WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO HAVE THE PLOT SPOILED FOR YOU, DO NOT CONTINUE READING THIS POST.
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies and one of the bloodiest (the other one being Titus Andronicus). In 1957 Akira Kurosawa recycled the play in Feudal Japan.
The plot is straightforward enough: Generals Washizu (Macbeth) and Miki (Banquo) work the Lord of Spider's Web Castle (King Duncan). While returning home victorious from battle they encounter a strange spirit in the forest. She tells Washizu that he will become Lord of Spider's Web Castle and Miki that his son will become Lord of the castle. Egged on by his ambitious wife Asaji (Lady Macbeth), Washizu kills the lord and succeeds him. When Miki stands in the way of his plans, Washizu has him killed. And it all goes downhill from there.
There were three things I found very nice and I will give them in chronological order. Washizu has just murdered the lord and comes in clutching the bloody spear in his hands. He is frozen with fear and horror and Asaji pries the spear out of his hands and plants on the guards whom she has drugged. I half expected Asaji to say out loud "Infirm of purpose. Give me the daggers!", or at least something along those lines. But neither of them said any word. And Washizu just stares at his hands as if saying "What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood from my hand? No, this hand would rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red." And then Asaji runs through the courtyard crying "Murder!".
The second one was Washizu having had Miki killed and is currently at a banquet. He is drinking copious amounts of wine. He looks over at Miki's vacant mat and suddenly he sees the dead man's ghost. He is terrified and inadvertently blurts out his crime by saying he would kill him again. Asaji tried to make up for this by saying that he has had too much to drink.
Third one involves Washizu returning to see the spirit who says that only when Spider's Web Forest rises up against him will he be defeated. In other words, "Macbeth shall ne'r vanquished be until great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him." And guess what happens? The forest comes against him. Not to mention that Asaji goes mad and starts washing her hands trying to remove what she thinks to be the smell of blood.
The only problem I had with the DVD is that the subtitles weren't all that great. They were not translated very well and the sentences came out weird. It wasn't as bad as Zero Wing, however.
This film is definitely a must-see for anyone who loves Shakespeare adaptations. Oh, and did I mention that the spirit was played by a man? No doubt a reference to Banquo's comment on the witchs' appearance: "You should be women but your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so."
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
IOLANTHE, OR THE PEER AND THE PERI
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW THE ENDING AHEAD OF TIME, DON'T PROCEED ANY FURTHER!
Friday night was the first performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's satire of the House of Peers and British law Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri. The cast was small as Iolanthe is not particularly well known among people of my generation.
I will try to keep this as brief as possible: Years ago, the fairy Iolanthe committed the capital offense of marrying a mortal. The Fairy Queen was a very close friend of hers, however, so she banished Iolanthe instead on the grounds that Iolanthe never speak to her husband again. The fairies persuade the Queen to pardon Iolanthe and let her return, which she does. Iolanthe comes back and reveals that she has a half-fairy, half-mortal hybrid son named Strephon. He is in love with Phyllis, a ward in the House of Chancery. She is unaware of his mixed origin. And to make matters worse, Iolanthe, like all the other fairies, looks like a girl of seventeen. And to make matters even more worse, Phyllis is also courted by the entire House of Peers. The Lord Chancellor himself wants Phyllis for his own, so he refuses to let Strephon marry the girl. Phyllis calls off the engagement when she sees Strephon with his immortally young mother. But Strephon calls on the fairies to help him and they send him into Parliament and cast a spell making the Peers pass any bills that Strephon may introduce.
Act 2 opens with guardsman Private Willis singing about politics. The fairies have fallen in love with the Peers (much to the Queen's chagrin), but it is too late to stop Strephon. Phyllis finds herself unable to choose which Peer she wants to marry, Lord Tolloller Lord Mountararat. The two lords find it unbearable as according to family tradition, they must duel to the death if one of them is to marry. Both renounce Phyllis in the name of friendship. Meanwhile, the Lord Chancellor has had a sleepless night and finally resolves to marry Phyllis himself. Finally, Strephon reveals his mixed origin to Phyllis and the two resolve to get married. Iolanthe welcomes Phyllis as her daughter-in-law, and then reveals that the Lord Chancellor is her husband. She goes to him and reveals herself to him after twenty-five years, and willingly accepts the death penalty. But then all the other fairies have married the peers and so all must be put to death. The Lord Chancellor offers to rewrite the law so that every fairy that does not marry a mortal must die. The Queen agrees and marries Private Willis (whom she herself has been attracted to). The mortals all turn into fairies and everyone lives happily ever after.
The women's chorus looked very young, but then again part of the plot revolves around the fairies looking no older than seventeen.
The best gag in the whole performance was this oversize book of the British law which only the Lord Chancellor (played by a small slender baritone), could carry. Anyone else collapsed under the weight, even a really tall Peer. In the scene where the Lord Chancellor sings about when her first went to the bar (which means when he first started his legal career), he thrusts the book in Strephon's lap. When he closed the book it threw up a cloud of dust that made Strephon sneeze (does anyone remember that old chestnut?).
I will that that the Queen especially was a little quiet for the role, but was fun nonetheless. They could have done a better job with the projection in general though.
There are still three performances left. If you can, go to the Music Hall in Madison.
Friday night was the first performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's satire of the House of Peers and British law Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri. The cast was small as Iolanthe is not particularly well known among people of my generation.
I will try to keep this as brief as possible: Years ago, the fairy Iolanthe committed the capital offense of marrying a mortal. The Fairy Queen was a very close friend of hers, however, so she banished Iolanthe instead on the grounds that Iolanthe never speak to her husband again. The fairies persuade the Queen to pardon Iolanthe and let her return, which she does. Iolanthe comes back and reveals that she has a half-fairy, half-mortal hybrid son named Strephon. He is in love with Phyllis, a ward in the House of Chancery. She is unaware of his mixed origin. And to make matters worse, Iolanthe, like all the other fairies, looks like a girl of seventeen. And to make matters even more worse, Phyllis is also courted by the entire House of Peers. The Lord Chancellor himself wants Phyllis for his own, so he refuses to let Strephon marry the girl. Phyllis calls off the engagement when she sees Strephon with his immortally young mother. But Strephon calls on the fairies to help him and they send him into Parliament and cast a spell making the Peers pass any bills that Strephon may introduce.
Act 2 opens with guardsman Private Willis singing about politics. The fairies have fallen in love with the Peers (much to the Queen's chagrin), but it is too late to stop Strephon. Phyllis finds herself unable to choose which Peer she wants to marry, Lord Tolloller Lord Mountararat. The two lords find it unbearable as according to family tradition, they must duel to the death if one of them is to marry. Both renounce Phyllis in the name of friendship. Meanwhile, the Lord Chancellor has had a sleepless night and finally resolves to marry Phyllis himself. Finally, Strephon reveals his mixed origin to Phyllis and the two resolve to get married. Iolanthe welcomes Phyllis as her daughter-in-law, and then reveals that the Lord Chancellor is her husband. She goes to him and reveals herself to him after twenty-five years, and willingly accepts the death penalty. But then all the other fairies have married the peers and so all must be put to death. The Lord Chancellor offers to rewrite the law so that every fairy that does not marry a mortal must die. The Queen agrees and marries Private Willis (whom she herself has been attracted to). The mortals all turn into fairies and everyone lives happily ever after.
The women's chorus looked very young, but then again part of the plot revolves around the fairies looking no older than seventeen.
The best gag in the whole performance was this oversize book of the British law which only the Lord Chancellor (played by a small slender baritone), could carry. Anyone else collapsed under the weight, even a really tall Peer. In the scene where the Lord Chancellor sings about when her first went to the bar (which means when he first started his legal career), he thrusts the book in Strephon's lap. When he closed the book it threw up a cloud of dust that made Strephon sneeze (does anyone remember that old chestnut?).
I will that that the Queen especially was a little quiet for the role, but was fun nonetheless. They could have done a better job with the projection in general though.
There are still three performances left. If you can, go to the Music Hall in Madison.
Friday, July 19, 2013
RAN: KING LEAR in Japan
Ah, King Lear. One of the best tragedies ever written by William Shakespeare. This timeless tale of a king who misjudges his children's love for him has been performed and adapted over and over again. This one, Ran (Japanese for rebellion) by filmaker Akiro Kurosawa, resets the story in Feudal Japan. Instead of a king, Lear is a daimyo. The three daughter are replaced with three sons, and the character of the bastard Edmund is also gender-flipped in the role of the scheming and vengeful woman Lady Kaede.
The plot is as follows: The aging warlord Hidetora Ichimonji decides to hand over the reigns to his threes sons Taro (Goneril), Jiro (Regan), and Saburo (Cordelia). As in the original play, Taro and Jiro flatter their father, whereas Saburo refuses to and disagrees with his father's plan. For that he banished along with Lord Tango (Earl of Kent) when the latter defends him. After that, Taro and Jiro wage war upon each other, sending Hidetora into madness, and the kingdom into destruction.
What was really striking was Lady Kaede, Jiro, and Kurogane. While Hidetora didn't quite cover himself with glory when he killed Kaede's family in a previous war, it is clear that she only cares about herself. It is unclear as to whether Lady Sue is related to her or not, but Kaede is willing to use and kill innocent people for her own gain. Jiro, like Regan, proves spineless and just goes along with what anyone says, whether it be Taro or Kaede. Kurogane (who you could say might represent Goneril's husband the Duke of Albany), may be no stranger to killings and assassination, outright refuses to just kill someone on a whim, and when he finds out that someone acting on Kaede's orders had murdered someone in cold blood, he's furious.
The only bad part of this film is the director's belief in pessimism. Not that it makes the movie any bad, but Kurosawa could have turned the pessimism down a few notches.
This movie is a must see for anyone who likes Shakespeare adaptations of any sort.
The plot is as follows: The aging warlord Hidetora Ichimonji decides to hand over the reigns to his threes sons Taro (Goneril), Jiro (Regan), and Saburo (Cordelia). As in the original play, Taro and Jiro flatter their father, whereas Saburo refuses to and disagrees with his father's plan. For that he banished along with Lord Tango (Earl of Kent) when the latter defends him. After that, Taro and Jiro wage war upon each other, sending Hidetora into madness, and the kingdom into destruction.
What was really striking was Lady Kaede, Jiro, and Kurogane. While Hidetora didn't quite cover himself with glory when he killed Kaede's family in a previous war, it is clear that she only cares about herself. It is unclear as to whether Lady Sue is related to her or not, but Kaede is willing to use and kill innocent people for her own gain. Jiro, like Regan, proves spineless and just goes along with what anyone says, whether it be Taro or Kaede. Kurogane (who you could say might represent Goneril's husband the Duke of Albany), may be no stranger to killings and assassination, outright refuses to just kill someone on a whim, and when he finds out that someone acting on Kaede's orders had murdered someone in cold blood, he's furious.
The only bad part of this film is the director's belief in pessimism. Not that it makes the movie any bad, but Kurosawa could have turned the pessimism down a few notches.
This movie is a must see for anyone who likes Shakespeare adaptations of any sort.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Boy, That's A Let-Down!
In order to get some ideas for my Menu Planning assignment, I'm looking at examples of restaurant menus. There's a Chinese food menu that has the list all the traditional Chinese dishes and whatnot. What's in the, kids' menu part of it? Burgers, fries, hot dogs, all the basic generic stuff. While I understand how picky kids are about their food, having an American style cheeseburger on a Chinese menu still doesn't fly. Are there any traditional Chinese foods that can be put on the menu so that it doesn't look out of place?
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
ANFSTD
A blonde Unitarian lawyer walks into a bar to change a light bulb. "Please," says the bartender, "make up your mind what kind of a joke this is!".
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