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Hogfather
As I mentioned last week, I havent seen "The Giggle" yet because I went to Edinburgh for some amdram Discworld from the company that did Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the Fringe this year. But since I'm trying to get back into the swing of things here, I thought I'd talk about that instead.
First off, it was a bit more panto-y than I expected. This is in no way a criticism; it's a funny story, it's Christmas, absolutely let's go for a panto feel. We weren't actually shouting "Oh no it isn't!" but both acts started with us encouraged to join in a Hogswatch carol (I still have my songsheet) and there were two points where sweets were thrown into the audience. There was even some panto-style crosscasting, with a woman playing Teatime (brilliantly) (Nobby Nobbs and Billious were also played by women, but Billious was specifically reimagined as an oh goddess, and Nobby I wasn't sure about. Actually, now I think about it, amdram companies often do this sort of thing anyway, because they tend to skew more female in the first place. But still.)
Because of my face-blindness, the only actors I definitely recognised from Ros & Guil were that Ponder Stibbons was Guildenstern and Ridcully was the Player King. So they've clearly got a niche as the pedantic nerd and dramatic shouter, and they're very good at it. In fact, the whole cast was excellent, particularly Susan, Albert and Death. (I only realised on reading the program that Death's audio was pre-recorded because it fitted the performance so smoothly.)
The panto aspect meant I accepted the Auditors being a bit more hammy than you might expect from personifications of boringness, and likewise Salacia von Humpeding being something of a cackling vampire stereotype. (Oh, yes, Salacia's in it. She takes Visit's role.) That was another thing; these people clearly knew the books and weren't afraid to borrow from other ones; it took me a while to realise that the costumes of what I took to be Random Morporkians at the Hogfather's Grotto were all references, but I started to twig with the short witch who was given an apparently full tankard, and had it confirmed when the next customer was a straggly wizard who was delighted to recieve a potato. (Huge cheer from the fans in the audience.)
There was a bit of streamlining, which you'd expect, and Death of Rats and the Raven are sadly but understandably absent (the discussion of midwinter traditions and the sun coming up went to the wizards), but it included most of my favourite bits, and I don't think ever lost any important pieces of plot. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt, though (Susan kills Teatime when she gives the "inner babysitter" line, then we get the scene with the Tooth Fairy, the Auditors freaking out, and Death assuring Susan that the space he'd left meant the Hogfather would return, which leads into the THE SUN WOULD NOT HAVE RISEN scene). Then again, I sometimes think the ending of the book goes on a bit more than it strictly needs to, so [shrug].
And then, just as I was wondering why the actor who played Ridcully was also credited as the real Hogfather when the character didn't actually appear, the curtain call ended with him appearing with a cry of "Hello Edinburgh! Have you been nice? No, you've been naughty! Have some bones!" and throwing bone-shaped jelly sweets into the audience. Brilliant touch.
First off, it was a bit more panto-y than I expected. This is in no way a criticism; it's a funny story, it's Christmas, absolutely let's go for a panto feel. We weren't actually shouting "Oh no it isn't!" but both acts started with us encouraged to join in a Hogswatch carol (I still have my songsheet) and there were two points where sweets were thrown into the audience. There was even some panto-style crosscasting, with a woman playing Teatime (brilliantly) (Nobby Nobbs and Billious were also played by women, but Billious was specifically reimagined as an oh goddess, and Nobby I wasn't sure about. Actually, now I think about it, amdram companies often do this sort of thing anyway, because they tend to skew more female in the first place. But still.)
Because of my face-blindness, the only actors I definitely recognised from Ros & Guil were that Ponder Stibbons was Guildenstern and Ridcully was the Player King. So they've clearly got a niche as the pedantic nerd and dramatic shouter, and they're very good at it. In fact, the whole cast was excellent, particularly Susan, Albert and Death. (I only realised on reading the program that Death's audio was pre-recorded because it fitted the performance so smoothly.)
The panto aspect meant I accepted the Auditors being a bit more hammy than you might expect from personifications of boringness, and likewise Salacia von Humpeding being something of a cackling vampire stereotype. (Oh, yes, Salacia's in it. She takes Visit's role.) That was another thing; these people clearly knew the books and weren't afraid to borrow from other ones; it took me a while to realise that the costumes of what I took to be Random Morporkians at the Hogfather's Grotto were all references, but I started to twig with the short witch who was given an apparently full tankard, and had it confirmed when the next customer was a straggly wizard who was delighted to recieve a potato. (Huge cheer from the fans in the audience.)
There was a bit of streamlining, which you'd expect, and Death of Rats and the Raven are sadly but understandably absent (the discussion of midwinter traditions and the sun coming up went to the wizards), but it included most of my favourite bits, and I don't think ever lost any important pieces of plot. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt, though (Susan kills Teatime when she gives the "inner babysitter" line, then we get the scene with the Tooth Fairy, the Auditors freaking out, and Death assuring Susan that the space he'd left meant the Hogfather would return, which leads into the THE SUN WOULD NOT HAVE RISEN scene). Then again, I sometimes think the ending of the book goes on a bit more than it strictly needs to, so [shrug].
And then, just as I was wondering why the actor who played Ridcully was also credited as the real Hogfather when the character didn't actually appear, the curtain call ended with him appearing with a cry of "Hello Edinburgh! Have you been nice? No, you've been naughty! Have some bones!" and throwing bone-shaped jelly sweets into the audience. Brilliant touch.