Ethnography is, as I now understand it, a study of cultures and civilizations apart from our own (whichever that may be) and so it comes as no coincidence that the college class taken by this play’s four protagonists is essentially Ethnography 101. That is because Sophie Gets the Horns is very much an ethnographical text in and of itself, something that could be studied in such a class; the tribe of late twentieth century tertiary students its chosen topic.
In this day and age where modernizations rule over restorations the title of this play suggested something comforting; a return to period play-writing, to thou’s and ye’s, to the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare and other such classical stylings. Again though I sat down in the Signature Theater -this time panting and half out of breath, having ran down the final stretch of street to make it in before seating closed – and had my expectations misproven as errors, again I was given something drastically different from what I expected, though this time it was almost entirely for the better. The play is advertised as a comedy and I had assumed that they meant this in a literary sense – that it would end with suggestions of new life, etc. Though in this was the play is actually a tragedy – but in fact they were speaking literally; Medieval resembles more than anything The Chaser, Monty Python and other such modern comedy stylings, but executed in a bold and bawdy way that the Bard would adored.
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If you’ve never heard that title before and thus don’t know what to think about this review then don’t worry, because neither had I a few days ago and neither do i now, having actually seen it performed. Oh yeah, it’s a play…or something like that. It was without a doubt performed in a theater, in the Signature Theater Perishing Square Center to be specific. Signature are an up and coming – but also fully formed – company that caught my eye for two reasons: firstly they have a number of great names on residency, many of them premiering works this month and secondly all of these shows are going to be locked in at the low, low price of Twenty Five dollars; an amazing combination. Though it is usually used as a compliment, I have to say that with this Title I unfortunately only got my monies worth.
(This is my first attempt at penning a Shakesperean Soliloquy that would have taken place at some stage during The Tempest'. Enjoy and please critique.) Read the rest of this entry »
