Portland Actors Ensemble **Photo credit: Annaliese Moyer**August 1 - September 7, 2009
Free!
Summary:
Part of a larger narrative of the rise of the House of York, both parts of Henry IV focus on the disintegration of King Henry of Bolingbroke's kingdom, family, and body while he strives to atone for his usurpation of the throne of his cousin Richard II. Collaboration with NWCTC.
18 comments:
Not great theater but it is free and this is the best PAE show that I have seen so far.
Stand out performances by Butch Flowers, Ken Potts, and Tom Walton.
I especially loved Bibi Walton but I think she is fabulous in everything she does.
Not bad at all, though free is a good price. I found some of the costuming a bit odd and I was a bit confused by the ending but the fighting was exciting and Chris Porter was a great King Henry IV. I also loved Ms. Walton with a meat cleaver.
There were some good things and some bad things as with any show. First off, I have to just get this out there that the costuming sucked! There was no cohesive design concept and it was really frustrating. I am sure that it didn't help that the double casting of some of the roles did not make sense and just created more confusion in the end. I also have to say that I could barely hear a fair amount of the actors so I found myself getting distracted easily.
I really enjoyed the character of Harry/Hal. I loved his subtlety and he wasn't that bad to look at either. Falstaff was great. I loved his timing and his voice. When he was on stage he always had my attention. I also enjoyed Hotspur's intensity and the dark haired lady who played his wife/lover? was great!
Kudos for the effort, but I was left wanting more from most of the characters, the costumes and the director.
I saw the show this weekend. It suffers from the same weaknesses so many other PAE productions fall prey to. It's too long and too boring. I really enjoyed Butch Flowers as Hal and Chris Porter as the King, but nobody else could keep my attention. It wasn't always the fault of the actors. The play was not well directed. It was often difficult to figure out who was who and how they related with others.
Are you going to see this followspot?
I won't be able to this time.
Thank heaven for small favors.
The less theater you see, Peanutduck, the happier the Portland theater community will be.
Sorry, but your work is just too negative, too out of touch and too destructive to the community.
A little criticism for the critic.
Time to rethink the career.
Hotspur should be charismatic, not just efficient.
Ken Potts is charismatic as hell and very sexy to boot.
The whole show was first rate.
Peanutduck isn't followspot. Hope your enjoying not working wherever you are. Critics don't hurt theater anymore than bad theater hurts theater. There will always be critics and when they don't like you, it hurts. This show wasn't bad theater, but Shakespeare in the Park has inherent difficulties.
Deep breath. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Even us crackpots.
None of the above concerns me in the least.
I've signed on to this blog for the very last time.
Amen.
Begging your pardon, but peanutduck IS followspot.
I think they were trying to say that the bloggers on FS are FS, not just the one critic.
I have to agree with the last poster. All ten of the last ten shows reviewed on this site were reviewed by peanutduck. None of those reviews seemed to be positive. Maybe that means all Portland theater sucks? It's a tough business so I think there is a good argument to be made that constant negativity serves no one.
Actually everyone is not entitled to say whatever they feel like saying. That's why we have libel laws. Some of the stuff on this site has definitely crossed the line. Glad you are monitoring but not sure you shouldn't close it down.
Then why does Followspot post as Peanutduck?
Seems redundant.
Begging your pardon, but peanutduck IS followspot.
Interesting...we should probably ask her how she feels about being a him...
perhaps the above mentioning of peanutduck is that we are all followspot...we all get the chance to say what we think of the show and followspot has done a pretty good job of posting everyone's slights, dislikes, comments, etc.
peanutduck just starts the conversation...
To clarify: Followspot is an ever-morphing role/moniker and may one day again be a reviewer. For now, FS is more of a general site admin, does interviews, etc.
Eloquent post anon 9/14/09 1:18.
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