Well, this sucks

I can't help but feel that having to write two papers due within two days of each other right after a weekend that wasn't really a weekend because I was busy the entire time is not quite fair. Even less so considering that my Sunday was taken up predominantly by seeing Merchant of Venice with my Shakespeare class, for which I have to write one of the aforementioned papers.

Merchant, though, was pretty awesome. It was in this little black box theatre in Portland that we had trouble finding because Portland is impossible to navigate unless you've lived there. It never fails - every time I go into Portland for anything, I get lost. This time, we ended up on the wrong side of the river after somehow getting back on south-bound 5, like we were going back to Salem. No, we're not sure what happened there, either, but we eventually found the Hawthorne Bridge and got over to the Shoebox Theatre with ten minutes till the play was due to start.

A brief note on Merchant - I actually don't like it very much, and find most of the characters boring, but this production was really well-done. Shylock was fantastic, really sympathetic and compelling. There was this one moment where he hugged Jessica and then paused before leaving to look back and smile at her really lovingly, and it was just heartbreaking because that's right before she steals a bunch of money and runs away with her boyfriend, totally betraying him. It was great.

I wish I could say more for the woman playing Antonio, but she wasn't very compelling. She had a couple of moments where she really stood out, but overall was just sort of eh. This may be because Antonio is an eh character no matter how you play him, but her performance didn't wow me.

And that's really all I have to say there. If it had been a play I really love, I'd probably have more commentary. As things are, it was enjoyable, but nothing spectacular. I never walk into plays like Merchant with many expectations, because I don't care about the piece enough to have a favourite performance to hold new productions against. Now, Much Ado About Nothing or Julius Caesar or something like that? Then you'd better be awesome because I do have That One Production to hold up in comparison.

I'm funny with theatre - I'm either very particular, or anything's good. Like with my recent fad of adding a Zuka clip to the end of each post - I love Elisabeth in general (though I haven't seen the original Austrian musical for comparison), but I'm only posting clips from the 2007 Snow Troupe production because Mizu is my Der Tod. Some of the other top stars are considered better than her for varying reasons, but Mizu's portrayal is the one that really clicks with me. Her Der Tod is a little more sinister than the Takarazuka norm, which I really like. Because, come on, the character is Death. This is a dark little story, despite all the glitter and sequins.

So, without further ado, have your Elisabeth clip of the day - Yami ga Hirogaru (the darkness is spreading). Der Tod and Rudolf, Elisabeth's son, with Der Tod first reminding Rudolf that Der Tod was his childhood friend, before going on to convince him to try to start a revolution and take the throne. Is that some homoerotic tension there? Why yes, yes, it is. And it's even thicker in some other scenes, which youtube doesn't have.

I want that black coat. That is all.