I Hate That -- You Know That, Don't You?
If I could have one wish tonight, it would be that no play, no movie, no TV show, no book -- hell, no real life -- would ever again contain the hackneyed, cringe-inducing line "I love you -- you know that?" (Variants: "I love you -- you know that, don't you?" and "I love you -- you know that, right?")
I saw a play tonight, Lazarus Syndrome, that contained that line. I wish I could say it was the only misstep in an otherwise wonderful play. It was a so-so play -- about a middle-aged gay man living with HIV -- far from wonderful, but it did have a surprising and genuinely moving twist toward the end that ultimately made its compact 75 minutes worth seeing, or at least not a waste of time.
Wish number two would be that actors playing in a small theater wouldn't YELL their lines as if playing to the back row of the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. The guy playing the main character's brother tonight did that; strangely, he did it only on half of his lines.
I see that problem a lot in Washington, and it's probably my number-one theater pet peeve. Why so many local directors don't ask these actors to scale their performances to the size of the space is a mystery. Why these actors don't just figure it out for themselves is another.
I saw a play tonight, Lazarus Syndrome, that contained that line. I wish I could say it was the only misstep in an otherwise wonderful play. It was a so-so play -- about a middle-aged gay man living with HIV -- far from wonderful, but it did have a surprising and genuinely moving twist toward the end that ultimately made its compact 75 minutes worth seeing, or at least not a waste of time.
Wish number two would be that actors playing in a small theater wouldn't YELL their lines as if playing to the back row of the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. The guy playing the main character's brother tonight did that; strangely, he did it only on half of his lines.
I see that problem a lot in Washington, and it's probably my number-one theater pet peeve. Why so many local directors don't ask these actors to scale their performances to the size of the space is a mystery. Why these actors don't just figure it out for themselves is another.
posted by Billy at 10:12 PM
3 Comments:
ah! the joy of voice projection in a small space :)
A writer named Dale Thomajan once said that the single most frequent line in movies is, "Try to get some rest." In my view, it is,
"Please, try to understand."
Trying seems to be the theme. I wish screenwriters would try to come up with some new material. But you know that, don't you?
I love your blog ... but you know that, eh?
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
:)
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