can start to see the massing of the new building versus the existing one now and, so far, it seems as if the original will not be overwhelmed...  we'll see.

I do hope, once the new building is done, there will be some repairs to the existing Kahn building; I spotted quite a bit of damage to the too-thin travertine of its steps and porch floors.

After this museum visit - pizza!

I was happy to see one of the theater critics having a good meal at the same restaurant.  I have long advocated for DFW actors and designers to chip into a special fund to make sure critics get a good meal and a drink before coming to see a play - the last thing we want is a hungry/grumpy critic.

A grumpy critic might write a review a little too much like that ancient vase-painter painted his gory picture!

Fight Call and Farcical Design

Last night was the Designer Run for the British farce See How They Run at Circle Theatre.

It's going to be funny!

But before the Run there was Fight Call, to rehearse various chases and physical bits.

Director Robin Armstrong is known for farce and physical comedy - creating one of the best comic moments I've ever seen in Incorruptible - a brilliant silent fight between a man and a woman (who was supposed to be dead at the time) literally over the head of a monk who knelt, praying, with his eyes closed.  As he finished his prayer and opened his eyes, the woman lay there again "dead" in front of him - fight over.  Perfectly timed.  So it was fascinating to watch this new show's fight rehearsal.  I didn't know (being no actor or athlete) that such scenes are practiced at varying speeds: slo-mo, 3/4 speed, and full speed (AKA did-you-catch-that?!)  I could see the actors becoming both controlled and fluid.

For See How They Run, it's lots o' chases and mock fights that turn into real mayhem... Very funny stuff.

How does this effect the set?  (Because a Designer Run is not called just so I can giggle.)

Well, first of all there's safe footing for these running actors.  We'd intended to seal the painted stage floor with a slightly glossy/slick polyurethane, to ease a scene when an actor is dragged away.  But, what with all this running around, it became obvious that it's more important to make the floor non-skid. We'll leave the stage as an UNsealed painted finish.  Luckily its faux "stone" look will hide some skid marks and, if damaged, will be relatively easy to touch up.

Then there's the rug in front of the sofa.  There's a mock fight there, so padding under the carpet is important (not to bruise actors), but there's still all that running... so we'll triple pad the rug, then firmly staple it to the stage to keep it from sliding.

Furniture selection is inportant.  There is so much physical business on (and over) the sofa that it had to be not just a good period "look" (meaning appropriate fabric and style) but well padded.  There are gym mats that get less of a workout than this couch!  The sofa will get screwed down to the floor too.

In a farce doors must always be sturdy specimens with heavy-duty hinges, catches, knobs, and latches.  Having doors "bounce" back open when slammed is a problem to solve.  At this stage of the build, doors are in place, but hardware is still being found and installed.

At the floor plan stage of set design, door placement and distance between entrances are critical decisions, because this effects comic timing.

I've designed this vicarage as a Tudor half-timbered house.  Building timbers from foam might have been a good/cheap idea for a straight play, a drama, but as this is farce they need to be of sturdier plywood.  There's a stair rail that gets some rowdiness, so the carpenter has built it like a wooden M1 tank.

A wooden tank - found HERE

After watching the Designer Run, building this set like a wooden tank seems about right... it's a comic battlefield!