James Urbaniak ([info]urbaniak) wrote,
@ 2007-11-24 22:24:00
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Theatre Blogging: Cliche Watch
Or perhaps they will after “Cymbeline.” As Imogen, the princess daughter of the titular king of Britain, Ms. Plimpton carries one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known and least-produced historical romances. -NY Times, 11/25/07
Christ on a cross. Every time there's an article about a production of "Cymbeline" it says that it's rarely produced. How do I know this? Because I've read countless articles about countless productions of "Cymbeline." It's produced constantly. I've seen it four times: JoAnne Akalaitis's production at the Public Theatre, David Herskovits' Target Margin production, another Public production at the Delacorte by Andrei Serban (in which the actress playing Imogen was visibly pregnant) and Mark Rylance's production at the Globe in London. For all I know I saw a fifth production that I'm not remembering. Go ahead, google "Cymbeline, theatre." Or just click here. Better yet, click here.

The thing is a staple of Shakespearean repertory. Maybe it was rarely produced at one time (the seventies? the thirties? the eighteen-nineties? I don't know) but in my 20-odd years of serious theatregoing I haven't been able to swing a cat without hitting that damn play. Enough already.

Update 11:30 pm: I just remembered that seven months ago Cheek by Jowl brought their production to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I didn't see it but Backstage liked what they did with the "lesser known, infrequently produced" work.

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[info]55seddel
2007-11-25 06:34 am UTC (link)
hmm, I wouldn't think Theatre would be something you could rage about.

You just taught me something!

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[info]urbaniak
2007-11-25 06:35 am UTC (link)
I'm really raging about a journalism cliche.

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[info]55seddel
2007-11-25 06:37 am UTC (link)
Ooh also good!

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[info]javabear
2007-11-25 04:45 pm UTC (link)
Hmm... perhaps you could get Doc Hammer and others to form a (yet another) band comprised of actors/directors/producers/etc and call it Rage Against The Proscenium.

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[info]firmw2
2007-11-25 06:46 am UTC (link)
lol, rite

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[info]urbaniak
2007-11-25 06:58 am UTC (link)
I see from your profile you're in Toledo. Did you make the drive to Cincinnati this month to see one of Shakespeare's most rarely produced plays?

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[info]urbaniak
2007-11-25 07:19 am UTC (link)
BTW, the link doesn't seem to be working, but the Cincinnati CityBeat's review of that production describes the play as "rarely performed."

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[info]firmw2
2007-11-25 04:43 pm UTC (link)
Link is working, and I am laughing.

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[info]spycygrl
2007-11-25 07:00 am UTC (link)
I did one of Imogen's monologues as a theatre student back in 1987. I think my professor said something like, "Interesting choice...since it's one of his lesser known plays."

Verily, what I think everyone means is that there isn't a film version starring Kenneth Brannagh.

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[info]urbaniak
2007-11-25 07:15 am UTC (link)
1987? Didn't that obscure troupe the Royal Shakespeare Company stage it that year?

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[info]spycygrl
2007-11-25 11:14 pm UTC (link)
Ha! Indeed. Maybe that example is indicative of why I'm now a lawyer instead of an actor.

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[info]wedbertham
2007-11-25 08:46 am UTC (link)
Fairy's Fortunes Founded is probably Shakespeare's least known work.

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[info]toddalcott
2007-11-25 08:47 am UTC (link)
Just so you know, there is a production of Cymbeline happening right now, in my basement.

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[info]craigjclark
2007-11-25 12:39 pm UTC (link)
Every director tries to put their own stamp on Shakespeare's work. I see you've gone with a kidnapping and false imprisonment theme. Very brave.

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[info]eronanke
2007-11-25 05:21 pm UTC (link)
I was thinking puppets, but I'm glad you went to that *disturbing* level.

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[info]toddalcott
2007-11-25 06:09 pm UTC (link)
You're both wrong, it's the silverfish again.

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[info]urbaniak
2007-11-26 04:00 am UTC (link)
I hate to say it, but their "Lear" sucked.

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[info]craigjclark
2007-11-26 04:23 am UTC (link)
I've actually seen Macbeth performed by Tiny Ninja.

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[info]medox
2007-11-25 11:16 am UTC (link)
The one time I was able to see a play during a quick visit to NYC, it was Cymbeline. A huge cockroach chittered across the stage during the final act, yet the play went on. Now that's entertainment.

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[info]crudelydrawn
2007-11-25 03:04 pm UTC (link)
I think people only feel it's "rarely produced" because there hasn't been a big-ass feature film production of it or a hip, modern adaptation starring Heath Ledger.

Fact: No movie version = not worth properly acknowledging.

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[info]marley_station
2007-11-25 04:35 pm UTC (link)
Is it at least the least lauded of Shakespeare's works? It may account for the critic's selective interpretation.

If there is a Hollywood version of Cymbeline that I could rent, could someone be kind enough to tell me who stars in it?

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[info]toddalcott
2007-11-25 06:11 pm UTC (link)
If my Shakespeare-studying sense is any indication, I'd say that Titus Andronicus and Timon of Athens are less lauded than Cymbeline, and both King John and Henry VIII are performed less often. But that's because they suck.

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[info]craigjclark
2007-11-25 09:37 pm UTC (link)
And yet Julie Taymor turned Titus into one of the better Shakespeare movie adaptations of recent vintage. Funny how that works.

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[info]jaynagy
2007-11-26 03:34 am UTC (link)
Geez, them's fightin words, Craig. But I agree.

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[info]teh_s_uck
2007-11-25 04:47 pm UTC (link)
I saw a production of it a few years ago off broadway. It had cowboys. And Roman soldiers.

And samurai.

I kid you not.

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[info]craigjclark
2007-11-25 09:39 pm UTC (link)
In college I was in a production of Julius Caesar that was set in the modern Middle East. Of course, this was right after the first Gulf War, so it was most topical.

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[info]drd2001
2007-11-25 09:42 pm UTC (link)
When I was in college, we weren't allowed to do Shakespeare. The drama dept. thought his work was too cliche. So we did The Lark instead.

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[info]craigjclark
2007-11-25 10:10 pm UTC (link)
This production was conceived and directed by one of my drama professors, so he obviously didn't share that view. My greatest regret was that he didn't stage his production of Macbeth until after I graduated. I was lucky enough to get to work on one later on in my theatrical career, though.

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[info]drd2001
2007-11-25 10:25 pm UTC (link)
Seriously, I asked once why we never did Shakespeare plays and they said they were done to death and nobody wanted to see them. Of course, they said the same thing about Johnson and Chekov. We only did "modern" classics, which weren't bad. Just repetitive after a while.

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[info]bittersweet325
2007-11-25 05:27 pm UTC (link)
I've seen Cymbeline a handful of times as well.

I suppose in comparison to the overly produced "Romeo and Juliet"'s and "Hamlet"'s anything will seem less frequent.

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[info]drd2001
2007-11-25 09:33 pm UTC (link)
So when will you be presenting your rarely produced version of Cymbeline?

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(Anonymous)
2007-11-26 12:54 am UTC (link)
Well, yeah, its rarely produced when you compare it to Shakespeare's better known plays...

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[info]urbaniak
2007-11-26 03:56 am UTC (link)
Don't make excuses!

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[info]craigjclark
2007-11-26 04:46 am UTC (link)
And don't hide behind anonymity, either! That's not what the Internet is for!

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well... comparatively speaking
(Anonymous)
2007-11-26 03:00 pm UTC (link)
I think EVERY Shakespeare play is produced too often. So comparatively Cymbelline is produced less often than the biggies. But personally I think the theater could survive and may even benefit from a Shakespeare moratorium for say, 3 years. Imagine what new playwrights could be discovered and what old playwrights could be revived if people were willing to look anywhere else... just for a tiny bit of time.

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Re: well... comparatively speaking
(Anonymous)
2007-11-26 03:01 pm UTC (link)
ok. i'm Nathaniel of The Film Experience.
i hate commenting anonymously as I just did.

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How obscure...
[info]ultimateagentr
2007-12-02 01:26 am UTC (link)
Yeah, in the Chicago area, Mary Zimmerman did a production of it at Northwestern University spring 2007, and Chicago Shakespeare is doing it in 2008.

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[info]humdrumtown
2007-12-04 01:14 pm UTC (link)
No matter how "rarely" it may be played in comparison to Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and Much Ado About Nothing, it's still Shakespeare. Shakespeare is played more often than any other playwright, so I can completely understand that Cymbeline is probably all over the place.

I know I didn't have to read if for my current course on Shakespeare. We are rather strapped for time, so we chose The Winter's Tale instead, but it isn't as if it wasn't mentioned in class/discussion.

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[info]solarbird
2008-01-01 06:41 pm UTC (link)
I swear to god, I think paper journalism has a set of "received facts" (in all sorts of areas) that haven't changed in 25 years and defy all attempts at updating.

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