|
Enlightening Field Trip
-By Karin Moreno
On March 17, 2005, Copper Mountain College�s (CMC) Shakespeare class escaped the expected routine of the classroom and headed to California State University of San Bernardino (CSUSB) to experience a ceremony practiced for hundreds of years- live theatre.
Shakespeare student, Cyndera Quackenbush mentioned that the most impressive part of the play was �The combination of different stimuli affecting almost all the senses.�
The play was Shakespeare�s Macbeth at the round theatre of CSUSB. To those unfamiliar with Macbeth, it�s said to be the bloodiest and shortest of Shakespeare�s plays, which includes three witches, a usurper king and an army of trees. The stage was a platform that moved with the scenes and was at the center of the room with actors running past the audience and jumping on stage.
Research Assistant Jason Lites, described the play as �A very Scottish �Scottish� play� due to the fact that instead of a 17th century set, it had a �Conan-the-Barbarian-esque,� ambiance.
According to Lites, CSUSB Professor Prevenzano felt it �Captured the brutality and bloodlust of Macbeth.� This led to a lot of barefoot actors doing monologues and fighting across the stage in loincloths with tattoos imitating or representing the �Picts,� a ninth century Scottish tribe.
Quackenbush stated, �It is really interesting, that primal influence put upon the play by the didgeridoos and flutes which combined to make a very primitive, bloody, brutal effect that lived up to the violence of Macbeth.�
The acting was excellent; although, Jason Heynen as Macbeth was stellar. The Weird sisters Darah Carattini-Garcia, Jessica Floyd and Lea Patrick were the characters who stood out the most, in a mystical way. Their witch outfits consisted of raggedy clothes and masks that fashioned an illusion of boisterous skin and spider-web-like hair.
Most of the class showed up and brought company, making it a large group. Some of the students decided to meet up and eat together at the Olive Garden, which made an excellent appetizer for the play�s dish of bloody drama.
|
|
