Going
to see the plays at the Blackfriars Playhouse is one of the biggest
perks of ASC Theatre Camp. Friday night, we found all the campers no
longer in movement clothes and T-shirts, but decked out in seersucker
and peacock prints. Bowties, vests, heels, and lace abounded, and as we
waited by the Playhouse for the go-ahead from the Box Office staff,
cameras flashed and Madeline, one of our camp alums who happened to
attend Friday’s performance, received dozens of hugs from returning
campers, everyone was giddy with excitement to see the show.
And what a show. We saw The Lion in Winter on Friday night, a show full of passion and history (both political and familial). As always, it is a pleasure to see these young artists so enraptured by the work of the ASC actors, actors they’ve been studying with all week in their workshops. A first year camper, Maggie, burst out, “I didn’t know I was studying with gods!” Since these campers already know and love so many of the actors, when those actors’ characters have anything sad to say, they receive from our enthusiastic section front and center of the theater a chorus of sympathetic “oooh!”s. At intermission, I overheard campers trying to figure out if, at any point, the characters were telling the truth. The characters in this drama layer deceits on deceits, and just when you think you’ve figured out who wants what from whom, you find you’re wrong. But however complex the windings of the plot, Lion’s dialogue is smart and quotable; since watching this show, the campers have been throwing around phrases such as, “Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!” or “I never cease to marvel at the quickness of your mind” or “Hush dear, mother's fighting” or “You stink. You’re a stinker and you stink” -- all in good natured fun.
Saturday night we all returned to the theater to see The Two Gentlemen of Verona. This was a whole different experience because now we got to see the whole troupe performing, and we got to watch the actors working with Shakespeare’s text. Watching the campers is a real treat, as I see them drinking it all in, eyes wide, minds open, learning by seeing professionals at work. Though work seems like too strong a phrase. The campers clap and sing along to the pre-show and interlude songs, and they contemplate the subtleties of iambic pentameter while eating gummy bears. And after the show, conversations exploded about Shakespeare’s problematic ending, about the themes (friendship? what makes up one’s self? serving and service? loyalty?) or about the performance choices. These conversations continued back to the dorm, to the gelato shop, even into brunch and to the day on the lake the next day.
And what a show. We saw The Lion in Winter on Friday night, a show full of passion and history (both political and familial). As always, it is a pleasure to see these young artists so enraptured by the work of the ASC actors, actors they’ve been studying with all week in their workshops. A first year camper, Maggie, burst out, “I didn’t know I was studying with gods!” Since these campers already know and love so many of the actors, when those actors’ characters have anything sad to say, they receive from our enthusiastic section front and center of the theater a chorus of sympathetic “oooh!”s. At intermission, I overheard campers trying to figure out if, at any point, the characters were telling the truth. The characters in this drama layer deceits on deceits, and just when you think you’ve figured out who wants what from whom, you find you’re wrong. But however complex the windings of the plot, Lion’s dialogue is smart and quotable; since watching this show, the campers have been throwing around phrases such as, “Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!” or “I never cease to marvel at the quickness of your mind” or “Hush dear, mother's fighting” or “You stink. You’re a stinker and you stink” -- all in good natured fun.
Saturday night we all returned to the theater to see The Two Gentlemen of Verona. This was a whole different experience because now we got to see the whole troupe performing, and we got to watch the actors working with Shakespeare’s text. Watching the campers is a real treat, as I see them drinking it all in, eyes wide, minds open, learning by seeing professionals at work. Though work seems like too strong a phrase. The campers clap and sing along to the pre-show and interlude songs, and they contemplate the subtleties of iambic pentameter while eating gummy bears. And after the show, conversations exploded about Shakespeare’s problematic ending, about the themes (friendship? what makes up one’s self? serving and service? loyalty?) or about the performance choices. These conversations continued back to the dorm, to the gelato shop, even into brunch and to the day on the lake the next day.
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