Mark Rylance - Rave Reviews in Boeing, Boeing

As most of you know by now, I am a devout fan of the Divine Mark Rylance. He is currently starring in a Marc Camoletti (Don't Dress for Dinner) farce in London's West End. The play is called Boeing Boeing and focuses on a man who is engaged to three different flight attendants at the same time, until the arrival of a new Boeing jet messes up his "triple-life" and he has to juggle the women around so they don't find out about each other and his deception. Mark Rylance plays the faithful friend who gets pulled into the soup.

I love Camoletti's bedroom farces—I played Suzanne in a production of DDD a few years ago, and it was as much fun for the actors as it was for the roaring audiences. From the sounds of it, Boeing Boeing is tickling London audiences pink. Now I need to rob a bank and get my hiney to London to see it.


First, here's The Guardian Interview with the Divine Mark Rylance. Second, here's what the critics are saying about his performance:

The Evening Standard, Feb 20, 2007: CRITIC'S CHOICE "Allam's sexual deceiver is abetted by Robert, his sexually famished friend, whom Mark Rylance brings to timid life in the comic performance of a lifetime." The Independent, Feb 19, 2007: "It is Rylance, as his Welsh-accented innocent chum, who steals the show. From the moment he arrives, fresh-faced, from the provinces, blinking with disbelief at Bernard's real-life erotic fantasy, he is the comic heart of the play. By the end, festooned with airline handbags, his mouth smeared with the lipstick of various hostesses, he is clearly having the time of his life, as is a whooping audience in the stalls. It is a joy to behold." BBC - London, Feb 19, 2007: In an evening of (im)pure, adulterous pleasures, Allam and Mark Rylance, playing his friend from the provinces who is unwittingly thrown into the sexual maelstrom, demonstrate a propulsive comic energy that is carried on tidal waves of panic. The Independent on Sunday, Feb 18, 2007: "Rylance is a joy as Robert, blinking like a bewildered dolt but with a sneaky habit of getting snogged." The Observer on Sunday, Feb 18, 2007: "Mark Rylance - one of the greatest actors of the last 50 years - moves to a separate rhythm, while hitting the beat of the farce. As the bumpkin friend let loose in the city, he's most interior. His face - with small currant eyes - doesn't work, it thinks; his body doesn't gesture, it responds (he enters weighed down by the weight of his metropolitan hat). He lets thoughts swim out of him. Look at him and Frances de la Tour trying to outface each other: it's like watching an ant and a cobra going head to head." Whatsonstage.com, Feb 18, 2007: "Allam and Rylance show that the best of our classical actors are capable of conquering the most difficult of all acting challenges, farce... easily the funniest evening in London." The Times, Feb 16, 2007: "In many ways it's Rylance's evening. Tell me: is there a subtler comic actor in London? ...His wary, flustered wonder is a delight to behold." The Guardian, Feb 16, 2007: "The plum part is that of Robert, whom Mark Rylance invests with a Welsh accent and poll-scratching air of bemusement that reminds one of Stan Laurel at his best. Rylance, with his tenative gestures and secretive smiles, works in a different rhythm from everyone else, as befits a rural visitor. But what he dazzlingly shows is how the outsider gets caught up in the wicked Parisian game. At one point Rylance, overcompensating for the compromising undergarments found in his bag, essays a macho toughness which leads him to point his fingers like pistols and kick open a door in the manner of John Wayne. It typifies a great farce performance in which innocence is corrupted by experience."

GAWW, I need to get to London TOMORROW! I worship this man!
Performances until April 28, 2007.
 

Where is Mark Rylance?

The Divine Mark Rylance.  Many of you know that I idolize this man to the ⁿth degree.  Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London until the beginning of this year (see my blog on "Changing Guard at Shakespeare's Globe), Rylance is a force of nature as a Shakespearean actor.  Nobody who has ever seen this man on stage can forget his performances.

Since Mark Rylance stepped down, I have found nothing about his future projects — I'm constantly checking, because I want to see anything and everything he may be performing in again.  I've had no luck on that front, but have found a few mentions of him, so I do know he's still around — perhaps he is enjoying some well-deserved time off.

According to the Luxury Traveler (3/13/06), Rylance is still involved with the Globe conducting the famed Sonnet Walks.  I tend to take this with a grain of salt, but if anyone does happen to have confirmation for it, please advise.

Chloe Gallagher, a fellow blogger, posted a sighting of Mark Rylance at the Globe on April 21, 2006.  Rylance is not part of any of this year's casts (!) so we can only ponder about the capacity in which he was visiting — perhaps something to do with Shakespeare's birthday celebrations.

Mark Rylance was nominated for this year's BAFTAs for BBC4's "The Government Inspector", and BBC4 also recently re-aired the taped performance of "Richard II" from Globe's 2003 season.  I have been searching high and low for a copy of this on videotape.  If someone can get their hands on this and sell it to me, it would be worth a HUGE amount to me.  Drop me a note.

And, if anyone has any news on what's next for Mark Rylance, please let me know.  Watching Mark Rylance on stage is of enormous educational value to me as an actor and a source of utmost pleasure — I'm ready to make a pilgrimage at a moment's notice.
 

Tags:  Rylance | Shakespeare | The Globe | Theatre

Changing Guard at Shakespeare's Globe

 
When Mark Rylance, then Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, announced last year that he was going to retire from the post at year's end, I could feel my heart stop for a moment.  Serving as Artistic Director from the first and shepherding the ambitious project through its first ten years, as well as gifting the world with luminous, inspired Shakespeare performances as leading actor, Rylance to me was the Globe — I greatly fear that the Globe will never again demonstrate the impeccable quality for which it has come to be known.

Paying five pounds (roughly $8) to stand leaning against the stage of "the wooden O" for three hours, rain or shine, while brilliant actors breathe new life to Shakespeare's works in flawlessly reproduced Elizabethan costumes, and the apollonian Mark Rylance (inarguably the greatest Shakespearean actor of our day) being present — that is as close as I've ever come to heaven on earth.  With this news, I feel like I'm in an alternate, Paradise Lost reality, like a rebel angel cast down never to look again on the face of the divine.


If you have not seen Mark Rylance on stage, you will think I'm a giddy schoolgirl exaggerating.  If you have seen Mark Rylance on stage, you will know exactly what I mean. As Pacino once said, "Mark Rylance plays Shakespeare like Shakespeare wrote it for him the night before."  Mark Rylance is a force of nature — he is poetry made flesh.  Visiting the Globe from this day forward will be like visiting a temple that has lost its god.

I was fortunate to see the Globe on their US tour this year and to speak with Mr. Rylance briefly after the show.  He was as lovely and gracious a person as one could have wished!  I have scanned the news daily, but not a word about what his future projects may include.  Ahh, the waiting!

The Globe has, however, announced its appointment of a new artistic director, Dominic Dromgoole, who in turn has announced the coming summer season.  Dromgoole, a veteran director at the RSC and Old Vic, has dubbed the season "The Edges of Rome":  Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Comedy of Errors are the four Shakespeare plays. Interestingly, Dromgoole has also included two modern plays which will have their world premiers: Simon Bent's Under The Black Flag, which follows the pirate Long John Silver in the 17th-century, and Howard Brenton's In Extremis, a story set in 12th-century France, following the relationship of Abelard and Heloise. The casts have yet to be announced, but booking begins February 13.

Fascinating article/interview with Dromgoole by Nick Curtis of the Evening Standard, January 13, 2006.

Considering that the RSC, also under new artistic direction, is presenting the whole canon of Shakespeare's works this year, it promises to be an interesting year for lovers of the Bard. The season includes visiting theatres from around the world, and also provides big names, such as Patrick Stewart (O Captain, My Captain!) as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and as Prospero in The Tempest.  Time to start saving for that trip to England!

 
Tags: Mark Rylance | Shakespeare | The Globe | RSC | Theatre

News on Mark Rylance and Shakespeare's Globe

The Divine Mark Rylance won at the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) on May 7th for his role in Channel4's "The Government Inspector" the equivalent of a British Emmy Award. Congratulations to Mark!


JustJosh on his blog reviews the Globe's production of Coriolanus, and it seems perhaps Shakespeare's Globe is not dead sans Rylance after all.  I'm planning a pilgrimage this summer, so you'll get my two cents on it later.

On the Globe's rivalry with the RSC, the Evening Standard has an article which to my eyes seems very RSC-friendly.  Whereas everything I've ever seen at the RSC pales in comparison to any given 5 minutes at the Globe.

I must admit, I am dying to see Patrick Stewart as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and as Prospero in The Tempest, as well as Sir Ian McKellen as King Lear.  Must make plans.  And wait till you hear this, Madeline: they are doing "Merry Wives the Musical" with Dame Judi Dench as Mistress Quickly!  We have saying in Finland, "Live long enough, you'll see it all." (Oppia ikä kaiken)

For more, see previous post on Mark Rylance, the Globe and RSC.

 
Tags: Mark Rylance | Shakespeare | The Globe | RSC | Theatre

Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus - Globe 2006

Before embarking on a review of the above, let me say my feet and calves ACHE — walking around London for a full day, after which attending a show at the Globe, standing for 3 hrs as a 'groundling', is murder for the uninitiated.  To think, just 3 years ago I could have done it for days on end, but soft living in the suburbs has divested me of both muscle and flexibility, and today I am walking around like great-aunt Esther, every step accompanied by a sadly-whimpered, muffled "Ow."

In the good news, had a superb breakfast at Camden Market, proudly named "The Full Monty", consisting of slices of English bacon, sausage, egg, and baked beans, with a nice chunk of buttered baguette and a can of Fanta to chase it down.  Yes, Madeline, I know I shouldn't be drinking it since I'm allergic to it, but really, how can I resist, it's FANTA?!

The corset lady, over whose wares Madeline and I used to drool, vowing we'd be back when we were mega-rich, is no longer in the same spot.  She now has a store named ARC at the end of the street, where the Camden Lock Market buildings are.  We'll still go back, should we ever strike rich enough.  There was a pink satin one with black lace and piping I thought we could have fought over, and a purple chinese silk satin one that could have given Scarlett O'Hara's waist a run for its money. *DROOL*

After this, a quick stop by Goodge Street - there's now a Starbucks to the left of the tube entrance Madeline!  We would not have been safe!  I didn't go in but admired RADA from the outside, and then headed down to Westminster Abbey, wich, miracle of miracles, was open.  The story here, is that I have stood outside said cathedral countless times, and the bugger has always been closed for a private function, or cat-christening, or just on principle to not let yours truly in.  Thus it happened, that I finally got to see Queen Elizabeth's tomb and "Poets' Corner" with its tombs, monuments, and memorials.  I think I scared the other American-sounding tourists when I fell a-weeping in front of Michael Drayton and "O, rare Ben Jonson" — and Mark, I did not have your strength, I did indeed break into a quiet recitation of "Whan that Aprille with his showres soote" in front of Geoffrey Chaucer.  I had a hard time getting un-verklempt and decided to quit the Abbey altogether. I could only think how much it felt like a pilgrimage (and please read that in the Middle English pronunciation, 'pilgri-Mah-juh').

The Globe is a sanctuary and holy place of another order for me.  Got there ridiculously early to get tickets, and then was among the first behind the rope they make you stand behind, before they let you to the Globe yard to wait for the gates of the holy house itself to open.  There is a reason for this — the best spots for groundlings are right against the stage, where you can lean against the high planks and be almost right within the action.  Success!

I had waited with trepidation for this night, because I knew it would be weird to be at the Globe without Mark Rylance.  And it was.

The second play of new Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole's season "Edges of Rome", Titus Andronicus, opened with smoke from censers, and much yelling and clanking, as two metal-railed "towers" moved about the yard bearing the two contenders for Rome's emperorship.  Throughout the show, these towers were pushed around the yard, the groundlings being herded out of the way, so never once could anyone just blithely stand back and not pay attention.  Interesting concept, but there was too much of it, and it became distracting after the novelty wore off.

I'm not going to be one of those reviewers who write an essay on the plot; I hate that. I'll jump right in.

Costumes.  The costumes were no better than one might see in any regional theatre around the world — a grave disappointment to us 'costume-whores' who would go to the globe to sigh over the hand-stitched garments with their outrageously expensive fabrics, everything done to perfection, the shoes fully period, enough to make a shoemaker cry tears of joy.  These Roman soldiers and nobility alike were in black Converse hightop knockoffs, the toes of which had been cut out and the rubber soles and heels of which still read "Pump" for those of us close to the stage to get distracted by.  Underneath their machine-stitched "togas" everyone wore black SPANDEX® bicycle shorts which gleamed in the evening lights, should a character die and have his toga hiked up.  For the Roman half-glove, the emperor was forced to wear a black motorcycle glove with the fingers chopped off, strangely reminiscent of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" days.   Some things were done well, such as the blue tattoos on the Goths, the empress' wig, and Aaron the Moor's kaftan.  All in all, though, a sad day for Globe costuming.

Acting.  Patrick Moy was perfection as Emperor Saturnine.  He captured every nuance of the character, looked aquiline, his physical presence was commanding, possessed a beautiful, full "RADA voice", and he brought fantastic depth and surprising emotional range to the final scene.  Conversely, Geraldine Alexander as Tamora was disappointing.  Her voice was strained, often hoarse, and her character had no emotional arc due to the poorly delivered first speeches of Tamora, pleading for her son's life, and emotionally wan reaction to the murder of her firstborn — she was never once "in the moment", never portrayed a real emotion, but a very presentational 'aping' of real emotion which did not serve Tamora well.  One never felt sympathy for her for a moment, since she seemed a cold and calculating bitch from the start.  It was a performance that left the audience cold.  Douglas Hodge as Titus was an actor of strength, quirkiness, and rawness, as well as many surprises — very interesting to watch.  And please forgive me for saying this, he was good, but he wasn't brilliant in the way Mark Rylance would have been in the same role.  Laura Rees was superb as Lavinia and so real in her emotions that the gruesome events in the play were magnified twentyfold —she was petite and fragilely beautiful, so you can only imagine when they bring her in, broken and mutilated, covered head to toe in blood — gory.  Shaun Parkes as Aaron gives a solid, muscular, dangerous performance as Aaron, until his final scene when the director (Lucy Bailey) clearly did not understand that her Aaron needed levels, needed motivation, needed better understanding of himself, or did not know how to get her otherwise excellent actor there.  The supporting cast were good, but not great, solid, but not electric in any way — a big change from the Globe of yesteryear when supporting actors could also have played kings.

Music and dance were unimpressive during the show, and the usual final jig was replaced by a peasant roundel running around the audience, grabbing audience members in the chain at will.  Wan, wan, wan.

For the tourists there, the majority seemed exhilarated by what they had seen.  One philistine critic has gone so far as to say it is the best Shakespeare he has seen these past ten years at the Globe....  Ummm, yeah. NO.

The sad truth is that now the quality of the Globe is no different, no better from the present days of RSC.  That to me is heartbreaking.  Used to be, you wanted good Shakespeare, you'd go to good ol' RSC — you wanted brilliant, earth-shattering Shakespeare, you went to the Globe.

Without the artistic direction and flawless standards of Mark Rylance at the helm, the quality of actor (save Patrick Moy and Laura Rees), the quality of direction, the costumes, the music, the experience has brought the Globe down to the middling mortal mire.

Divine Mark Rylance absent from every aspect of the Globe is the greatest loss that the world of Shakespeare has felt in my lifetime.




Tags:  Mark Rylance | Shakespeare | The Globe | Theatre | Travel | London

Finally some Mark Rylance News!

Mark Rylance, Roger Allam, and Frances de la Tour will be opening next month in a farce called Boeing Boeing at the Comedy.

Eeeeeee, how do I get to London??? It may not be Mark at the Globe, but still, the Divine Mark Rylance. *sigh*



For the (incredibly dull) article, where this news originated, click here.
 

Mark Rylance as Leonardo Da Vinci

In 2003, the divine Mark Rylance played Leonardo for the BBC1 program on the master.  I've longed to see it, for as you all well know, he is my sun, moon, and stars when it comes to Shakespearean acting.  The Science Channel, a division of Discovery Channel, is showing the first part of the program today at 9 am (EST) and 1pm (EST) under the title of "Leonardo's Incredible Machines".   Unfortunately, you won't be able to see much of Mark and the magnetic genius he wields on stage, but it is an interesting and well made program about Leonardo nonetheless, and a treat for us MR fans.  There is also a companion Leonardo website which is quite fabulous and worth visiting.

Tags: Mark Rylance

The Divine Mark Rylance in Pittsburgh, 2008

I got an email from Christiane in Germany (thank you!!!), who alerted me to the latest news on Mark Rylance. Next year, he will be International Guest Artist in Residence at Carnegie Mellon University, working with senior acting students to develop a play about Andrew Carnegie. How appropriate that it will be called "The Divine Comedy of Carnegie, Frick and Goldman Incorporated."

I hope those actors understand what kind of an insanely fabulous opportunity this is for them. It is equivalent to having Sir Laurence Olivier come hang at your school 40 years ago. I'm so green with envy right now I could pop!

Mark Rylance Carnegie Mellon News Release
Blog article on the same

*update* Apparently, DMR will be doing Peer Gynt at the Guthrie in Minneapolis in March of next year (!) Thank you again, Christine!

Mark Rylance - I Am Shakespeare

This is a good year for lovers of the Divine Mark Rylance.  Boeing Boeing is playing at the West End till April 28, 2007, after which his worshippers have something new and exciting to expect. Rylance is doing a one-man web-cam show at the Chichester Festival Theatre in August, entitled I Am Shakespeare.

The play is about Frank Charlton, a schoolteacher who is obsessed with the Shakespeare authorship question, and who begins an internet show to further explore possible candidates to the mantle of Shakespeare. In his WWW broadcast, he explores the possible candidates of Sir Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and even Lady Mary Sidney, all the while trying to restrain himself from murdering his crazy next-door neighbour.

The show runs August 14 - September 8, 2007. I haven't quite figured out how to get "tickets" for this thing, but the moment I do, I will share the details.
 
Oh, how I love this man!
 

Mischievous Muse in Europe

Wheeeeeeeeeeee!  Apologies for the squeeing, but yes, it is true.  I am going!  Flying to Barcelona tomorrow night, then driving to Montpellier in the south of France for a few days, then flying to London for another few, back on Sunday 18th.

Can anyone say wine?  cheese? Shakespeare?  Definitely going to see both Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus at the Globe, although it will be a bittersweet experience sans my Divine Mark Rylance — also hoping to catch Hayfever with Dame Judi Dench, and perchance Derek Jacobi in A Voyage Round my Father.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Called my friend Nader, who's a friend from the RADA days, and will get together with him and his g/f as well. Must stop, dying from the happies! Wheeeeeeee!

<3 A

Tags:  Mark Rylance | Shakespeare | The Globe | Theatre | Travel

The New Globe Project

For those of us who have been trekking to London to visit Shakespeare's Globe, there is something a-brewing. The New Globe Theater project, which is trying to get enough funding to refurbish Castle Williams in New York harbor as another Globe playhouse.

Supporters include the divine Mark Rylance, Zoë Wanamaker, whose father Sam built Shakespeare's Globe in London, and several other influential theatrical and political figures.  But someone please, please, please tell me Al Pacino will not be acting there!  Cold fear clutched my insides when I read his name on the list of artists associated with the project.  Not allowing Al Pacino anywhere near Shakespeare would certainly be on my additions to the list, "Things I Will Not Do When I Direct Shakespeare."

Tags:  Rylance | Shakespeare | The Globe | Theatre

Montpellier, 2nd Day

Isn't it amazing, something which always strikes me when I visit France, is how a person who has studied the language for 8 years in school with teachers rigorous to the point of cultural fascism, is entirely unable and clueless when faced with the dreaded Restaurant Menu. All one's hours of trying to comprehend the sheer lunacy of the subjonctif, or the subjunctive tense, come to naught, and one is reduced to utter imbecility when one has to admit one has no idea what one has ordered — not even whether what one has ordered is fish or meat, let alone the subsect of said fish or meat item.  I used to despair, when not even my trusty pocket dictionary would reveal the secrets locked within le menu but in my old age (ha!) I have adopted a more philosophical tack, and accepted that eating in France will always be a culinary adventure and a mystery on par with the holiest of holies.

So tonight, at a lovely restaurant called Les Bains de Montpellier built not only on the site, but literally within the confines of a Roman baths, right behind L'Opéra on Rue Richelieu, I bravely ordered things of the set 30E menu without having any idea what the first or second courses were.  Turns out, the first course, Brochettes de caille were not either bruschette (guess #1) nor seafood on toast (guess #2), but little lumps of steak on a stick, drenched in an apricot sauce — quite divine.  The main course turned out to be veal medallions, and the dessert (about the only thing on the menu which I felt confident over) was 3 different créme brulées: vanilla, red-currant and liqeur, and a chocolate mousse one that almost took my tongue with it on its way down.  Who knew there were such wonders in the world of créme brulées!  I would love to take some classes that were only on restaurant vocab, perhaps combined with a cooking course at the same time. Mmmmm.

Gosh, do forgive me for thinking with my palate and tummy alone, but I do do do LOVE a good meal.  I figured I might as well enjoy myself while I could, because tomorrow is London for 4 days... and as much as I do adore London, a culinary hotspot it is not.  My apologies to the Britons — heck of a language, rocking literature, cool history, and hey, you folks can lay claim both to Shakespeare and Mark Rylance (idols to yours truly), but cooking... cooking y'all could improve on.

That said, it is beddy-bye time once again. More reportage once I reach the other side of the Channel :)

Guys, thanks for all your awesome comments and messages — you delight me and warm me, and I'm thinking of you all.

Avec amour,
A

Tags:  Travel

Zombified Ramblings

Okay, so still a zombie — lines coming along well for both MacB and Proof. Not enough sleep.

Feeling a little melancholy today.  Nothing major, just so many things adding up.

1. No word on Mark Rylance's future projects.  Getting worried.  Was so hoping to go to London this summer and revel.

2. Finished "The Return of Nightfall" — sequel to "The Legend of Nightfall" by Mickey Zucker Reichert.  The original is a book I consider one of the best fantasy books written.  The sequel was good, although did not achieve the luminosity of the original.  I don't have much time to read right now, as you can imagine, but I like to read a little before bed, and a good book ending is like a friend leaving; bittersweet.

3. Looks like I might not be making the vampire film after all.  The production was originally supposed to be Jan-Feb, which I had clear — now that it's been pushed to April, I doubt it will work. I'm booked every day except Fridays, and once MacB opens, even Fridays will be out.  Oh well, their loss for futzing and klutzing with the production dates. Would have liked to have played the lizard queen though (;_;)

4. Cold, windy weather. Always affects me. I'm too comfort-loving, and can't take the chill. Okay, I can take it, just don't wanna.

5. Missing my family. Missing my best friend Katja so much it hurts.

6. The muse has not visited. Haven't written a thing in a few weeks. Alarming. Miss her. Come back, you ornery wench!

7. I've fallen head-over-heels for "Firefly"/"Serenity", and it jars me that the show was cancelled. Hollywood studio execs are big poopheads.

8. Corr and I have had a rift but there seems no fixing it at the moment, since I think he's avoiding me.

Just one of those days. I'm sure the excessive tiredness is aggravating the situation.

Loving my play rehearsals though. Feels so good to be working on worthwhile projects. I wish I had the money to do a second season for CSC.  Dying to direct more Shakespeare. So many crap productions out here, and now that Dominic Dromgoole is murdering the Globe, the world is in dire need for unadulterated, unslaughtered Shakespeare. Would love to direct Hamlet or Lear.

Alright, yeah, I'm a zombie and I'm whining over inconsequential matters, coming off as a total twerp. Forgive me. Going to bed. I promise a cheery post one of these days. Until then, take good care. Thinking of you.

~A