Watching string quartet Brooklyn Rider rehearse is, like their music, a mixture of experiences. While at rehearsal yesterday at the intimate Simons Center Recital Hall, I often found myself struck by the virtuosity of the playing and, just about the time that I was totally engrossed and in my own little world, the Riders would laugh or begin talking, snapping me out of the musical hypnosis.
One thing is for sure–the guys are as laid back as they are talented. Watching them play is an experience in and of itself, due to their incredible talent and technical skills, but watching them rehearse reminds you that they are just four guys who really enjoy playing music together. And that is what makes it fun.
Photo by Bethany E. Larson
Check out the video from rehearsal below.
Brooklyn Rider will perform June 10th at 9PM. Click here for tickets.
If you’re in the mood for scandal and risqué tales of decadence, College of Charleston’s Piccolo Spoleto Stelle di Domani production of ‘Quills’ will definitely fit the bill.Also, if you’re looking for great, young talent that serves the subject well and makes you forget that they’re still in college, you’re in luck.
After leaving the Theatre 220 show, a few things came to mind.First, make sure that you familiarize yourself with who the Marquis de Sade is.I had imagined that the majority of the patrons would have been familiar with the story of the French aristocrat who sought the ultimate pleasure at all times and whose novels of sadism and other controversial subjects enraged readers during the French Revolution era.Judging by the gasps that I heard when stories were acted out, it seems that this was not the case.To depict the obscene stories that the Marquis was obsessed with, actors stood behind a white sheet and served as Shadow Puppets for the acts, which were very sensational and creatively mastered.
Second, as you’re watching the Marquis de Sade describe these stories as they’re acted out, you realize that they’re not all that far-fetched from some of the horrors that we hear about in the present day.For a man that was considered so depraved that he spent almost half of his life in insane asylums, you start to feel bad for the guy.Was he just ahead of his time or was he really the monster that they made him out to be?Also, the fact that the full frontal nudity lasts for over an hour is quite an undertaking in itself.
A talented cast and an exciting story, ‘Quills’ is an excellent choice for those looking for a thrill.
Tweeter Katie Rather Moore has sent us this rather impressionistic and fine photo of the Punch Brothers live and ongoing at the Cistern at College of Charleston. You can tell she was dancing when she took it.
Apologies, because this should have appeared here on Monday - two days ago - but something called ‘real work‘ kept getting in the way.
We needed something to wrap up Spoleto ‘08 nicely, and what else but an acceptance to the Finale Picnic Judging competition. So Geoff, our intrepid ‘video guy’ gamely stepped up to the challenge, and mingled with the picnickers at Middleton Place on Sunday afternoon …
As this will probably be the last post for this year (sob!) we’d like to say ‘thanks’ to y’all for checking out the SpoletoToday.com blog for the past three or so weeks. Our stats tell us there’s a healthy number of you out there that have enjoyed the coverage, and we’ve certainly enjoyed putting it all up here for you.
We just hope that we’re still around to do it all again next year …
With Spoleto wrapped, I’m left with a blur of memories, impressions and observations on the festival. Here are just a few of them.
An audience member filming Harvard Sailing Team’s opening night with her cellphone, distracting the people sitting behind her (including me) as she emailed the hilarious sketches to her friends…
Oversized patrons at the Chapel Theatre, trying to squeeze into the small seats. Some of the grossest guests had to ride side saddle.
Rodney Lee Rogers sitting patiently behind a small curtain for 45 minutes, the audience gathering around him before The Tragedian.
Two old dears I met at the first performance of A Devil Inside who’d been to so many shows that they couldn’t remember what they’d seen the night before, and started arguing about it. The festival had been running for two days.
The miserable actors in This War is Live who were fed up with the show and its technical hiccups… one complained about his simplistic character, while another called the whole experience “torturous.” He should have counted himself fortunate – he wasn’t sitting in the audience…
Sitting next to two of the playwrights of Under the Lights: 10×10 – and trying to make mental review notes without making them feel uncomfortable…
Jay Clifford courageously performing at the American Theatre despite suffering from some debilitating lurgy. After the first night, he conked out in his truck… on the second night, his manager Vance McNabb picked up his bug. They put on a great show, they’re both feeling better now and they’re no longer contagious (I hope).
Watching rehearsals with Chen Shi-Zheng, director of Monkey: Journey to the West… and being invited to look at the aftermath of The Great War after Hotel Modern’s show was over. I witnessed chaos on a model train scale.
One of my favorite elements of the festival, though, was bumping into the various local and national theatre performers, artists and filmmakers who collaborate to help make the festival function. Without their hard work and the overwhelming enthusiasm of the audience, there’d be no festival… thanks to them all.
There’s two more videos from Geoff to come, here’s one of them - some quick clips from the Piccolo closing ceremony on Saturday.
The UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade touring company) improv group are in town from New York, and I got the chance to catch up with them at their house on Folly Beach on Tuesday evening. They’ve still got two more shows left - Friday and Saturday night at Theatre 99, and we seriously recommend that you catch them while you can …
It’s not to late to get Spoleto’d up if you’ve missed out on the whole thing so far. And seeing as it had been a few days since I pointed my video camera in someone’s face and harassed them, I decided to head down to the Gaillard - ticket central for Spoleto ‘08 - and do just that …
Marc Bamuthi Joseph put on an impressive show over two dates at the Emmett Robinson last week. His poetic speech and movement was combined with hip-hop music, conversational “travel diary” monologues, video interviews shot by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi and a large moving lighting rig choreographed by James Clotfelter.
Yet for a really intense experience, I went to Bamuthi’s two hour workshop at the Avery Research Center, part of a free “Spoleto at the Avery” program” that ran last week.
At the Emmett Robinson Theatre, Bamuthi shared the stage with all those bells and whistles. In the workshop, there were no such distractions. The performer’s work was a lot more powerful in the intimate classroom environment, and he got to show another side to his work – he mentors teen writers through a “Youth Speaks” literary arts organization.
The workshop was part writing class, part dance-off. Bamuthi began with a demonstration of what he does, switching from hip-hop speech to regular talk about his partner’s pregnancy and a planned natural birth. As he spoke he moved, creating visual images with his physical being, his expressions and his breathing.
Sharon makes her debut behind the wheel of the “big rig” Penske rental and nothing can stop her… except that pesky emergency brake. The car seat confusion continues, and then it’s off to a Spoleto show and back to Lance Hall for the Piccolo premiere of K. Brian Neel’s ‘Vaud Rats.’
PREVIOUSLY:
EPISODE 1: PURE cofounders Rodney Lee Rogers and Sharon Graci start their day with their two youngest daughters.
EPISODE 2: Actors and family members pitch in as stage hands to construct PURE’s new theater space.
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