A Summer's Evening with the Bard

One of the greatest additions to the SL event scene has to be the full size re-creation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Having the opportunity to attend a live action play is truly memorable and should not be missed. Many of the plays performed by the SL Shakespeare Company are pay for attendance, but for the next month they are performing a free staged reading performance of the Twelfth Night. Don't be fooled by the "voice" aspect of this performance as there is much to see and experience just through stopping by.

There is more than one Globe Theatre in SL and I hope to profile the other one on Renaissance Island at a later date, but this segment will profile the sights of the largest Globe Theatre in SL on the sLiterary sim. I have had the opportunity to attend events on Renaissance Island which require visitors to dress in period style, so for the opening night of the Twelfth Night this past Friday, I arrived in a complete Elizabethan costume, ready to enjoy the show. Ironically, besides the actors in the play, I was the only one in costume since sLiterary is not a period dress sim. I arrived a half hour early simply because I'm still not great about SL time as I am on the East Coast in RL. By arriving early I had the advantage of looking around and hearing the actors practice their lines.

WARNING ABOUT THE SL GLOBE THEATRE: when the Globe opened a while back, I attempted to attend the performance in a flexi costume on an older computer: MISTAKE. The attendance for these performances is usually very high and lag becomes almost catastrophic. For the first performance several weeks ago, people were tp-ing in only to be trapped in walls with cries of "How do I get out of here?" It was a horrible experience and after a few computer crashes I managed to escape back home. I was very disappointed, but I will warn you that they do not impose prim limits on attendees so people show up in all kinds of formal or casual wear regardless of drag on the sim. This is the reason they have had to move to a pay for attendance format with their live action plays. So my advice is (and can apply to many group events) get there early and get your seat incase the program freezes, you might still get to listen to the voice and at least be in a rezed position to tp out if things get hairy. I would also make sure you only attend if your processor is up to snuff and limit the amount of prims you wear in. One other recent discovery, if you search "globe" in places, there are three options for this theatre, each with different tp arrival points to ease the tp traffic...very handy!

This performance was well attended, but not overly so and the experience was a very enjoyable one. Here are some of the highlights to entice you to attend one of the next weekend showings through July 20th.
The complex surrounding the Globe Theatre is quite lovely and includes a literary center and gift shop. For the opening night there was a nice table complete with refreshments. Plays appear to go on each month under the pay admission system, and the ticket booth gives upcoming show times and prices. Each showing usually runs L$350 per person which is a fairly reasonable price for the veteran, but a bit cost prohibitive for the newbie. It would be nice to see them offer a discounted or free seat to those under 30 days old. A nice opportunity to promote the SL art scene.

View from the air...note the full size ship behind the theatre....just waiting to be explored!

From the inside, you can see the spacious seating and stage area. Very unique space and fairly easy to move around in. Sometimes, your avatar may slip through the floor, but you don't get stuck and end up in the location you originally intended.
It may appear by the coloring of the stage actors, that my pc had not finished rezing by the time I snapped the photo, but au contraire, this was a unique effect intended for this production. Each stage avatar was specifically designed in black and white tones to visually represent the lack of motion. The speaking avatars did get up when it was their turn to deliver a line, but in general, the physical action was minimal, hoping to bring the speaking parts into prominence.


Overall, I really found this new presentation to be quite intriguing! The minimalist color, devoid of any flesh tones gave everything a very ancient, ethereal quality. You truly felt as though you were listening to the ghostly voices of actors past. It was announced at the beginning of the production that if you download the newest release viewer prior to attending, you could take advantage of a new feature that allows you to see lips moving in conjunction with the lines spoken. I was not aware of this beforehand and did not have time to download the newest release which would obviously put this production in an even greater realm of performance virtue!
On a comical side note, my costume faux pas did permit me to claim the most coveted seat in the house: the Queen's throne! It is open for anyone to sit there, on the second level, centrally located across from the players, although, in this instance, I think my appearance was a much younger Bess than would have attended the play 400+ years ago. And once again, don't worry about what to wear, just go as yourself, no special costume required as you can see from the downstairs group. (Note the odd script that went along with a few of the seats....I'm not sure what the arms floating in the air was supposed to signify, but from personal experience, the animation also made your eyes shift into a slightly possessed look....was it designed to be a rapture of some sort? Not sure, but be on the look-out for that weird animation, might increase your lag a bit.)

Well that's all for this report on the Twelfth Night production....get out there this summer and try to absorb a bit of culture, SL style!


And..

"May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!" Sorry, got a bit carried away....until next time...Queen Bess a.k.a. Sifriya.