The roar of the smell

[cyrano]

All's Well That Ends Well
The storyline bugs me a little in the same way Measure for Measure does. You're in love with a dick who doesn't want to marry you. The King/Duke/person anointed by God to be in charge says "Hey dude, you're a dick. As punishment you have to marry this girl. And don't be a resenful dick about it."
But the actors were really good, and I loved the setting (Post WWII Sicily) and the conventions and props. One player shuffling quickly between several roles, pulling props out of suitcases, silent movie placards projected on a bed sheet, that sort of thing.
It still didn't deserve a standing ovation in my opinion, but it seems that either everybody else who comes to Ashland is feeling in a festive mood or has never actually seen a play before and is enraptured. Although I think if the latter were the case, there would be more standing ovations at the indoor plumbing and the fancy electric lights.

Comments

[miss-friday.livejournal.com]

Standing ovations are done way too much in this country. People do them for performances that really don't deserve it. Either the purpose of a standing ovation has been erased from the collective memory, or no one can pick an exceptional performance out of the line up anymore.

It irritates me no end.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear. We saw a local production of a truly awful play here in town, and after it was over it seemed like the entire audience immediately jumped out of their seats. To be fair, the actors did quite a good job with the material they were given, but said material was so bad that I honestly couldn't justify standing up. (But then, maybe the other folk liked it more than I did.)

Some of it, I think, is simply the tendency to conform - a few people stand up, then a few more people who were on the fence but feel okay now that other people are standing, a few more people who don't want to feel left out, and soon the whole audience is on their feet. Personally, I feel that if you weren't so affected that you don't jump out of your seat the minute the curtain falls regardless of what everyone else is doing, it's not worth the ovation.