Went to see a small touring company from England performing George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. When the entire play is performed by a mere 5 people, there is always going to be some edges. Unfortunately, this had more than a few. The more I watch theatre and film, the more convinced I become that acting is mostly about 'voice'. How actors characterise their parts depends very much on what physical voice they bring to the show. Pygmalion itself, of course, is a hum-dinger and there are some lines that are difficult to screw up ... so it is not to say I didn't laugh. However, these actors just didn't have the voices to carry it off. All the more painful when the whole play revolves around phonetics and language.
Read Pygmalion in its entirety online.
Posted by Joe at November 9, 2004 11:05 PM