RENT

Last night, myself, Damien, Alexia and Noel moseyed along to the Olympia Theatre to see DCU perform a production of RENT. Oh wow. For what were supposedly an “amateur” production, I was simply flabbergasted by the quality. All of the leads just blew me away. The set design was very professional and true to the original RENT. Even though this was written in 1996, which is *counts on fingers* 13 years ago, when you walk into the theatre, you’re taken back there.

Well, when you look at the stage anyway, looking at my iPhone (and Damien’s, and Alexia’s), I was taken right back to 2009. But still, not the cast’s fault.

RENT is an unusual musical because it deals with several touchy subjects. AIDS, for example. Gay and lesbians feature quite heavily. There’s at least one transsexual too.

There was a (I’m guessing) hardcore catholic type sitting beside Damien when two guys started making out in La Vie Boheme. She got up at the interval and that was the last we saw of her. Damien reckoned it was because the transsexual had better legs than her. That reminds me of the line about Angel (the transsexual in question), who, in comparison to a skinhead was more of a man than he’d ever be, and more of a woman than he’d ever get.

I honestly have no time for nutjobs like her. You go see a play, you make sure you’re okay with the themes in the play. If you go along with no idea of what the play’s about, and then walk out halfway through, that’s being an idiot. If she tried to complain to the staff, I hope they told her to get stuffed. I know I would.

*calms down*

One thing I have always admired in performers is the ability to keep on going when something goes wrong. I saw this once or twice last night.

Firstly, someone went too quickly into her lines after a song. No problem, she just waited and continued as normal. It wasn’t 3 seconds like.

Secondly, something went wrong with an actor’s mike, during dialogue. No problem. A bum on stage handed a roving mike to her, and she continued on as normal, and her actual mike was fixed the next time she left the stage.

That’s what theatre is about. It requires as much participation on behalf of the audience members as much as the performers. To enjoy it, they should be able to look past the slip-ups. Unlike movies, where you can have as many rooms and backdrops as you like, theatres are limited to one room, albeit a large one.

Take this as an example. That table is a set piece in an apartment, but it doubles as the stage where Mimi (the girl) dances, in a club somewhere completely different. As an audience, we have to block out Roger (the guy) for the time being, but not completely. We know he’s lounging around the apartment, but also that Mimi’s dancing. We have to look at the one table with the two actors, and somehow separate them.

In closing, it was a fantastic performance. Very professional and true to Larson’s original.