Interview with Yael Farber at the link below:
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2014/04/bay_20140401_1054.mp3
or here
April 15 - It's official - Richard will be starring as John Proctor in The Crucible:
http://www.oldvictheatre.com/news/2014/04/richard-armitage-announced-to-star-in-the-crucible/
So very happy for him
Among the influences she mentions is South African artist William Kentridge
He's an artist whose work I'm familiar with and also like, though of course, not as familiar as Farber. Nor can I fully understand the South African experience, but I feel there's a universal theme in his art about oppression and totalitarian regimes.
To me his art is challenging, but also can be humorous.
Kentridge is also a theater director.
To me his art is challenging, but also can be humorous.
Kentridge is also a theater director.
How would all of this influence The Crucible and Richard Armitage?
I really like the way you asked this question. I wonder a lot about how they're going to play this (and am really sad that I won't be able to go). What's interesting about Salem is that while Puritan society was definitely orthodox, it wasn't totalitarian and it wasn't necessarily authoritarian. Miller picked up on the question of resistance to orthodoxy for whatever reason (although that's not what historians think the trials were about at the time) to comment on government treatment of Communists -- and I think you're exactly right that that must have interested Farber. I'd be interested in a more modern staging of The Crucible (one that didn't insist on the material depiction of Salem society) that commented on the question of popular hysteria and the way that authoritarianism enforces itself through something like "public opinion." I can also Armitage loving that, with his whole thing about how the most interesting characters struggle against limits.
ReplyDeleteThanks Serv :) I've seen some comments on twitter saying they hope she doesn't change the play too much, or at all, but I feel like you do, I hope she does. I've been reading a bit about her and agree it would be of interest to RA I'm sure if she explored contemporary, or more contemporary, political issues through this play. Also with her own personal background she's maybe more able to understand and explore certain aspects of the play. I hope we get more of an idea once they start rehearsals. I'm also quite sad at not being able to see him on stage. I haven't given up totally yet, still trying PriceLine and those lottery tickets :) Hope Crucible makes it to Broadway, as Farber's Miss Julie did, and with RA of course.
DeleteProfessionally for him -- better a play that dares a lot and makes people remember it (as long as it's not an obvious flop) than something that plays it safe. She doesn't seem like that kind of director (the set designer is also someone known for being daring). I think another thing he *doesn't* want to do is invite comparisons with Daniel Day-Lewis.
ReplyDeleteI'm more curious than ever to know what "visceral re-imagening" of the play means
DeleteI also think back to those early comments. Wanting to do Pinter in a small setting, experimental ... it would be so good if we could see that sort of notion of Armitage as conceptual artist realized in any way. (Well, I won't get to see it, but you know what I mean.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you - maybe we will see him, if not in the flesh on stage, but I'm still hoping for a simulcast in a movie theater or two
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