You know honestly
I think there's a Dracula,
a Wolf Man, and
a Frankenstein's Monster
in all of us.
~ Richard Roxburgh
Last night my fella and I went to see the Quill Theatre’s Dracula, an adaptation of Bram
Stoker’s novel written by Stephen Dietz
and directed by Daniel Moore. For months I have been thrilled about not one but
TWO vampire performances coming to the Richmond, VA area, including Quill’s and
Firehouse Theatre's The Vampire: A
Grotesque Melodrama by J.R. Planché, which I can no longer find information
about anywhere.
My schedule has been
exhausting and I’m fearful of all the “fun things to do” in October. Who writes
“fearful” when it comes to fun activities? I could just not do it all but I
really, really want to. So many of the fun gothy events are shoved into one
month: one exhausting month. We can sleep in November when there are turkeys
and the color palette focuses on all that is brown.
The truth is I am very
tired. Yesterday, our day began at 4:30am as usual and then ended a little
after midnight. Fridays have been terrible commute days with delayed trains so
when I dressed yesterday morning, I wore what I planned to wear for the
performance thinking that I might not have much time to dress. It turns out
that I would have had time but still.
At 4:30am, I was already
too tired to take a picture so I didn’t take a picture of my outfit. I wore my MiXT
by Heidi Weisel Grid Burnout Dress. I like the belt that came with the
dress but still switched it out for a belt with my Nosferatu's
Hand Alchemy Gothic Belt Buckle. I wore a Kay Adams necklace which you can
see in the photograph; W
Hamond Silver And Whitby Jet Dracula Crest Signet Ring, and little bat
earrings.
Of all my Dracula book clutches, I opted for the P.S.
Besitos Dracula book clutch, which is still one of my favorites (and I can
carry the most stuff…but still that’s not much). I was happy how my lipstick
turned out although it’s hard to see in the picture. I used Urban
Decay lip liner in Pandemonium with Rimmel London Stay Glossy in Black Diva,
which is basically a translucent black lip gloss.
We enjoyed a night out. We
parked near the theater, walked
around the Capitol looking at the statues and relishing in Richmond’s
beauties. Then we headed back toward the theater, had some drinks, and enjoyed
the performance. As for the performance, I especially enjoyed that Van Helsing
was played by female actress, Melissa Johnston Price. She was amazing and
completely believable. The set was gorgeous; the costumes were lovely. I'm not sure how they afforded the rights to Philip Glass music (just saying because I believe you have to pay for these kinds of things). Afterwards, we went and had dinner in The Fan District.
In total with tickets ($74.50), drinks ($20), and dinner ($40), we contributed
to our local economy.
I love living in a world with vampire advertisements! |
I mention the economics
of last night because this morning I have been emailing with a friend about
local theater and he who pointed to a website where Quill’s Dracula received an
unfavorable review. I’m not linking to that site because I don’t want to link
to meanies and basically that’s what I think this review is.
I used the word criticism,
removed it, and then decided that I needed to unpack that a bit. There are two
definitions of criticism. The first focuses on the faults and mistakes of
something which leads to an expression of disapproval; the second focuses on
both the merits and the faults of artistic work. Often, I believe that theater
reviews fall into the first definition and somehow we have all forgotten that
there is a difference between quality and taste. I do not love all Faulkner
(the English Professors of the world gasp!) but I can respect the quality of
the work.
I also have a hard time
with these reviews because they frequently do not differentiate between the
work (the choices the actor makes and/or what the director tells him to do) and
the actor (the person). When my fella was in a play a few months ago, he was
incredibly talented (and I’m not biased at all!) There were so many patrons who
complimented his work and who (still) ask what show he’ll be in next; but,
there was one bad review: a bad review of Community Theater. He wasn’t paid a
dime to participate. It fact, it cost us money considering he purchased all of
his props and his suit, shirts, and hats. Mind you, my fella is a pretty
sensitive soul; I believe that all creatives are. Some build a thick skin but I’m
not sure if that is what they should be doing. The criticism my fella received
was that he was too old to play the part. Thank you Mr. Lack of Imagination
Critic. And how is this a critique of his performance? It is not.
Another issue, because
this has become somewhat of a rant in my head, is that when we knock down local
actors and regional theater, we’re only hurting ourselves e.g. read that as
MONEY and ECONOMY! (Oh, boy, I’m in an all-caps now). You write that a local
play isn’t that great and some people decide not to go. Well, there goes that
theatre company’s budget. This ain’t Broadway, kids!
There were many aspects of
the performance that I loved; there were aspects that left both of us puzzled.
Will we go to another performance? Hell yeah we will. If we don’t invest in the
creepy, weird, counter-culture, macabre, left-of-center, little-bit-odd, artsy
who the hell will???
Steps down off of soapbox.
Oh, and the floating doors
and the woman sitting in chairs that Mr. Critic found so puzzling… I completely
loved that!
I love your out fit, looking stunning. It's shame how on bad review can intern destroy an entire theatre's budget. I'm not really into plays but I have a soft spot for Shakespeare. As present my partner purchased ticket for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre's Mid Summer Dream, my favourite. Our current Government spending cuts have resulted in the plays spending being cut, so they have worked with the RST actors and combination of local amateur theatre groups, which worked amazing it was hard to know who was a professional and amateur.
ReplyDeleteMost times I find critics only helpful by being opposite to what I like. If they rave about something it usually is something I probably won't enjoy, if I even notice what they say. Sounds like a wonderful show and I wish I could go and for being so very tired, you didn't show it and looked amazing.
ReplyDeleteYes yes yes yes yes to all that!
ReplyDelete