![]() It strongly resembles Dark Alliance, having the same engine and all, and plays out from that standard third-person once-removed viewpoint. This The Bard's Tale is an action RPG, equal parts sword & sorcery and tongue-in-cheek. There's no traditional party building or first-person jaunts down the streets of Skara Brae. If you are a classic gamer, then this isn't The Bard's Tale you remember. This is The Bard's Tale at its best: pointing out RPG clichés and turning them on their heads or simply skewering them. Of course the rat is fire-breathing, one of the NPCs demands an apology, and the barrel maker is paying him for each barrel he knocks off-it's good for business. Within the first hour, The Bard is asked to kill at rat in the inn's basement, bumps into countless NPCs walking through Houton, and smashes many barrels. Sadly, only flashes of this brilliance show up over the next nineteen hours. ![]() The first hour of The Bard's Tale is simply brilliant. Together with this summer's revival of In Acting Shakespeare - James DeVita's tale of his unlikely path to classical acting, which opens next weekend at the Touchstone Theatre - this play is an intriguing complement to the three Shakespeare productions on APT's main stage.I don’t think I've ever played a game that started so strongly or sunk into mediocrity so quickly. On the positive side, Shakespeare's Will is refreshingly direct, as is its examination of marriage, motherhood and individual experience. Furthermore, some of Thiessen's humor is predictable, such as a crack about a lover who has much between his legs but less between his ears. ![]() When Anne recounts conversations between herself and Bill, "I say" and "you say" become distracting and unnecessary context and Arnold's voice make it clear which person is speaking. Some might call it "Shakespeare light" for using made-up events in the absence of historical record. Though Arnold is a strong actor, Thiessen's play has some flaws. A lanky build makes her a graceful mover. Arnold is in near-constant motion, ranging around a simple yet flexible set composed of a bed, chair and table. Though one-actor shows often seem static, this performance was pleasantly dynamic. Meanwhile, Bill has liaisons with both sexes. In Thiessen's telling of their story, Anne has many male lovers when Bill is away in London, pursuing his theater career. Anne gives birth to their daughter Susanna and then, two years later, twins Hamnet and Judith.Īnne and Bill privately vow to have their "own kind of marriage," one free of typical conventions. Attraction leads to lovemaking, pregnancy and a shotgun marriage. She recounts first meeting "Bill," a poor tutor, at a country fair. After returning to the house, takes off her outer garment and peels back the layers of her marriage as well. The play begins with Anne walking home from Shakespeare's funeral on a gloomy, rainy day. This Anne is sensuous, earthy, funny and intelligent. The one-woman, one-act play stars APT favorite Tracy Michelle Arnold and marks the directorial debut of Brenda DeVita, the company's associate artistic director.įew facts are known about Hathaway's actual life, so Thiessen imagines the specifics of her personality and bond with Shakespeare. ![]() This 2005 play by Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen approaches Shakespeare from a fresh and humanizing angle: through his wife, Anne Hathaway, on the day Shakespeare is buried. Too bad teenage me couldn't have seen Shakespeare's Will, an American Players Theatre production which opened Friday night at the indoor Touchstone Theatre. One playwright didn't seem to need so much lionizing. Tracy Michelle Arnold in American Players Theatre's Shakespeare's Willįirst, a confession: In high school, my eyes glazed over as my English teacher droned on about the universality of Shakespeare and his literary genius.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |