Discover Top Posts Tagged with #deborah warner

I finally got to see Hedda Gabler with Fiona Shaw from 1991. Thank you to the New York Public Library.

Her Hedda felt uncomfortable, nervous, constantly on the edge of a psychiatric breakdown. At times haughty. Multifaceted. The Act 1 prequel scene is so intense you almost want to retch. What Shaw does with the props is incredibly effective. You end up sympathizing with her. The production really threw me a curveball. Surprisingly, she’s not one of the postmodern Jackson-Heddas. She's more Hamlet-like.

... But wtf happened in the scene where she burns the manuscript? I don't know if I loved it or hated it. Somehow it made sense. And wtf was Tesman doing when he found out she’d burned it? That moment didn’t work for me. It was a logical failure.

Gloomy aesthetic. Irish accents. Faithful set design. Strong ensemble. The final scene was changed, the result was weird.

#hedda gabler #hedda mphil #hedda gabler 1991 #deborah warner #fiona shaw

King John, RSC, The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1988, directed by Deborah Warner

Ralph Fiennes as the Dauphin and Darryl Forbes-Dawson as Limoges

#King John #Shakespeare #Deborah Warner #Ralph Fiennes #Darryl Forbes-Dawson

My chapter begins with a survey of the Press’ response to Fiona Shaw’s playing the king in Deborah Warner’s 1995 production of Richard II. Shaw’s performance was met with general howls of derision, it was, according to the critic at The Independent, ‘Gimmick casting … the sort of thing you might expect to see at the end of term in a boarding school’. However, I argue that the British theatre practice of re-gendering Shakespeare entered contemporary performance history with Shaw’s King Richard.

It is a bold claim, but one that can be tested in Deborah Warner’s own subsequent career. Fast forward to 2016 and Warner was once again directing a centrally cast woman – this time Glenda Jackson – in King Lear. Maxine Peake, Harriet Walter, Michelle Terry and Tamsin Greig (among others) were playing Shakespeare’s traditionally male roles. Twenty years after Shaw’s Richard, female cross-gender casting in Shakespeare was no longer assumed to be gimmickry but had become standard practice.

#shakespeare #william shakespeare #richard ii #fiona shaw #deborah warner #casting #women #theater #theatre #glenda jackson #harriet walter #crossgender casting

Hooray, the National Theatre’s film of Romeo and Juliet (with Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley in the lead roles) a. is superb, as you’d expect, b. absolutely has Benvolio (Shubham Saraf) and Mercutio (Fisayo Akinade) (and they are both utterly superb) being a couple, no relying on subtext, there is actual making out, they are totally in love. :-)

Makes III.1 even more devastating and heartbreaking of course, but hey...

(Other actors in this production include Lucian Msamati as Friar Lawrence, Deborah Warner as the Nurse, TAMSIN FRICKING GREIG as Lady Capulet (who now has most of Capulet’s lines too). V v recommended all round.)

(It has got me thinking though, watching this so soon after listening to the Arkangel audio production of Macbeth from around twenty years ago, that my *goodness* Juliet and Macbeth both talk so much about light and shadow and night and day and stars and sun and wanting to hide their deeds in darkness. It’s just that Juliet wants dark to hide her as she and her husband have sex, and Macbeth... has... other... priorities.)

#shakespeare #national theatre #romeo and juliet #josh o'connor #jessie buckley #shubham saraf #fisayo akinade #lucian msamati #deborah warner #tamsin greig #macbeth #stars hide your fires #come civil night #mercutio x benvolio

I am so sorry to hear about this. I just found out that Deborah L Warner my friend and sometimes employer has passed away. I thought she was doing good. I thought she was beating the cancer. She published my writing when few would give me a shot. She always appreciated my opinion on various writings and anime. She liked to read my reviews and provided sound advice and commentary that I loved to hear. When I was still writing for Nosferatu TV (now defunct) she did an audio interview for me where she spoke about her love of Anne Rice and vampires and her dislike of zombies. She also loved Dark Shadows. She had very recently wanted me to review a novel her husband had just written but I hadn't finished reading it yet to give my review. I hadn't known the time to tell her what I thought of it would be so short. This is heart breaking. She was my friend even if we only spoke online. She published me and she was a confidant I could talk to about all things. I considered her a good friend and always loved to see what she would post on Facebook. She wrote a wonderful but not-well-known novel and film called Demon Under Glass. The film only tells about half the story, ending at about the half-way mark of the plot of the novel. Demon Under Glass was about a vampire who gets captured and studied by humans and one of the doctors studying him shows him sympathy and compassion so of course when the vampire escapes he decides to stalk him... as you do.

If you have not read Demon Under Glass but like The Vampire Chronicles, and similar stories, I urge you to check it out. I feel terrible. I was in the middle of reading a book she wanted me to review. She always found use for me as a writer and called upon me to remind me that I AM a writer and that what I made was appreciated and wanted. I will miss her greatly. I just wish I had the opportunity to visit her in person.

#Deborah Warner #D. L. Warner #Deborah L #Warner #Demon Under Glass

Footfalls by Samuel Beckett

Fiona Shaw starred in this 1994 production at the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End. It was directed by Deborah Warner, designed by Hildegard Bechtler and lighting by Jean Kalman.