Shakespeare in the park was back this year with Macbeth and my friends & i were pretty excited with almost securing some front but diagonal stage seats (some enthusiastic queuing up that was!) at Fort Canning Park last night. We brought a picnic mat, food & drinks (i could have brought some beer cans!). We enjoyed an al-fresco theatre experience underneath an unrained evening sky, albeit a little hazy weather. Overall my friends & i had some real fun and entertainment. Adrian Pang as the lead character was outstanding and having gone in with limited expectations from a Singaporean tv actor; we were completely blown away by this performance. In general, this production was extremely visual and pulled out all the stops to entertain the audience. :-) Above is a pic of the theatre stage with some really powerful lights and the colours and focus added to the atmosphere in the night. I like the set to bits, changeable stages with secrets are the best. Picnic food for the night at the park. Yummy food credits to Sijie for the Fried Yee Fu noodles, fried chicken wings, egg salad with little wasabe taste & fresh little tomatoes; to Christina for the Sushi; and to myself for the 5 cans of soft drinks. Oh yes, another important stuff for the night - the Doraemon picnic mat provided by none other than me !! I feel like talking about the witches as they are one of the favourite Shakespeare characters and also because they were given the best costumes / props. The witches were quite creepy-looking and not too campy & the Joker (i refer to the one in Batman) makeup worked surprisingly well, reflecting their mad, otherworldly nature. I like their props and crazy dresses, not too crazy, but crazy enough to make them look wild. Macbeth is perfect for a venue like Fort Canning. It provides all the right mood and atmosphere, i.e. the graveyard spookiness, outdoors elements (like the rain or haze) and moreover, it is visibly night - a best time to stage a creepy, crazy tragedy.
There were definitely fear feelings at times. The stage set was okay, i’d like to think, mostly because it’s so changeable and there are so many things they did with it. With just two levels and a walkway through the audience, the production team has managed played up the audience interaction and upped the entertainment value. There was just so much that happened with the stage, my friends and i were mostly overwhelmed. :-) I find this is a great introduction to Shakespeare for most young folks too, since it’s short and this production is really fun, mostly because of the great atmosphere it has created. Long live Shakespeare In The Park?
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