Well, to start off I must say that overall there was excellent casting on the directors part. With just one exception, everyone was perfect for the role they were casted into. The cast connected with each other, so the director obviously didn't cast anyone who would have caused actor drama that cast the carried onto the stage.
Okay, first major issue that came up has to do with the blocking in the phone call scenes. I mean really. In both the phone call between Swifty Lazar and David Frost, and the phone call between David Frost and Richard Nixon they talked directly to each other. The characters weren't even in the same building during the course of either phone call, and it was prior to the cell phone era, so there was just no way. Yes, I know it was a play, but considering it is supposed to be based on reality, that issue just bugged me beyond belief. The show was for the most part realism. Although the use of a narrator and spot lights demonstrate the use of non-realism elements, the play was for the most part a realism production. The way they spoke, the costumes, the interactions between people, even the acting style in general is considered realistic. The speech was realistic. It didn't have weird things emphasized nor given overdramtically. The costumes suited the period very well. They interacted with each other on stage as a person would interact with others off stage. The acting was very believable and natural. They just owned the stage. Not to mention this is a historical play, based on factual events that actually happened. Granted the minimalistic props aren't realistic, but considering everyone was praising how smoothly they transitions were, you can't blame them for doing so as the clutter would make the transitions harder to achieve.
Second huge issue was the blocking involving freezing and people moving behind the screen pieces. I know that movement is distracting and all that, and I cannot tell you how to make it better without having the actors in front of me so I can try and make it work, but they froze way too much. In this case, I was more distracted by how still they were than by even the people who were moving behind the screens unnecessarily. It took away from the realistic part of the show. And about the people behind the screens, did they really have to show Nixon being pushed by the nurse before he actually appeared for his role? What about that other person who I couldn't really see any features make little weird movements that had no point? I seriously lost anything that happened because I was focused on that.
Acting wise, although I was displeased with it at first, I must say good job with the Nixon voice. At first I thought it was a horrible voice because it wasn't something I was used to, but apparently that is how Nixon actually sounded. I am glad the director managed to get that to come through, because the people who knew about Nixon and his era seemed to be overall impressed with how similar he was to who Nixon really was. The character I had problems with was Swifty Lazar. He sounded like some cheesy narrator in a comedy movie that is more of a joke than anything. He could give the guy who narrated George of the Jungle a run for his money, and in this case that wouldn't have been a good thing. The director should have been able to coach these two on that. The other character that had some issues Jack Brennan, the guy who was coaching the president. He was supposed to have been a military man, but he was very un-military. Even his first entrance when he is all dressed up in uniform, he lacked that military air. And when he interacted with the president during the interviews, he was too relaxed and completely not the character he introduced himself as.
On a more positive note, I would have to say that Jim was by far the best person on stage. He did his role well, and was very connectable. He seems like some one you would find yourself going out to coffee with. My only probably is when, at the end, he broke the most basically rule of the stage - he talked upstage! His performance had been flawless and that should have been something the director cut first because as would be expected, I lost everything he said when he was talking towards the psychedelic lights with dancing actors behind the screen. As both an actor who has had the note before, and a director to keep actors from doing this, that is one of the biggest rules that you cannot break, because no matter how good your diction is, it is all lost when you talk upstage, effectively blocking yourself.
Ember
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6 comments:
I am going to have to disagree with you on a few points. First off being the phone conversations. When the actors would go from talking like they were on the phone to making eye contact with each other there was a drastic change in the conversation. At first while it just looked like a normal phone conversation there were no personal attacks being made. But the moment they made eye contact the gloves came off and the "no holds bard" approach came out. They began making personal attacks against eachother in a way that is most effective face to face. I believe the director was trying to get the feel of a personal blow across to the audience and I for one thought it was brilliant. Secondly, the actor portraying Nixon was trying to impersonate the real President. I think his voice matched pretty well. It sounds weird to us because Nixon was before our day, but the actor made quite a resemblance of the real man. I thought he did phenomanal.
Ember--you use a lot of specific examples here, and that's good. I'm anxious for us to all discuss this play . . . you mentioned that the non-realistic elements don't work because the play is meant to be realistic. (Is it?) This will be a good discussion in class. (See pages 31-35 in the textbook, esp. page 35.)
Thanks for posting early! It's fun to read and think about the show so soon after we've seen it.
Hey Ember, I respect your opinion but I personally think the guy who played Nixon protrayed it really well.. I mean, I was (obviously)caught off guard knowing what Nixon already looked like, but I thought he did a really great job protraying his role.
You know what Ember, I was actually thinking about the phone conversation between Frost and Nixon as well, but probably not the same way you thought it. I thought it was interesting because the director made it seem like they were talking to each other directly. I don't know, to me, it seemed to add a bit of subtext.
I think the play was great, and I didn't see anything wrong with it, except the phone calls like you said. I agree, the way the actors would be talking on the phone and then break off to look at the other person, I thought was a little wierd. It might have been a creative thing the director was doing, and some may have really liked it, but I didn't understand it or like it myself.
Heather harlan
I thought your blog was really well written, but I as well disagree, I know that when i talk on the phone, its almost as if i am talking to that person, and i thought it was really dramatic and it emphasized the conversation they were having. Your blog is really well written though!
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