theartsandculturecult@gmail.com
THE ARTS & CULTURE CULT
  • Home
  • The Writers

Catching the plague: Portland Shakespeare Project’s “Twelfth Night”

7/23/2015

0 Comments

 
PicturePortland Shakespeare Project
“Even so quickly, may one catch the plague?”


If the plague is love, and the object of one’s love is the Portland Shakespeare Project’s production of “Twelfth Night,” then the answer is a most emphatic yes.


Under the direction of renowned Royal Shakespeare Company actress Lisa Harrow, the Portland Shakespeare Company takes on one of the bard’s more complicated pet subjects; love.


“What has struck me most is how many times the word "love" is spoken in Twelfth Night – 87 times,” said Harrow in a recent press release, “So to me, love in all its complications is the overriding theme. There's Orsino's, Malvolio's and Olivia's obsessive love; Antonio's, Maria's, Viola's and Aguecheek's hopeless love; and Sebastian's amazed love. The Christian festival of Twelfth Night is the night where the opposite rules, and so the whirlygig of time swirls them all into a spiral of misunderstanding and despair until the truth is finally revealed.”


The “misunderstanding” and “despair” that comprise the festival of Twelfth Night, and the intricacies surrounding the nature and various forms of human love in general, is central to not only “whirylgig” plot structure of the play, but likely to the lives of many members of the audience. It’s often the case that we fall in love with people based on who we think they are, and not necessarily who they are in actuality.


In “Twelfth Night,” the shipwrecked Viola is in love with the Duke Orsino, who is also her employer and believes that she is his manservant, Cesario, and not, in fact, a beautiful young lady. The Duke Orsino, meanwhile, is in love with the Lady Olivia, who does not return his affections, but instead has fallen head over heels for the disguised Viola. This triangle is then even further complicated by the addition of the love interests of Orsino, Malvolio, Antonio, Maria, Aguecheek, and finally, Viola’s twin brother, Sebastian, who just so happens to bear a striking resemblance to Cesario .


Fortunately, in this adaptation in Twelfth Night, although the characters suffer from the “misunderstanding” and “despair,” that comprise the festival of Twelfth Night, the audience does not. Through the remarkable attention on the part of the actors (in particular Jim Butterfield as Sir Toby, Dave Bodin as Malvolio, Heath Koerschgen as Antonio, and Allen Nause as Feste the Fool) to the subtext and physical intention behind Shakespeare’s words (instead of on special effects and other possible distractions, as is often unfortunately the case in stagings of Shakespeare’s “shipwreck” plays) the audience is in on the joke, as it were, and comprehensively understands each individual character, as well as the inter-character relationships, resulting in an infectiously enjoyable evening of comedic Shakespearean theater at its best.




0 Comments

"Ragged and Dirty": An Interview with Devon Allman

7/14/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Devon Allman, son of Southern rock royalty Gregg Allman, has been making a name for himself as a solo artist with his “ragged and dirty” style of blues/rock fusion. We sat down for a bit before his performance at the Waterfront Blues Fest in Portland, OR and talked about his approach to making music, his solo career and the Chicago sound that resonates throughout his work.


AMK: There’s a sense of place that permeates through your music-your song “Midnight Lake Michigan” in particular is so raw and evocative-how did that song come about, and why Lake Michigan?


DA: You know, the record was done, and I said “man...can you give me just like a low, jazzy, spooky, b minor where I just talk with the guitar and take the listeners on a trip?”...The cool thing about “Midnight Lake Michigan” is that it wasn’t written, it was just played. It was all improv and it was all recorded live. That was never, ever played before, or after, that recording. That was it. We played it one time. It’s a proud moment because it’s one of those things where everything worked. Now the place itself, I made the record in Chicago, and I made a joke, something like “You know, this music sounds like the soundtrack to somebody dumping a body in Lake Michigan at midnight, and I was like Midnight Lake Michigan! So, it just came together.


AMK: You’re opening for your dad tonight. What’s that like? Are you two on the same wavelength musically?


DA: I think we have a lot of similar, common threads in our music but at the same time, our approach is different. His is very relaxed, very jazzy, and mine’s certainly much more urgent and in the moment and high energy. There’s some threads that connect it-soulful singing, arrangements that are true to our genre of music. Stylistically, the core is very much the same; I’d say the peripheral is just a bit different.


AMK: As a musician, and a performer, what do you look for when you’re writing a song, and how do you know when you’ve really got something?


DA:That’s one of the best questions I’ve ever been asked. I think it’s gotta make you feel something, and not make you overthink it. Like if you just instantly feel like “Oh, that just feels good” you know? Like you might get a little hair on the back of your neck or your arms stand up a little bit. Like you know you just did something kind of special. That would be a telltale sign. I don’t know, that’s such a good question because it’s so subjective to people’s tastes and what they’re looking for when they create art. How does a painter know when he got it right? How does a painter know when he’s done? Think about that! That is, the movement with the brush, with the paint, on the canvas, multiple colors, multiple dippings...how does he know when it’s done? He looks back and he just goes, “I feel like it’s done” so it’s a feel. I think it’s all a feel.


AMK: You’ve been on the road for awhile now. What’s next?


DA: More on the road. More records, more touring. Luckily now that I’m a little bit older, I get to be home more. I don’t have to go and take every crappy gig. I can be a bit choosier and spend some time at home with my fiancee and my son. I really, really love my family life, my home life. It’s a balancing act but it keeps me sane, and so does the music.


AMK: What is your message as an artist? What do you hope people take away from your shows?


DA: Man it’s a crazy world. I just hope it makes people feel good. There’s a lot of stuff out there making people feel bad, and as an artist I think it’s our job to balance that equation.


0 Comments

From "Ruins" to Splendor: Chamber Music Northwest and Northwest Dance Project

7/6/2015

0 Comments

 
Picturephoto by Christopher Peddecord
“Chopin’s preludes are of an order entirely apart...they are poetic preludes, analogous to those of a great contemporary poet, who cradles the soul in golden dreams.” -Franz Liszt.


These poetic “golden dreams” that Chopin’s contemporary was referring to were brought to life in the unprecedented partnership of the Chamber Music Northwest and Northwest Dance Project in their production of “Summer Splendors.”


The performance began with cellist Peter Wiley and pianist Yekwon Sunwoo performing the “Largo from Cello Sonata in G Minor” and the “Introduction and Polonaise Brillante in C Major.” The unadorned, minimalistic melodic lines of the “Largo” set the stage, quite literally, for the style of the first set of preludes, choreographed by Lucas Crandall. The much more embellished “Introduction and Polonaise Brillante,” in which Wiley and Sunwoo took turns exhibiting an impressive range and balance of emotion and virtuosity, introduced a theme of artistic excellence that continued throughout the evening.


Following the introduction by Wiley and Sunwoo (and a quick costume change by Sunwoo as he returned to the stage) was the main event: 24 preludes. Just as Chopin played the preludes in sets, as they were considered too short to be stand alone pieces, the 24 preludes were divided into four groupings of six with Lucas Randall choreographing one through six; Sarah Slipper, the founder of the company, choreographing seven through 13; Tracey Durbin choreographing 14 through 18 and Rachel Erdos choreographing 19 through 24.


The different groupings demonstrated the sheer athleticism and talent of both Sunwoo and the dancers. Sunwoo’s accompaniment, with his incredible stamina and fingers that flew over the keys in confident precision, was an artform in and of itself. The dancers’ contortionist-like physical feats resulted in audible gasps from the audience members; myself included.


Interspersed throughout the performance were unexpected, playful elements including the use of spoken word by the dancers, interaction between one of the dancers and Sunwoo to the extent that Sunwoo had to physically remove her from the piano bench and a sequence featuring the synchronized creation of paper airplanes by the dancers.


Another of Chopin’s contemporaries, Robert Schumann, once criticized the preludes saying, “I would term the preludes strange. They are sketches, beginnings of etudes, or, so to speak, ruins – individual eagle wings of all disorder and wild confusions.” The Northwest Dance Project and Chamber Music Northwest took these “sketches” and “ruins” and transformed them into an exhilarating evening of stellar musicianship and dance.


0 Comments

    Author

    Anna Mae Kersey

    Archives

    June 2016
    July 2015
    June 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.