{"id":7692,"date":"2013-09-20T13:44:11","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T20:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=7692"},"modified":"2013-10-01T14:48:04","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T21:48:04","slug":"belfrys-production-of-goodnight-desdemona-good-morning-juliet-does-the-bard-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2013\/09\/20\/belfrys-production-of-goodnight-desdemona-good-morning-juliet-does-the-bard-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Belfry’s production of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)<\/em> does the Bard justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever had the desire to see people in tights fervently raising the battle cry of \u201cBullshit! Bullshit!\u201d in front of a sold-out Victoria audience, then I suggest you go see The Belfry Theatre\u2019s production of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Canadian playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald brings Shakespeare\u2019s most famous characters into collision with the modern world in this witty adventure of comedy and romance. Now, I don\u2019t want to ruin any surprises, but let\u2019s just say if you like a good unexpected thong dance, this is the Shakespeare show for you.<\/p>\n

MacDonald\u2019s clever script, packed with literary allusion and modern wit, was splendidly delivered by five cast members at the Belfry. The actors, while walking the line between poking fun and respecting the classics, allow the viewer to suspend their disbelief without too much cognitive dissonance, despite sword fighting and making out in the library.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fall for the Bard all over again (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So before you think your profs at Camosun are a little strange, consider quirky Professor Constance Ledbelly and her journey of self-discovery as she is thrown into the Shakespeare worlds of Othello and Romeo and Juliet, trying to prove that these masterpieces were intended to be comedies, not tragedies. Her presence in their worlds changes the course of fate in the lives of each character, revealing secrets about unrequited love, violence, and Romeo and Juliet\u2019s marital problems that you never wanted to know. (And you thought you had relationship issues!)<\/p>\n

Were the Bard alive today, I think he would commend the cast of this satire for their impeccable enunciation of his famous blank verse as well as MacDonald\u2019s own rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter. From my tight-wearing days performing in Shakespeare plays, I know the challenge of believable and poignant delivery worthy of words centuries old, and I got shivers when Mercutio bellows his last words: \u201cA plague on both your houses!\u201d<\/p>\n

The cast did exceptionally well in their stage blocking, in both combat and physicality. The effects and construction of the set provided seamless transitions to scenes and emotions of life experiences common to us all (except murder, I hope).<\/p>\n

In the true spirit of the Bard, where epic drama meets cross-gender humour, the play steeply accelerates in energy throughout each act. If you want more sex jokes than you can shake a stick at, come to the second half. If you\u2019re anything like me, the sexual tension and shocking turns of events will have you laughing faster than you can say \u201cI always knew Romeo was gay!\u201d<\/p>\n

Between the thespians and lesbians, murder and girders, from Queens University to Cyprus, Verona, and back, this play is worth seeing if you have a love for Shakespeare, or if you don’t and would enjoy watching his work be messed with.<\/p>\n

This play runs at the Belfry until October 20th; should the fates allow you to see it, I pray thee, \u201cgird thou trembling loins!\u201d It\u2019s a good one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever had the desire to see people in tights fervently raising the battle cry of \u201cBullshit! Bullshit!\u201d in front of a sold-out Victoria audience, then I suggest you go see The Belfry Theatre\u2019s production of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). Canadian playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald brings Shakespeare\u2019s most famous characters into collision with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive","category-october-2-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7692"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7778,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692\/revisions\/7778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}