Slings & Arrows, Series 1
Jul. 9th, 2006 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
truepennyFirst of all, a million billion thankyous to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
heresluck, who insisted I would like this. You were right.
I read a review of Strictly Ballroom once that said something to the effect of, this movie will make perfect sense as long as you accept that ballroom dancing is the most important thing in the world. I love this review, both because it explains Strictly Ballroom and its slightly cockeyed, passionate worldview, and because it's a concept that can be applied to other stories, both in film and in other media.
So.
Slings and Arrows makes perfect sense as long as you accept that Shakespeare is the most important thing in the world. Which, you will not be surprised to learn, is a premise I had no difficulty with. It's impossible to talk about in much detail without spoilering (which would be a shame, since one of the things that delighted me most was the ways in which the series echoed and inverted and played with the narrative of Hamlet, as well as several other Shakespeare plays), but it is about Shakespeare in performance in the fullest possible sense of the word "about" (not merely about performing Shakespeare, but about the commodification, fetishization, and co-optation of Shakespearean theater, and about the passionate belief that you don't have to buy in, that you can take it back to raw theater and it will work), and every member of the cast is so perfectly right that there were moments when I was holding my breath, certain that somebody was going to put a foot wrong, and nobody did.
It's a fairy tale, but it's very aware of itself (as any story using Hamlet as its meta-text should be), and the people writing, directing, acting, and producing it have been there, in the trenches--or at least in the pit. (We saw a production of Hamlet a few years ago with an Ophelia that was very nearly as bad as Claire's.) And the fact that they still believe--the characters, but also the actors, directors, producers, writers--makes Slings and Arrows beautiful.
heresluck, who insisted I would like this. You were right.I read a review of Strictly Ballroom once that said something to the effect of, this movie will make perfect sense as long as you accept that ballroom dancing is the most important thing in the world. I love this review, both because it explains Strictly Ballroom and its slightly cockeyed, passionate worldview, and because it's a concept that can be applied to other stories, both in film and in other media.
So.
Slings and Arrows makes perfect sense as long as you accept that Shakespeare is the most important thing in the world. Which, you will not be surprised to learn, is a premise I had no difficulty with. It's impossible to talk about in much detail without spoilering (which would be a shame, since one of the things that delighted me most was the ways in which the series echoed and inverted and played with the narrative of Hamlet, as well as several other Shakespeare plays), but it is about Shakespeare in performance in the fullest possible sense of the word "about" (not merely about performing Shakespeare, but about the commodification, fetishization, and co-optation of Shakespearean theater, and about the passionate belief that you don't have to buy in, that you can take it back to raw theater and it will work), and every member of the cast is so perfectly right that there were moments when I was holding my breath, certain that somebody was going to put a foot wrong, and nobody did.
It's a fairy tale, but it's very aware of itself (as any story using Hamlet as its meta-text should be), and the people writing, directing, acting, and producing it have been there, in the trenches--or at least in the pit. (We saw a production of Hamlet a few years ago with an Ophelia that was very nearly as bad as Claire's.) And the fact that they still believe--the characters, but also the actors, directors, producers, writers--makes Slings and Arrows beautiful.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 07:54 pm (UTC)I have the DVDs but have not had much time to watch yet, thanks to diss things and whatnot, but I am greatly looking forward to it. Also, as a side note, I saw Paul Gross play Hamlet in Stratford, Ontario five or six years ago, and he was marvelous. But Ophelia was terrible.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-10 06:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 08:08 pm (UTC)Now watch the second series. *g* And then join me in waiting reeeeally impatiently for the third series.
Also: I thought of that same awful Ophelia whilst watching Claire. That Hamlet remains probably the single most *frustrating* theatre-going experience I've ever had. Gah.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 11:20 pm (UTC)As an aside, I got to see Paul Gross do Hamlet in 2000 at Canada's Stratford Festival, and thought he was excellent. That association makes his character in Slings & Arrows just that much more believable to me. :-))
no subject
Date: 2006-07-11 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 05:40 am (UTC)