Cynthia Caul Everybody!

Sorry. Believe it or not I have a lot of content to share with you regarding Kit Marlowe. Unfortunately I am lacking the time to do timely updates this week. I have a couple of more Get to Know the Cast a Crew pieces on deck right now and I even have the shows post card image to shae with you next week.

Tonight I am sharing the observations of Cynthia Caul. We are lucky enough to have Cynthia helping us this season. She is a bright young college student and we are all hoping she will help the rest of learn something about theater while she learns from what we know. I hope we serve her well. Meantime, Cythia has contributed her first blog entry. Read and enjoy. She gives a real flavor as to what is happening on Columbia Road right now.

Hello. My name is Cynthia. I’m the Assistant Dramaturg/Intern for Rorschach’s production of Kit Marlowe. You are currently witnessing my blogging debut, so don’t judge me too harshly.

There are three-ish more weeks of rehearsal until the opening of Kit Marlowe, and things are going well. All the aspects of the production seem to be coming along. Every time I enter the theatre there’s a new set piece perfectly assembled and in place, as if it just magically appeared over-night. I haven’t completely ruled out the possibility of Rorschach elves.

The cast is great. Working with a cast entirely comprised of men has been…interesting, and…educational? Just kidding. I actually don’t have anything bad to say about it. It’s been a great process thus far. This play definitely requires a level of comfort among the actors, and the cast has definitely achieved that. There’s a good bit of sword fighting, stabbing, nudity, cauterizing of wounds, and rolling around on the ground (to put it oh so eloquently), and it’s handled with the utmost grace and maturity. Well, at least 99% of the time, and that other 1% I just attribute to the actors’ ability to stay in character (many characters in Kit Marlowe are not exactly noted for their maturity or grace) even when they’re not in character. It’s really more of a theatrical feat, than anything that could be misconstrued for a personality flaw. The actor’s ability to capture and maintain the immaturity and grotesque nature of their characters is just uncanny. That sounded like a jab. It’s not. Really, the cast is wonderful and extremely talented.

As for the play itself, it’s kind of, sort of about the life of the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. David Grimm doesn’t really aim for historical accuracy as much as an artistic and/or interpretive melding of Marlowe’s life and his works. It’s set in Elizabethan times with an added flare of modernity. It’s a little edgy, a little racy, and an overall good time. I have high hopes. You should too.