this week's Merlin, also some Shakespeare
Monday, 30 November 2009 16:36![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
- Thoughts on this week's Merlin first, so anyone who hasn't caught up yet can skip them: yet again I find myself thinking: argh, show, why aren't you BETTER? All the Arthur-is-a-rubbish-suitor stuff was great fun. Georgia Moffett was ace. And although I was v. sad for Gwen, all her bits were pretty good too. I adored her little moment with Arthur after Vivian was rude to her. HOWEVER. Who on EARTH thought it would be a good idea to leave Vivian still enchanted at the end? And to play it in such a "lol, women, amirite?" way? I was worried from last week's trailer that she might be in on the whole "seduce Arthur" scheme, so at least they didn't go that way, but still, GAH. Also, why didn't Morgana seem to care at all that Gwen was upset and that Arthur might die? And why didn't Uther seem to care either? Did someone tell them "not to worry, this one's a comedy episode"? And in other things Uther should probably have cared about, why didn't he get angry about someone doing magic right in front of him? Yeah, he could have assumed that it was just sleight of hand, but he's never really struck me as a benefit of the doubt kind of guy.
- Then I watched the Children in Need Merlin special, which was much more cheerierer. So cute and funny! Merlin's little "ooo, lovely!" reaction! Gwen and Morgana's scene! "Isn't there something you're forgetting?" SO MUCH LOVE.
- On Friday night I went to see The Winter's Tale at the Tobacco Factory. I've studied it but never seen it before, so I was really looking forward to it. And I wasn't disappointed - it was a great production. The change in tone between the acts was a little jarring, but I think that's a fault of the play, which is pretty much a mini-tragedy with a mini-comedy smushed onto the end, and the production handled it very well: the comedy shenanigans were excellent. ("Aha, I shall put on this ridiculous hat and this eye-patch, there is no way my son shall see through that!" And indeed he doesn't.) The same actress played Mamillius and Perdita, which was an interesting choice, though it may have been driven more by the size of the cast that anything else - there was a lot of doubling up. Antigonus was lovely - I was quite sad when I remembered that he was the one who got exit, pursued by a bear-ed (there was no bear, alas). The actor turned up in the second act playing Autolycus and did a great job of it, he was very funny.
- Jess and Vanky stayed over on Friday night, and on Saturday we went and played ADVENTURE GOLF at Cabot Circus. Great fun, even though I lost. Again.
- Then I watched the Children in Need Merlin special, which was much more cheerierer. So cute and funny! Merlin's little "ooo, lovely!" reaction! Gwen and Morgana's scene! "Isn't there something you're forgetting?" SO MUCH LOVE.
- On Friday night I went to see The Winter's Tale at the Tobacco Factory. I've studied it but never seen it before, so I was really looking forward to it. And I wasn't disappointed - it was a great production. The change in tone between the acts was a little jarring, but I think that's a fault of the play, which is pretty much a mini-tragedy with a mini-comedy smushed onto the end, and the production handled it very well: the comedy shenanigans were excellent. ("Aha, I shall put on this ridiculous hat and this eye-patch, there is no way my son shall see through that!" And indeed he doesn't.) The same actress played Mamillius and Perdita, which was an interesting choice, though it may have been driven more by the size of the cast that anything else - there was a lot of doubling up. Antigonus was lovely - I was quite sad when I remembered that he was the one who got exit, pursued by a bear-ed (there was no bear, alas). The actor turned up in the second act playing Autolycus and did a great job of it, he was very funny.
- Jess and Vanky stayed over on Friday night, and on Saturday we went and played ADVENTURE GOLF at Cabot Circus. Great fun, even though I lost. Again.
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Date: 30 Nov 2009 16:50 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Dec 2009 12:11 (UTC)no subject
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Date: 30 Nov 2009 16:57 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Dec 2009 12:14 (UTC)I agree, she was better as Mamillius. In fact, I didn't realise that it was the same actress until I was looking up the cast later on.
I spent more time than was strictly appropriate gushing over the semiotics of Leontes' costume changes, too...
I would be interested to hear your gushing!
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Date: 30 Nov 2009 17:04 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Dec 2009 12:15 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Dec 2009 13:48 (UTC)no subject
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Date: 1 Dec 2009 19:19 (UTC)no subject
Date: 30 Nov 2009 20:30 (UTC)And when you said the size of the cast, I thought of the height of the cast, which could also have been a factor in the choices...
Thanks again for having us, was lots of fun :-)
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Date: 30 Nov 2009 20:31 (UTC)Jess xx
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Date: 1 Dec 2009 12:17 (UTC)And when you said the size of the cast, I thought of the height of the cast, which could also have been a factor in the choices...
Hee, yes, possibly!
And I guessed that it was probably you commenting...
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Date: 30 Nov 2009 21:58 (UTC)It would have made WAY more sense for the bad guy to plant sorcerer magic on Vivian or the other king. Way easier to do and very, very likely to piss the fuck off of Uther. Sigh.
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Date: 1 Dec 2009 12:19 (UTC)