A Comedy of Errors ? – Young reviewers hit the RSC !
August 3rd, 2009 | Published in Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Four young women told us about the experience they had when they visited the RSC to see a Comedy of Errors ……….. they will be using these reviews as part of their Arts Award portfolio . If you fancy doing a review or an arts award just get in touch !
Review of Comedy of Errors
Before we went in When we stood in the que to go into the performance, I felt very out of place because lots of primary school children were there and I felt to old to be watching this particular play. And then when the doors opened to go in, I noticed that the staff were very helpful to the primary school teachers but when they saw our group of teachers, they wasn’t as pleasant. For example they said hello to the school but they only smiled at us. I thought this was very rude. They also didn’t offer to take us to our seats and when I had been to that theatre before, they did take us to our seats.
The actors were all talking to the children when we went into sit down. I thought this was really nice as the children were all excited, however they never made any effort to come over and say hello to us, and they had to walk past us to say hello to the other children. Again I think this was because we were a group of teenagers. Although we were too old to be excited that the actors might come up to us and say hello, it would have been nice for them to smile to us. I also found this very disappointing.
I thought the theatre was quite nice, seeming as it was only temporary. It was nice and airy and every seat you sat in, you know that you would be able to see very well. The only criticism I had about the theatre was that it was very cold and I had to put my jacket on because it was so cold.
Watching the Play
Whilst watching the play, I noticed that it was a very good play for children (primary) because there was a lot of childish humour. Personally I found that the plot was extremely difficult to keep up with and halfway through I was already lost. The children were laughing their heads of but I just found myself very confused.
The actors did interact with the audience by pretending to hide behind peoples seats and talking to them, saying things like “ shh don’t tell him im here”. The children found this hilarious but yet again they did stay away from us when they was doing that. Why was that? And also they pulled a child out from the audience which was a really nice thing to do. I thought that the actors were really good.
Overall, I think that the play was very childish and I didn’t enjoy it at all. Even after our youth worker ringing up the RSC to see if it was suitable for teenagers, and them saying yes it was perfectly suited, I thought it was very childish and defiantly not suited to teenagers. I liked the theatre and would go to that same theatre again to see something different but defiantly not “Comedy of Errors” again. The main reason for this is because it was very complicated plot and even after half an hour it lost me.
-Morgan
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm (#)
Arts Event Review – Shakespeare’s ‘Comedy of Errors’
The art event I went to see was a play by Shakespeare called ‘Comedy of Errors’. I didn’t know anything about the play and didn’t know what to expect. The play was at the Courtyard Theatre, and it had many seats but the stage was really small. There were only basic lights, but there were lots of props which made the stage look really interesting. The actors and actresses also played instruments on the stage for sound effects and also as a live orchestra.
I really liked the atmosphere in the theatre and thought the actors and actresses were really talented. The play was a difficult play to understand but I thought that the way it was told and acted out made it easier to understand. I think the play was more for children then adults but it worked really well for families as there were some jokes that not all children would understand. Another good thing about the event was that there was always something going on, so there was not really any moments where it got a bit boring. On the other hand the seats were really uncomfortable and it was also really cold.
I thought the event was a really enjoyable experience and I would recommend it to families and to primary schools maybe as a school trip, as a lot of it was for younger children. I learnt that Shakespeare is a lot easier to understand when it is being acted out.
-Jess
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm (#)
Review of Comedy of Errors
On Thursday 25th June 2009, me and my band mates we went to see the production ‘Comedy of Errors’ written by Shakespeare and performed by ‘told by an idiot’ theatre company, at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford
The Production was advertised for young adults, and when we got there we was suprised at how many primary schools were there. This worried me a little, becuase i wasnt sure what to expect. It felt like the whole thing was aimed at primary school children and all of the jokes were very childish. I didn’t follow the production very well and didnt really understand much about the plot and i thought that it was too complicated.
Although I didn’t understand it much, the use of music in the production was superb! I was shocked to see how talented the actors of the play were. When they werent acting, singing and dancing on stage, they were in the wings playing instruments for the backing music!
The venue itself wasnt too bad, the seats were very uncomfortable but we were at the back so the seats were pracrically vertical! The Staff at the venue didn’t seem to have much time for us, because they ignored us and spoke only to the Youth Worker when we arrived. This was annoying as the whole point of the production was to get Young Adults interested in Shakespeare.
Overall, it was interesting to watch the actors playing instruments, but the play itself wasnt aimed at my age group and the staff wasnt very nice to us.
-Vicky
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm (#)
On 1.30pm Thursday 25th June 2009 we went to see a production of The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford.
The Production was advertised as being perfect for Young Adults. However, when I saw it I was quite disappointed because it was very childish in places and the audiences were mainly made up of Primary School Children. It felt like the whole thing was aimed at young people trying to understand Shakespeare. But on the other hand I felt I didn’t follow the production at all and have no idea about the plot and that it was too complicated. I quite like Shakespeare so I was disappointed I didn’t enjoy this production aswell.
Although I didn’t understand it much, the acting and use of music in the production was superb, and I loved how skilled all the actors were – they could all dance, sing, act and play at least two instruments. The music fitted the production and added to the atmosphere – I felt like I was listening to real music from that time period in which the play was set.
The venue itself was very nice; it was modern and very well kept. The Staff at the venue didn’t seem to have much time for us, because they ignored us and spoke only to our Youth Worker when we arrived. This upset me a bit because I thought the whole point of the production was to get Young Adults interested in Shakespeare.
-Heather