Incredible theater experience

[tamarinne]

So over the weekend, rickthefightguy , MA and I went to go see Edward II (by Christopher Marlowe) upstairs at Chicago Shakes.   Or more properly, "The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward II, King of England, With The Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer".  (The actor who introduced the play declaimed the title and then said, sotto voce, 'Gee, I wonder how this is going to turn out.'  Heh.)  The theater offers $60 tickets to sit in the gallery above the stage, or $20 tickets to stand, called 'promenade tickets'.  We bought the promenade tickets, thinking that it would be an experience similar to that of Elizabethan groundlings - standing below the stage, watching the action.  Perhaps it would be slightly less comfortable, we reasoned, but it would be interesting, and it would give us a taste of the true Elizabethan theater experience.  We had no idea. 

We handed our tickets to the nice lady, walked through the door... and we were ON the stage.  Actors were milling about, in costume but not in character, talking to people.  (Unsurprisingly, a couple of them knew Rick and/or MA, so we talked with quite a few of them.)  The audience was wandering around, examining the set, sitting on the benches, chatting with actors and each other, and playing with a couple of beachballs that were getting bumped around.  (At one point a lady got bomped in the head pretty hard with a beachball when she wasn't expecting it, and when she looked around, startled, one of the actors said, "what's the matter, haven't you ever been to the theater before?"  A few minutes later one of the beachballs smacked into the grid pretty hard, and when a couple of people eyed it nervously, the same actor called out, "don't worry, highly trained Bachelors of Fine Arts are responsible for your safety!")  Finally one of the actors hopped up on a bench and explained how things would work.  We could go anywhere we wanted on the stage during the performance, we could sit on the benches, we could stand whereever we liked and move whenever we liked.  If the actors needed a spot that an audience member was in, they would tap them on the shoulder and make eye contact, and the person should move.  Otherwise, we were free to do as we liked.

And then the show started.  Men burst in to see the king, and they were saying their lines while standing right next to me.  At one point I couldn't see the king's face clearly, so I walked around to get a better angle.  Different scenes worked best from different parts of the theater.  While the king was in prison, one of his jailers turned to me and a few people standing near me and muttered things to us that I'm not sure the rest of the theater heard.  The murder of the king was horrifying - not only because it was violent and transgressive and wrong, but also because I was standing RIGHT THERE, right next to them, and I let it happen, I didn't reach out my hand to stop it.

It's an outstanding show.  The acting is great, the violence is very, very good, and the environment is like nothing I've ever experienced before.  As we were walking out, Rick and I were saying to each other how sorry we felt for the people who had paid extra to sit in the gallery - they had missed out on so much!  A woman walking near us said, "Oh, we didn't miss that much!"  We nodded and smiled at her, but as soon as she was out of earshot, we both shook our heads.  "No, you did miss a lot.  You just don't know... because you missed it."

The show runs through November 9th.  Go if you can.

Comments

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Seriously contemplating flying out this weekend. I've long been a fan of the play, and this sounds super-cool -- and possibly even cooler to bring kestrell to, if I could talk her into it.

Do you guys have crash space available?

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

For you, always. I have a futon in my office that will comfortably sleep two. I also have cats, but they are kept out of the office most of the time, so if allergies are a problem hopefully the sleeping space will still be OK.

The link above under "Edward II" has ticket-purchase information, you can check there to make sure tickets are available. We would love to see you both!

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Kes is not up for travel this weekend.

I will shortly investigate airline prices to see if this is economically feasible. If so, I think I'm up for it.

Allergies *should* be OK if I medicate appropriately.

Do you have any further input into scheduling? Would it be more convenient for me to show up Friday night or Saturday? Is there anything else going on this weekend that I should factor in?

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

Alas, no Kes. But yay, Alexx!

I've emailed our schedule to your panix account.

[rickthefightguy.livejournal.com]

Obviously, before you actually buy tix, you should check with the Theatre and make sure that they still have tickets to the show. Libby checked yesterday and they had them, but they might sell out between now and the weekend.

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

Also, if the allergies really are a problem, there's also a really cheap B&B directly across the street from my condo.

[melebeth]

Wow. WOW. That sounds WOW.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Daaaaaaaamn.

[rising-moon.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh wow. That sounds incredible!

I was standing RIGHT THERE, right next to them, and I let it happen, I didn't reach out my hand to stop it.

And this, right here, is what makes your description of this production so incredibly magical. Wow.