Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:40 PM

Just some random thoughts bubbling through my head:

Re-watched part of the commentary track on Revengers Tragedy. Unfortunately, the audio isn't so great on the library DVD (I belong to four library networks -- and only one library among them carries this), so we gave up partway through -- though we did manage to catch Alex Cox and Eddie Izzard chat about Marlowe's Edward II. Somehow I suspect I'll be purchasing this one anyway, so I'll catch the rest of it later...

Watching the making-of featurettes instead, and the segment on set design made me realize what the look of the film reminded me of. Max Headroom with all the trailers and corrugated iron...

It also got me thinking about further potential for film adaptations.

Given the recent trend in soap operatic retellings of historical dramas (Rome, The Tudors), I wonder if anyone has considered this approach for the Wars of the Roses: Richard II, Henries IV, V and VI, Richard III, Henry VI...

Certainly enough characters and motivations to fill a couple seasons worth of action.

When I saw the list of other revenge dramas Cox listed among his hoped-for series, I was surprised to see Doctor Faustus among them.

Because I never really considered that a revenge play.

When I combine Marlowe + revenge play, I immediately think Jew of Malta.

But I suspect that probably can't be filmed in today's political climate.

And which are the modern revenge dramas?

Death Wish? Kill Bill?

Both Batman and the Punisher are motivated by vengeance, but the ongoing storylines have prevented them from following the traditional arc.

Back to Middleton, recent analysis suggests he had a greater hand in Macbeth and Measure for Measure than previously credited.

Tamburlaine is the story of a poor man who claws his way up the ladder of success tonearly impossible heights.

Yet the aspect I found least plausible was the notion that this brutal warrior was once a shepherd.

"Listen up, sheep! Today, I'm bringing out the white shears. Tomorrow, those who haven't come up to be clipped will face the red scissors. And believe me when I say, don't make me bring out the black blades..."

If I had any artistic talent, I'd've drawn that as a cartoon.

Oh, and in my review of Titus, I forgot to mention one of the problems of seeing the same play so many times.

One starts to get ideas...

I've not only developed preferences among the various interpretations I've seen, but I've been considering some innovations of my own.

I've actually bought a cheap paperback copy of the text and plan to start editing and annotating my own version.

I'm not in the theatre, nor connected with any company that could perform it, but I may write it up nonetheless.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:54 PM

Radley Balko recounts a conversation at the Apple store regarding hard drive failure:

Me:	The computer isn't even two years old. What could have caused it?
Him:	Lost of things. Do you ever type while the computer is moving or shaking?
Me:	What do you mean, like in a car?
Him:	In a car, on a plane. Ever type on it while it's sitting on your lap?
Me:	Well, yeah.
Him:	You probably shouldn't.
Me:	What? I can't use it on my lap?
Him:	We don't recommend it. The motion can put stress on the hard drive.
Me:	Isn't it called a “laptop?”
Him:	We don't use that term anymore. We call them “notebook computers,” now.
Me:	Isn't the whole purpose of a portable computer being able to use it on the go? Like, on planes, or in a car?
Him:	We really recommend you only use your notebook on a firm, steady surface, like a desktop.
Me:	Doesn't that really just make it a “desktop computer,” then?

Though my computer isn't a Mac, I share Radley's disappointment.

Laptops shouldn't be used on laps. Portable computers shouldn't be used on transportation.

Next thing you know, somebody will ruin baby oil and Girl Scout cookies...

Regarding drive problems, apparently laptops run hotter than the hard drives can handle. So, it's apparently worthwhile to get a laptop drive with a good warranty (such as a Seagate), so you can send it in regularly for replacement.

I've now got a smaller replacement drive (also Seagate) which I'm hopefully going to back my system onto so that while my drive's away I (a) don't lose any data, and (b) can continue using my computer.

Recommendations for good cheap (ideally, free) software to duplicate my drive and all its installs would be appreciated. Anyone know if Seagate's DiscWizard any good?

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:20 PM

Add my recommendations to the many already made for the 2002 film Revengers Tragedy

The film was directed by Alex Cox, better known for movies like Repo Man and Sid and Nancy -- films which oddly share certain sensibilities. This story is set in a vaguely punk post-apocalyptic Liverpool and stars Chris Eccleston, Derek Jacobi and Eddie Izzard, with music by Chumbawumba.

Furthermore, Cox blogged in 2003 that:

Exterminating Angel is also kicking around the delightful possibility of a series of Jacobean and Elizabethan revenge dramas (including Women Beware Women, The White Devil, Malfi, Dr Faustus, Volpone and 'Tis Pity She's A Whore). The slate would begin with Tod's adaptation of Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, performed/filmed in The Box in the FACT Centre in Liverpool, starring Derek Jacobi.

Tod Davies' scripts for Spanish Tragedy and Faustus are available online.

Unfortunately, they couldn't arrange financing to release the film in the United States, which doesn't bode well for the rest of the slate. But you can still catch the film on DVD, and I strongly recommend it.

Dark and funny, I think I'm going to watch it once more before returning it, to hear commentary by the director and Eddie Izzard.

Hm. Looked up Cox's latest movie, The Searchers 2.0 (currently making the rounds of the film festivals). Cox describes it (in his blog) as "a story of gasoline, justice and revenge, on the road from LA to Monument Valley." But according to the L.A. Weekly Review (reprinted in the official website for the film), "along the way, there are detours into the work of Thomas Kidd and Kit Marlowe."

I like the way this man thinks.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:20 PM

[Work has kept me tremendously busy; I wish my schedule would permit me to write more timely reviews.]

This week's production of Titus Andronicus by the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club marks the fourth version of the play staged in the Greater Boston area in the last thirteen months.

And I've managed to catch all of them (plus one in DC, making five).

If you haven't seen the play before (and do not suffer from any PTSDs which might be triggered by scenes of rape), I do recommend catching it.

I'm not sure how to describe the arrangement of the room and stage aside from experimental. The stage filled most of the room, with only a few rows of seats forming an L against two of the walls. This gave the cast plenty of room to move around, and enabled the politicking Saturnius and Bassianus to address their campaign speeches to different parts of the crowd. But some scenes played in the back corner would've been more effective if the actors were more visible to the audience (II.4).

I've grown accustomed to seeing Act I performed without interruption. HRDC added some minor scene changes, which surprised me and prompted me to reconsider the effect. By breaking up the action in this manner, I think it provided a little more realism and sense of place to the story.

I also noticed several cuts during the second half. Out of five productions, I've only seen the pigeon-seller once, so consider it no big loss. However, I found myself missing the family meal (Act III, Scene 2) and the archery scene (Act IV, Scene 3). Interesting choices which again made me think.

The violence was mostly handled symbolically -- no need to worry about splash zones in this production. Lavinia wore red opera gloves; Titus wrapped his hand in red cloth. Red fabric was used heavily in this performance, much the way ASP's production was dominated by rocks and stones (my review).

But even without graphic blood and gore (as contrast, see Shakespeare Theatre's Lavinia), they confront the audience with the most effective and uncomfortable version of Lavinia's rape I've ever witnessed. After Chiron and Demetrius hustle Lavinia away, the stage remains empty and they let you hear the pleading and screams and thuds coming from offstage. There's nothing to look at, no distractions -- just those awful sounds with your imagination to fill in the pieces. A most impressive performance and brava to Olga Zhulina.

As the title character, Jack Fishburn oddly reminded me of the Joker (by DC Comics). Particularly the origin story of The Killing Joke. "Why dost thou laugh? it fits not with this hour." I enjoyed watching the character go mad, and seeing the glimmers of method to his madness.

I also recognized several actors from May's Romeo and Juliet (review). John Greene, who was Lord Capulet, plays Saturnius. And former Romeo Chris Hanley seemed much better integrated with the rest of the cast as Lucius.

Aaron has become one of my favorite Shakespeare characters, and I have high expectations for the role. I didn't much care for Mat Nakitare's delivery of Aaron's first monolog, but the character grew on me as the story progressed. He flourished a red delicious (Act III, Scene 1: another symbolic substitute for violence) with devilish delight, and I could not have been more pleased by the way he portrayed Aaron's feelings towards his son.

The biggest detraction in the production was the music. It neither reinforced the mood of scenes nor provided ironic contrast. It was just there at unpredictable moments and added nothing.

But audio aside, the acting was solid and I had fun.

And now to watch a rented DVD of Middleton's Revengers' Tragedy (starring Christopher Eccleston) which has been recommended by multiple people whom I trust.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:15 PM

Titus Andronicus is often called the most Marlovian (stylistically) of Shakespeare's plays.

Watching Titus a few weeks after seeing genuine Marlowe, and I'm even more confident that the authorship theorists are wrong. I can't quite articulate it, but Titus has a different feel.

[When I mentioned this to Ian, he pointed out that Edward II and Richard II are clearly by different writers, because they're too much alike. Why would a single author repeat himself to that extent?

Of course, it's also quite clear that Shakespeare and Marlowe were paying attention to one another.

A few phrases that caught my ear when in the audience for Marlowe, and the Shakespeare quotes they evoked:

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:45 AM

Making Light has a thread for playing Elevator pitches:

You know SF&F genre is hot these days, and after Bridget Jones' Diary you know the classics of English literature are ripe for ripping off^H^H^H reinvention. What could sell better than a crossover?

Make your pitch: classic novel/play/movie/epic poem/whatever recast into an SFnial setting, real or generic.

I haven't had the chance to read all the contributions, but running thru the Shakespeare canon, most could translate to SF/F settings without making much difference. [Okay, I think Comedy of Errors may work better with cloning technology]

And not only did somebody else beat me to posting about Malcolm finding allies among the Ents, but someone else says that was apparently Tolkein's original idea!

All this is a roundabout way of providing context to my next really bad idea...

Shakespeare leaves a lot of spare body parts lying around the stage. Titus alone lops off a tongue, three hands, and two heads.

The two disembodied heads could be paired with the decapitated bodies (Cymbeline and Measure for Measure)...

Starring Cerimon as the mad scientist, and Richard III as Igor.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:05 PM

FWIW, driving home in this snowstorm was nowhere near as harrowing as December 2005.

That had been a white-knuckle drive, when I could barely see a few feet past the edge of my front bumper.

Why, during the worst of this afternoon's drive, I could still see four cars ahead of me...

Progress was slow, and sometimes slippery, but the snow didn't clog up my wiper blades (something else that happened in 2005).

It also didn't hurt that (a) our new car has a traction control system, and (b) I now have a cell phone, so I could keep Ian appraised of my progress. Wasn't quite so alone as last year.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:10 PM

Listening to NPR on my morning commute, I heard Juan Williams talk about his recent trip to China.

His way was paid for by the Committee of 100, an organization encouraging better relations between the U.S. and China, who have been concerned about recent negative press about the country, its policies and products.

Well, they certainly got their money's worth out of Juan Williams.

Boy he laid it on thick, parroting the pro-business Party line even in the face of valid criticisms of those policies...

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:50 PM

The Shakespeare Theatre Company has video trailers for Tamburlaine and Edward II!

Tamburlaine Trailer

Edward II Trailer

Only about 45 seconds apiece, but maybe this can give a better sense of the works than my poor words...

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:40 PM

Forgive me, but work and personal responsibilities have kept me too busy to complete the writeups these two plays sorely deserve.

And with time running out on their runs, I wanted to get something up so you all have time to get tickets and make travel arrangements, if you can.

Needless to say, both are strongly recommended.

Tamburlaine

Spectacular is an overused superlative, but I can think of no better word to describe Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine.

Its grand epic scale seems to demand CinemaScope; something by Cecil B. De Mille, perhaps, with a cast of thousands. According to the teachers' guide,

Geographical locations either visited, conquered or mentioned in the play include, in the following order: Persepolis (present-day Iran), Scythia (present-day Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia), Persia (present-day Iran), Turkey, Fez (present-day Morocco), Morocco, Argier (present-day Algeria), Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), Egypt, Arabia (present-day Saudi Arabia), Damascus (present-day Syria), Natolia (presentday Turkey), Hungary, Jerusalem (present-day Israel), Larissa (present-day Greece), Balsera (present-day Turkey), Aleppo (present-day Syria), Trebizon (present-day Turkey), Soria (present-day Syria) and Babylon (present-day Iraq).

Of course, those analogies come from a modern perspective. I can only imagine how mind-blowing this must've been to the original audiences, considering the earliest dedicated playhouses were barely 20 years old at the time. [According to Brian Gibbons, "Eighteen years separate the last performance of the York mystery cycle of miracle plays and the first performance of Tamburlaine."]

Needless to say, audiences of the period loved it. This was the first big blockbuster smash. In fact, Marlowe's original play was so successful, that he quickly followed it up with a sequel. I mean, how else can you read this prologue to Part 2 except as "Because you demanded it!"

The general welcomes Tamburlaine received,
When he arrived last upon our stage,
Hath made our poet pen his second part

But I digress...

Shakespeare Theatre Company, like most modern adaptations, has combined Marlowe's two plays into one show, separated by a 15-minute intermission.

They skip the traditional prologue and jump straight into the story. A projected caption identifies the setting in a manner reminiscent of old films (and it does so every change in locale).

Avery Brooks (probably best-known to my readership as Captain Sisko on ST:DS9 and Hawk in Spenser for Hire) plays the lead. He has a commanding presence and I think he's having fun with it.

Edward II

The king is dead. Long live the king.

The play opens on a funeral, a procession of mourners paying their silent respects before the casket, as the new king stands pensively apart. After a brief moment with his wife and son, he finally has a moment alone in which to send a message:

My father is deceased. Come Gaveston,
And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend.

The story is set in an undefined early twentieth century England, which evokes both the Oscar Wilde indecency trial and another King Edward forced to abdicate over an unacceptable love affair -- a very different tone from Tamburlaine.

All the more impressively, these plays are being performed in repertory, with most of the cast taking roles in both. Wow.