Archive for the ‘arms and the man’ tag
Arms and the Man
Well, this is rather belated, but fact of the matter is there’s not that much to say. Theatre UBC’s production of Arms and the Man was certainly droll, and definitely a good time, but admittedly, not too notable an experience.
The play, much to my surprise, was a comedy. The only previous works of George Bernard Shaw I’d been exposed to were of the serious variety — Saint Joan, for instance. And so I came expecting something of the sort. I opened up the production notes and found myself a bit baffled by the intro: “Because many of the characters in [the play] are posers…”
And indeed. All the main ones were. The unraveling of their postures made for many good laughs and certainly, an interesting take on the Serbo-Bulgarian war.
The set work was excellent, as was costuming. I liked the use of props. However, the set transitions were awkward, and the singing during them was an unfortunately unpleasant juxtaposition. Directing for the most part was good, although there were more than a few dry and quiet moments that I expect were good in rehearsal but flopped quite a bit with an audience sitting around, coughing and moving around in their chairs.
All in all, good times, worth my money, friendly to non-theatregoers, but not a must-see.
