Some people unknowingly become an indelible mark in our lives.
Mr. Graves is my mentor. He is keen and profound, possessing a noble, sincere and childlike dramatic soul. He is a talented actor who seems to be born for the stage. He was obsessed with Shakespeare. Sometimes I even think that compared to Principal Revell in the play, he is even better. He is kind, pure, hard-working, serious, brave, and persistent. He is a lovely and respectable artist. He was the teacher who had the most profound influence on me all the way through drama. Apart from drama, his words and deeds have profoundly changed my way of dealing with people. How lucky I am.
This play is Mr. Graves’ memory of his mentor, Principal Revere. In the play, he uses the most innocent vision to gain insight into the most complex human emotions and words, and uses the most colorful imagination of a child to understand the Shakespearean world of the eccentric teacher. Deep in that world, the pain, dreams, sadness and despair of life are buried, but Shakespeare gives them the power of poetry and nirvana, allowing them to grow into a treasure house for artists and the ultimate sympathy for mankind. Everyone has his own Shakespeare world, just waiting to be discovered and excavated. Principal Revell was a Shakespearean imprint on Mr. Graves’ life, and Mr. Graves became a Shakespearean imprint on my life. This is a kind of inheritance, and it is also the awakening and second integration of human spiritual emotions.
Shakespeare belongs to one person and to everyone. The British regard Shakespeare as their religion, but what about us? - Kuan Kuan - Performance Review Community
One actor, one desk, and two chairs. Of course, there must also be a picture of Shakespeare and a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare. This constitutes a drama.
The simple stage design emphasizes the hypothetical nature of the stage. Graves uses lighting and mise-en-scène to move between characters, moving seamlessly between the ages between the narrator, his six-year-old self, his father, the old principal, and the old principal's demented son. The biggest attraction of the play. Graves did achieve an organic combination of relaxation and tension most of the time, with accurate body and voice modeling and accurate emotional expression. Especially when "poor TOM" said the part about life or destruction, he had complete control over the theater. This part can really take your breath. In addition, what stood out to me was his deep eyes. Although I had to read the subtitles from time to time, I must admit that his eyes were so seductive. As an uncle, I was already accused. I have to say that his eyes helped him add at least half of his points in character creation.
This kind of performance attributed to the text is what I want to talk about most. This play mainly tells the story of how Graves became indissoluble with Shakespeare because of the principal of his elementary school and the story between the old principal and Shakespeare. I am not satisfied with this summary. In my mind, this play is centered around a Shakespeare, a complete collection of Shakespeare, connecting Graves, Graves's father and ancestors, his daughter and The old principal and his son (poor TOM), and even Mr. Zhu Shenghao. In such a complex system, many British poems and classic monologues from Shakespeare's plays are blended like dough, and British culture and the pride of the British Empire are unfolded. Although I am quite unfamiliar with Shakespeare, I can still be immersed in his poetic rhythm and still feel the tension of his content. Shakespeare suddenly knocked on my door like an old friend I hadn't seen for a long time. But wait.
What about our Chinese culture?
I accidentally bought "Southern Weekend" today, and there is a study on the Edinburgh Theater Festival in the UK. The British have Shakespeare, and the Russians have Chekhov, but what about us? What culture do we have that allows us to show off to foreigners with our chests puffed out and share it with our descendants as a good night story? Maybe everyone has a different answer, but I hope it is a hundred flowers blooming rather than a ten thousand horses silent.
If I want to criticize, the text lacks hierarchy. It seems that there are multiple threads going on but no one really stands out. In fact, it would be more interesting if the story could be told more towards the old principal. I think it would be more interesting. . The performance also suffers from a lack of focus in the text, and the middle part of the performance feels a bit unsupportive, even though the beginning and end are both excellent. In terms of performance today, Graves was a little too tired and made some small mistakes. In addition, I feel that the timing of jumping in and out needs to be grasped. This is not to say that he did a bad job, but I feel that he can do better. Of course, this is also a problem with the text.
I got acquainted with the one-man show by watching the Frenchman Bizot, and was impressed by his improvisational ability and unbridled imagination. Watching Graves' one-man show this time, I found that "bland" narration can also make dramatic scenes anything but bland.
"Shakespeare for One" 90 minutes of wonderful international one-man show - Kuankuan.com - Performance review community
The first time I came into contact with a one-man show, I felt extremely excited, and nothing else , just for one person to take the leading role, he talked on the stage for a full hour and a half, I applauded him, I cheered for him! !
Watching "Shakespeare Alone" is actually not easy, and it often makes me feel a little disconnected from the scene. Because the languages ??are different, you can only watch the performance while paying attention to the subtitles, which is easier to distract.
When watching subtitles, you cannot watch the actors' wonderful performances, and it is easy to miss important links. In fact, in my opinion, when watching international dramas, it is best to change the language, so that you can better understand the message the actors want to convey, and you will better understand the mystery.
I admire this elderly international friend on the stage very much. He talked alone on the stage for an hour and a half without any breaks or pauses. I admire him even more for his ability to fully immerse himself in the drama. The expressions are rich but not exaggerated, and the humorous and funny style made me applaud.
With a simple stage set, simple props, no gorgeous lighting, and no complicated plot, he talked about how he came into contact with "Shakespeare's stories" with great interest. Foreign children are exposed to language masters like "Shakespeare" much earlier than Chinese children. It may be affected by the language or the environment. I personally feel that this aspect needs to be strengthened.
I have not read through Shakespeare's works or his poems before. I hope that I will have better opportunities to contact these language masters in the future, improve my own literacy, and improve myself.
One-man show "Shakespeare Alone" - Kuan Kuan.com - Performance Review Community
I chose this play because I saw that the director was Hu Xiaoqing, and I had seen her "Shakespeare Alone" at the Youth Opera Festival. "Lilang Village Flower", I really liked it. It was able to adapt a foreign drama so beautifully, and the drama was from a foreign country, so I went to watch it out of curiosity.
Graves, who was only six years old, boarded in a British boys' school. Unfortunately, he encountered the military-style Shakespeare education of the talented and alcoholic headmaster Clive Revere to the new students. . In confusion and ignorance, shame and persistence, Graves gradually entered Principal Revere's Shakespearean world: love, passion, poetry, regret, death...
This play is based on Graves's With his personal experience and his rich experience in directing and directing Shakespeare's plays, he uses magical techniques to weave a hilarious and touching story between a confused six-year-old boy and his harsh Shakespeare teacher.
A table, two chairs, and a portrait flag of Shakespeare. This is the stage design of the entire play - simple. A somewhat bald old British actor performed to his heart's content on the stage. Sometimes he was an old man, sometimes he was a 6-year-old child, sometimes he was a kind father, sometimes he was an alcoholic teacher, sometimes he was an intellectually disabled son... They all acted vividly; especially When the disabled son read "to be or not to be", I was deeply shocked. What kind of recognition of his father's love for Shakespeare was able to read that classic monologue in broken words.