She did the same again this year but I never know what play I'm gonna see. I don't care really, I find it fun just to see a production of any genre, see how its done, admire the set design and artistic direction etc.
Anyways she didn't know what the play was either, lol she just heard it was good and had been extended by popular demand so she scored some cheap tickets.
As we're entering the theater we learn its a Shakespeare play. I was a bit nervous because I find Shakespeare hard to follow, and english being my wife's second language etc I thought we'd both be lost lol
But to the credit of the actors and director we could follow pretty much the whole thing and really enjoyed.
It was Coriolanus, story of a Roman General who comes back from some major victories only to find that the public is upset with him instead of glorifying him. Its all about whether Coriolanus should stick to his convictions and say fuck the public opinion, or become a hypocrite to his beliefs to appease the people that he supposedly fights for in the first place.
The director decided to do the whole play with the characters not dressed as Romans, but in modern costume. Coriolanus was in modern military fatigues, the other characters dressed in suits etc. Was cool because the story could totally have taken place in modern times save for a few details. Watching in in this context made it way easier to understand, and offered a very interesting commentary on how the themes of the play reflect on modern times.
There was a write-up in the program about how in the modern day social media is the voice of the public, and how it can contradict the efforts of the politicians and generals, and how various sides try to influence it and to what result.
Anyways super fascinating. The set design was really incredible, they used some kind of rear-projection system where they could project different settings to easily and convincingly switch from location to location quickly.
Lots of fun. I think when I am older and not such a busy parent I would like to try my hand at some set design for stage plays
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