Monday, February 14, 2011

Lisa and I live a couple of blocks from the Centaur Theatre, Montreal's premier English theatre, in the old Montreal Stock Market building. So when our dear friend Johanna raved about Möcshplat at my launch party, we thought we'd go. It's Macbeth, performed by clowns, in gibberish.

Yep.

I really can't think of any words to do justice to the antics of the clowns, except to say that they were really, really funny.

I'm not a big fan of theatre. Contemporary plays mostly leave me cold. Very often there is no "play" -- the characters aren't trying to get anything from each other by talking. Sometimes there is just no point. But of course, this isn't a contemporary play, it's Macbeth translated into a gibberish that is just comprehensible enough that you can follow what the characters are ranting about.

It does help a bit if you know the plot.

(There is an old theatrical tradition that you never say the name of "the Scottish play" in a theatre. And of course you never wish an actor "good luck." I've always wanted to have some idiot say "good luck playing Macbeth!" to an actor, in a theatre, but that's the sort of one percenter you have to cut...)

Labels: shouting theatre in a crowded fire

8:00 AM

2 Comments:

I don't know -- I bet you could have done that kind of joke on Sling & Arrows....

By  Anonymous, at 6:43 PM  

I think they might have, come to think of it.

By  Alex Epstein, at 6:47 PM  

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