Sunday, August 22, 2010

As You Like It: The Musical - Video Clips from Lismore Castle 2010

I thought I'd share some more videoclips from the open-air production of As You Like It in Lismore Castle last Monday night to add to those I posted during the week with the still photos. It was a great night and I am delighted to have got some half-decent videoclips up on YouTube. These are mostly the songs that interspersed the play, with their relevance to the scenes. It's often thought that the songs are randomly thrown in to bring a bit of light relief to the monotony of a play and to keep the multitude of kids sweet but they are all well chosen to have a link with the overall plot of the play. Here's some of those and on my previous post you have the rest.



Elvis Costello's "Oliver's Army" is particularly relevant to the woodland scene where the exiled Duke Ferdinand is hanging with his loyal mates, and Orlando flees to join him when he discovers his brother Oliver is plotting to kill him.



Meatloaf's "Dead Ringer for Love" is a good choice for the finale as the disguises of some of the cast - particularly Rosalind in her cross-dressing as Ganymede - fitted these lyrics well: I don't know who you are but you're a real dead ringer for love.



Queen's "Somebody to Love" is perfect for the scene where the confused crew are all looking to find somebody to love - with the convolutions of this lot in their love lives it's a wonder Shakespeare could track them all not to mention a distracted audience who would need to give the play 110% attention to track them all.



The final clip is a piece of dialogue from the final denouement scenes where children are reunited with fathers, brothers with brothers, and the lovers all pair off. Weddings ensue and they all live happily ever after - Shakespeare didn't just do tragedies and his comedies all seem to have real fairytale endings

The quality is not great but the weather was fairly inclement and I wasn't in clear view of the "stage" but given those restrictions and the fact it was dark for most of these clips I don't think they came out too bad. Enjoy them as I did - warts and all - and if you ever get the chance to see this great company then make sure you do and tell them they are a big hit in Lismore Castle with the entire town and especially this blogger!

2 comments:

Stephanie V said...

Yes, it's definitely nicer when you can take photos. I don't know why ours doesn't allow them.

I've been thinking about your grammar question re mettle vs metal. I think it must be a pun referring to his sword being tested. That would be his 'metal'. Am I reaching?

Catherine said...

Hi Stephanie V - I don't think anyone minds photos - then it's quite an informal outdoor evening - your one seems more formal and structured, and it's ongoing for the summer. I had no probs taking photos in the castle arts gallery either, as long as no flash used, yet I was told to stop in the Dublin City Gallery (which I blogged about last month - I did get some Lavery paintings). Ok I think that's a good point about Metal/Mettle - SHakespeare was big into puns so I wouldn't put it past them to deliberately play around with the words. Clever girl! Anyway it was great to see Much ado last summer! (I blogged on that with videoclips last Aug.)
All the best, Catherine.