(no subject)
Second (but I'm not sure final) stream-of-conscious review of Mojo, with more spoilers
First of all I highly recommend reading the play before seeing it, especially when English isn't your first language. The lingo, accent and all the fast talking, partly over each other, might make it hard to follow otherwise. The sound is excellent though! Which makes the use of music work extra well.
Feeling sorry for the guy who plays Johnny Silver: he's hardly on stage and when he is, then most of it he's gagged and hanging upside down from a chain by his ankles, twice. When he's finally let down, he has to run up the stairway shortly after, which almost made me dizzy in sympathy.
Ben's character Baby is violent a lot on stage, running around swinging a cutlass, chopping a table in two, which looked prepared and smashing a chair, which didn't look like it was meant to get its leg splintered off. He's almost more scary when he's calm though. Very measured and tight.
In the scene where Skinny is tied to the jukebox with his trousers down, Baby threatens him with the cutlass a couple of times and at one point is really up close face to face, with the cutlass pressed up in Skinny's crotch. I could barely look but I couldn't look away either. It's one of those 'OMG Jesus!' moments that I basically watched through my fingers while giggling uncomfortably. Baby really is a loose canon and whenever he's finally put some distance between him and Skinny, Skinny starts challenging him, tied up and everything.
The bit where Baby asks tied up Skinny if he'd like to put his cock in his ear, Baby is on the other side of the stage with the others standing between them trying to talk sense into Baby.
Skinny seems naive and doesn't know what he's getting himself into challenging a guy like Baby. He's fascinated and it's like he can't help himself. Baby recognizes this and plays him with ease, although it also seems like something about Skinny makes him uncomfortable, or rather, like his own fascination with Skinny makes him uncomfortable. Things escalate in the second half of the play when Baby chases after Skinny more viciously even than earlier and it looks like Skinny is finally getting a clue, cowering and in tears in a corner on the floor. Not that he's learned his lesson from that and gets the hell out of there as he should have, for which he pays bitterly later on.
Throughout the play there is some good use of uncomfortably long and/or tense silences. The audience was quiet as a mouse during those.
Not only can Ben sing, he's also got the moves. There's a scene where he puts on the silver jacket and starts dancing. Slow and measured at first, but increasingly more erotically charged and agressive.
I already mentioned the scene where Silver Johnny was tied up, gagged and upside down, and I must say that scene is highly distracting, because I kept thinking how bloody uncomfortable that must be for the actor. I should let that slide next time I see it so I don't get pulled out of the play and take more note of Baby's monolog.
There's quite a bit of smoking on stage, mostly by Sweets and Potts, which made me realise I'm not used to being close to smokers anymore. It fits the time period as much as the hairstyles, but I found the smoke annoying. Also Rupert cleared his throat every chance he got.
I'm still trying to figure out what to make of Brendan. When I read the play I found it difficult to find the voice of the characters, and didn't find the story all that amusing. Seeing it on stage was completely different; the actors' voices, their timing, it all clicked into place and a lot of what seemed awkward and weird on paper worked beautifully now. Just not all the time for Mickey.
Sometimes Brendan hit the right tone, but for some reason I didn't feel the swearing came as natural to him as to the others and to me it felt like he still hasn't quite figured out Mickey's voice. And I'm not sure if that's the script or the actor that's not working for me. Reading it none of it really did something for me, so somehow the others made it come alive for me so I cared about these characters, found the humor in the words, the menace in the action etc., just not Mickey. Yeah, I really need to see it another time, see if that changes over time. And maybe it really is just me. I've seen others being quite enthusiastic about Brendan's performance.
Part of this by the way is because the ending just doesn't make much sense to me. I can't say Skinny's death touched me as much as I expected it to, partly because of the reactions of the others. Potts and Sweets are shocked and scared and end up fleeing the scene. Baby is cold and Johnny doesn't seem to care. Mickey is the only one who seems to actually mourn Skinny, but when Potts kicks him in anger while Mickey's hovering over Skinny, he drops next to Skinny and just lies there panting while the others leave: Potts and Sweets agitated and Baby and Johnny like nothing really happened.
So it ends with both on the floor; Skinny dead and Mickey seemingly in dispair or selfpity or both. And I'm not sure if Brendan has already figured out how to play Mickey and what he's about. If he's just a cold and calculating asshole, or if there's actual heart somewhere inside.
So, to recap: my favorite parts were definitely the chemistry between Colin and Ben, the comedic timing of Daniel and Rupert and the excellent accoustics of the theater. The parts I didn't like so much were the abrupt and puzzling ending and Brendan's character or performance, I haven't yet decided which.
First of all I highly recommend reading the play before seeing it, especially when English isn't your first language. The lingo, accent and all the fast talking, partly over each other, might make it hard to follow otherwise. The sound is excellent though! Which makes the use of music work extra well.
Feeling sorry for the guy who plays Johnny Silver: he's hardly on stage and when he is, then most of it he's gagged and hanging upside down from a chain by his ankles, twice. When he's finally let down, he has to run up the stairway shortly after, which almost made me dizzy in sympathy.
Ben's character Baby is violent a lot on stage, running around swinging a cutlass, chopping a table in two, which looked prepared and smashing a chair, which didn't look like it was meant to get its leg splintered off. He's almost more scary when he's calm though. Very measured and tight.
In the scene where Skinny is tied to the jukebox with his trousers down, Baby threatens him with the cutlass a couple of times and at one point is really up close face to face, with the cutlass pressed up in Skinny's crotch. I could barely look but I couldn't look away either. It's one of those 'OMG Jesus!' moments that I basically watched through my fingers while giggling uncomfortably. Baby really is a loose canon and whenever he's finally put some distance between him and Skinny, Skinny starts challenging him, tied up and everything.
The bit where Baby asks tied up Skinny if he'd like to put his cock in his ear, Baby is on the other side of the stage with the others standing between them trying to talk sense into Baby.
Skinny seems naive and doesn't know what he's getting himself into challenging a guy like Baby. He's fascinated and it's like he can't help himself. Baby recognizes this and plays him with ease, although it also seems like something about Skinny makes him uncomfortable, or rather, like his own fascination with Skinny makes him uncomfortable. Things escalate in the second half of the play when Baby chases after Skinny more viciously even than earlier and it looks like Skinny is finally getting a clue, cowering and in tears in a corner on the floor. Not that he's learned his lesson from that and gets the hell out of there as he should have, for which he pays bitterly later on.
Throughout the play there is some good use of uncomfortably long and/or tense silences. The audience was quiet as a mouse during those.
Not only can Ben sing, he's also got the moves. There's a scene where he puts on the silver jacket and starts dancing. Slow and measured at first, but increasingly more erotically charged and agressive.
I already mentioned the scene where Silver Johnny was tied up, gagged and upside down, and I must say that scene is highly distracting, because I kept thinking how bloody uncomfortable that must be for the actor. I should let that slide next time I see it so I don't get pulled out of the play and take more note of Baby's monolog.
There's quite a bit of smoking on stage, mostly by Sweets and Potts, which made me realise I'm not used to being close to smokers anymore. It fits the time period as much as the hairstyles, but I found the smoke annoying. Also Rupert cleared his throat every chance he got.
I'm still trying to figure out what to make of Brendan. When I read the play I found it difficult to find the voice of the characters, and didn't find the story all that amusing. Seeing it on stage was completely different; the actors' voices, their timing, it all clicked into place and a lot of what seemed awkward and weird on paper worked beautifully now. Just not all the time for Mickey.
Sometimes Brendan hit the right tone, but for some reason I didn't feel the swearing came as natural to him as to the others and to me it felt like he still hasn't quite figured out Mickey's voice. And I'm not sure if that's the script or the actor that's not working for me. Reading it none of it really did something for me, so somehow the others made it come alive for me so I cared about these characters, found the humor in the words, the menace in the action etc., just not Mickey. Yeah, I really need to see it another time, see if that changes over time. And maybe it really is just me. I've seen others being quite enthusiastic about Brendan's performance.
Part of this by the way is because the ending just doesn't make much sense to me. I can't say Skinny's death touched me as much as I expected it to, partly because of the reactions of the others. Potts and Sweets are shocked and scared and end up fleeing the scene. Baby is cold and Johnny doesn't seem to care. Mickey is the only one who seems to actually mourn Skinny, but when Potts kicks him in anger while Mickey's hovering over Skinny, he drops next to Skinny and just lies there panting while the others leave: Potts and Sweets agitated and Baby and Johnny like nothing really happened.
So it ends with both on the floor; Skinny dead and Mickey seemingly in dispair or selfpity or both. And I'm not sure if Brendan has already figured out how to play Mickey and what he's about. If he's just a cold and calculating asshole, or if there's actual heart somewhere inside.
So, to recap: my favorite parts were definitely the chemistry between Colin and Ben, the comedic timing of Daniel and Rupert and the excellent accoustics of the theater. The parts I didn't like so much were the abrupt and puzzling ending and Brendan's character or performance, I haven't yet decided which.