Divamensch

This was a staging of *The Rime of the Ancient Mariner*, the 1798 poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  There were two performers: the great Irish actor Fiona Shaw (our reason for being there) and a dancer, Daniel Hay-Gordon.  I went with Richard and Karen Miller on 12/28.  We had seen Shaw in *Happy Days* at BAM years ago, Karen and I saw her (separately) in *The Testament of Mary* on Broadway earlier this year, I’ve also seen her in *Medea* and some other things I’ve probably forgotten.  She is one of the most blazing talents onstage anywhere, and I would pay cash dollars to watch her read the phone book.

 

It was directed by Phyllida Lloyd, who directed *Mamma Mia!* (the show and the movie, blech) and *The Iron Lady*.  It was brilliant, such a creative and inventive use of the stage.  The only set was a sail that was hoisted at one point and used for a lot of shadowplay, most memorably when Hay-Gordon played the albatross.  Also a beautiful grayish wooden planked floor and some marvelous lighting.

 

Shaw was the star of the show.  She had such a thrilling way with the language, and is so ALIVE on the stage, it’s exciting just watching her.  I wasn’t familiar with the poem at all, and part of the enjoyment, for me, was wondering how the story was going to turn out!  I knew that the narrator was going to survive, because he’s telling the story, but I didn’t know anything else.  It was a wonderful, enjoyable night at the theatre.