First off, Penelope at St. Anne’s Warehouse: Seeing a real theater production, with real actors, a real set, and an original plot was a great experience. I’ve seen more than enough dumped down versions of high school musicals (I ushered every night in high school for 4 years) to appreciate a well put together play. I was happy to not have to hear grown men break out into song and dance, but instead an old, overweight man in a Speedo dance along to “Spanish Flea”. The acting was amazing: Quinn was as cynical and self-centered as he could have been and showed a humorous side in his courting skills; Fitz let his soul pour out in his expressive monologue and his soft voice lulled me into a dreamy state; the heftier man couldn’t have had a better redemption, reminiscing about the time he actually loved his mother and working for something other than personal desire; the quiet young man in the party hat was my favorite character, transitioning from a quiet pushover to a man who has loved and only wants to love.
Love is a very complex idea for an audience to grasp, yet I believe it was handled well through the meaningful monologues and Quinn’s more ridiculous than romantic performance. The gradual dimming of the lights also added a personal feel to the monologues, as if it were only the actor speaking directly to an audience member. Though some of these speeches could have been shortened, the interesting language and broad range of styles were fascinating to listen to. Up until the last gust of fire from the grill, I was hooked. I felt like my eyes hardly blinked as I waited for one of the actors to speak and explain whatever situation they were in. The way they took their lines and injected them with such power and fervor made this a truly great play to watch.
Rodney Guitierre’s hilarious, and informative, Shakespeare talk a few weeks back really helped me to follow the language and tones of the actors in Penelope. Even though his expertise resides in a completely different type of play, it was obvious to me that he knew a lot about acting and how it should be done. Simply in the way he got people to stand up and deliver the same lines four different ways was surprising to me. The changes in tone, volume, and emphasis on certain words really make a difference, I learned. I enjoyed Rodney’s colorful language and carefree demeanor (he walked around barefoot for hours!) because it really helped the other students and me loosen up and really immerse ourselves in Shakespeare. I’ll admit I went back to my copies of Macbeth and Hamlet afterwards and tried to look for the changes in language and meaning that the editors could have made and recited a few lines to myself in different styles.
Overall, I really enjoyed our theater experiences and because so I plan to attend more performances in the future, both off and on Broadway.
