Had McCarter tonight. With Shakespeare, and The Tempest.

*sigh* Ahh...I needed that. Fuck the reviews in the Ledger; I thought it was wonderful. The director cast the main characters as women, and not men; Duchess Prospera and Queen Alonsa. The reviews called the play well done, but flat and unimaginative, not taking full advantage of the innovation of the use of opposite sexes in the casting. Bastards.

I thought the relationship between Miranda and Prospera (not Prospero!) was fairly well done; they were believable as daughter and mother, not as daughter and father-played-by-woman. The Miranda/Prospera relationship was the least believable of all the gender switches, and it was still well performed. Prospera and Ariel were beautiful- there was a different tone to that relationship, something that was innately more female (not feminine, because that's a word with connotation that lies falsely in this case) and believable than it would have been had there simply been a woman playing Prospero's part, and not an actual character named Prospera.

(I am tired and slightly incoherent.)

Instead of King Alonzo, there was Queen Alonsa, and when Ariel (little geisha girl) sang "Full fathom five thy mother lies..." Ferdinand's reaction was much more honest...It was the interaction between Alonsa and Sebastian, and Prospera and Antonio that truly reflected the innovation of the gender switch. Pairs of brothers would not have acted so; I have a difficult time imagining the parts of Prospero and Alonzo as played by men. It seems natural that they would be women.

That, I think, is telling of how well they did. If it seemed as though they were women playing at being men, then no, they didn't take advantage of the opportunity. I'll admit that at times, Prospera seemed a bit overly male (not masculine, different connotation) but the overall tone was different. Certainly, they could have done more- but that might have broken the integrity of the play.

And damn it all, I liked it, so there.

The guy who played Sganarelle (My wages!) in Don Juan played Trinculo; I believe the guy who played Trisotan in School for Scandal played Stephano. To say that they were utterly hilarious would be understatement; Caliban, too, was wonderful. Ferdinand was damnsexy, the log scene was beyond cute, Miranda was quite clueless, Gonzalo wouldn't shut up, Antonio oozed eeevilness, Sebastian was a moron, but not a half bad guy in the end, and Ariel...Ariel stole the show, with her glitter and her drums and her singing and her geisha-girl fan dance and her gleeful mischief. Beautiful.

It was great, as McCarter plays are won't to be, and as Shakespeare's last effort ought to be. Bravo, and whatnot.

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on..."