Space
I've always found moving house very traumatic - probably because I have to go through the woes of transporting my 'nest' from one place to another. Furniture's the major problem. A house looks great when it's empty, with plenty of space to explore and dream of possibilities. Then it gets clutters up with all your junk, and it's not the same anymore. Still, there's about four weeks to go before my closing date so anything could happen in the meantime.
I'm pleased to say that my Jack-O'-Lanterns are improving. Using the sharpest, biggest knives I could find, I successfully carved a face in a massive pumpkin yesterday without chopping off one of my fingers or clogging up the Eliminator with seeds. I still can't bring myself to eat the innards - they're just too stinky.
The final words on South (for now) go to Melissa Gallagher of the Charleston City Paper. You can read her full review at www.charlestoncitypaper.com
'The Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina, in association with the South Carolina Historical Society and the Historic Charleston Foundation, mounted an ambitious production of a little-seen Southern play at the Sottile Theatre last weekend (they premiered it in Savannah in September). South, written by French-American author Julian Green in 1953, incorporates elements of both film and live theatre … ATSC deserves a nod at the very least for taking on such a monumental effort.
'The Sottile Theatre has rarely been considered a great place for live theatre, although local companies and Spoleto Festival USA have often programmed opera and dance in the cavernous former movie theatre. Despite this, the Sottile seemed well suited for South, and hearing the unamplified actors was never a problem. Set director Jean Hutchison created an authentic-looking facsimile of a well-appointed plantation drawing room on the Sottile’s huge stage, and her many period costumes for the dozen or so characters were remarkable.
'Set directly in the middle of the rear wall of the drawing room was a vertical white hanging “flat” which worked as an erstwhile projection screen throughout the production. For most of the play, the screen held a video image of a window, through which trees and the plantation grounds could be seen, rustled occasionally by a breeze — a particularly creative touch from co-director (with Chris Weatherhead) Nick Smith, which worked well for the most part, although the lighting of the projection didn’t match that of the room as well as it might have. At other times, the window was displaced by silent, filmed scenes meant to complement the exposition on the stage. Sometimes this worked, and sometimes it was merely distracting. The ghostly apparition one of the play’s main characters, Lieutenant Jan Wicziewsky, saw there was creepy and effective, as was the choreographed nighttime duel between Wicziewsky and neighboring plantation owner Eric MacClure later in the play — where it served to illustrate action taking place offstage while the main characters mainly pulled their hair, rent their garments, and gnashed their teeth over it.
'Folly Beach-based Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina can be proud of putting together such a huge project, which from the looks of the program was almost cinematic in scope. Presumably they’re now mopping their brows and, hopefully, looking forward to bringing the same high production values to something a bit more manageable.'
I'm pleased to say that my Jack-O'-Lanterns are improving. Using the sharpest, biggest knives I could find, I successfully carved a face in a massive pumpkin yesterday without chopping off one of my fingers or clogging up the Eliminator with seeds. I still can't bring myself to eat the innards - they're just too stinky.
The final words on South (for now) go to Melissa Gallagher of the Charleston City Paper. You can read her full review at www.charlestoncitypaper.com
'The Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina, in association with the South Carolina Historical Society and the Historic Charleston Foundation, mounted an ambitious production of a little-seen Southern play at the Sottile Theatre last weekend (they premiered it in Savannah in September). South, written by French-American author Julian Green in 1953, incorporates elements of both film and live theatre … ATSC deserves a nod at the very least for taking on such a monumental effort.
'The Sottile Theatre has rarely been considered a great place for live theatre, although local companies and Spoleto Festival USA have often programmed opera and dance in the cavernous former movie theatre. Despite this, the Sottile seemed well suited for South, and hearing the unamplified actors was never a problem. Set director Jean Hutchison created an authentic-looking facsimile of a well-appointed plantation drawing room on the Sottile’s huge stage, and her many period costumes for the dozen or so characters were remarkable.
'Set directly in the middle of the rear wall of the drawing room was a vertical white hanging “flat” which worked as an erstwhile projection screen throughout the production. For most of the play, the screen held a video image of a window, through which trees and the plantation grounds could be seen, rustled occasionally by a breeze — a particularly creative touch from co-director (with Chris Weatherhead) Nick Smith, which worked well for the most part, although the lighting of the projection didn’t match that of the room as well as it might have. At other times, the window was displaced by silent, filmed scenes meant to complement the exposition on the stage. Sometimes this worked, and sometimes it was merely distracting. The ghostly apparition one of the play’s main characters, Lieutenant Jan Wicziewsky, saw there was creepy and effective, as was the choreographed nighttime duel between Wicziewsky and neighboring plantation owner Eric MacClure later in the play — where it served to illustrate action taking place offstage while the main characters mainly pulled their hair, rent their garments, and gnashed their teeth over it.
'Folly Beach-based Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina can be proud of putting together such a huge project, which from the looks of the program was almost cinematic in scope. Presumably they’re now mopping their brows and, hopefully, looking forward to bringing the same high production values to something a bit more manageable.'
posted by Nick Smith @ 7:33 AM
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