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The Coast of Utopia: Voyage
Mar. 27th, 2013 10:30 pmWent out to the Shotgun Players Ashby Stage today to see The Coast of Utopia: Voyage. It's the first time we've seen the Shotgun Players in years, and I think only the second time we've been to their Ashby Stage. We'd seen a play there several years ago about anarchists (The Shaker Chair, I think, in 2008) and we found its ideas and sympathies so off-kilter that it put us off the troupe for years.
Voyage is a play by Tom Stoppard that's also the first in a trilogy. Kimberly and I actually have a long history with Stoppard, having seen his Indian Ink at ACT as one of our first "real" dates. We've also seen performances of The Invention of Love and Rough Crossing together. We were, I must admit, quite leery about this one as his previous play The Invention of Love went over the top in its historical detail to the point that it was at best semi-comprehensible and we were afraid that this story of Russian philosophers in the 19th century would head in the same direction.
Happily, we were pleasantly surprised. It was quite an enjoyable play with an interesting cast of characters. We got to see their philosophy both when it seemed ridiculous and when it seemed serious, and Stoppard pointed out how it sometimes made sense, but sometimes not. The entire play was also laid out in an intriguing parallel structure where we saw scenes in a familial home over the course of a decade in Act I then saw some interrelated scenes in larger Russia during approximately the same time period in Act II. This all helped to underline the existence of two different worlds, and really made the play thoughtful.
Voyage was originally put on by Shotgun last year, but they returned to it for a few showings this year because they're leading off the year with Shipwreck, the second part of the trilogy. Kimberly & I are definitely going to see that and are also considering season tickets for Shotgun Players to add a bit of balance to our currently musical-heavy theatre-going.
Voyage is a play by Tom Stoppard that's also the first in a trilogy. Kimberly and I actually have a long history with Stoppard, having seen his Indian Ink at ACT as one of our first "real" dates. We've also seen performances of The Invention of Love and Rough Crossing together. We were, I must admit, quite leery about this one as his previous play The Invention of Love went over the top in its historical detail to the point that it was at best semi-comprehensible and we were afraid that this story of Russian philosophers in the 19th century would head in the same direction.
Happily, we were pleasantly surprised. It was quite an enjoyable play with an interesting cast of characters. We got to see their philosophy both when it seemed ridiculous and when it seemed serious, and Stoppard pointed out how it sometimes made sense, but sometimes not. The entire play was also laid out in an intriguing parallel structure where we saw scenes in a familial home over the course of a decade in Act I then saw some interrelated scenes in larger Russia during approximately the same time period in Act II. This all helped to underline the existence of two different worlds, and really made the play thoughtful.
Voyage was originally put on by Shotgun last year, but they returned to it for a few showings this year because they're leading off the year with Shipwreck, the second part of the trilogy. Kimberly & I are definitely going to see that and are also considering season tickets for Shotgun Players to add a bit of balance to our currently musical-heavy theatre-going.