La Caduta Degli Dei
Last week, as you may or may not have heard, I was part of Princeton University's L'avant Scène/Laboratorio Teatralo production of Visconti's La Caduta Degli Dei (1969). More precisely, we adapted Comédie Française's theatrical adaption of the film into Italian, cut out a few scenes, and then performed it. It was a bit complicated.
It was also my first time doing theater (unless we can count those elementary school plays?), and I had a blast. And did I already mention this was all in Italian?
To be entirely honest, I'm not even sure why I participated. The incentive that this would replace the second oral exam for my Italian language class was not that great, given the time commitment of theater and memorizing lines. Moreover, I never thought that I would ever be able to act. I thought I wouldn't be able to take it seriously, or worse, that I would just forget all of my lines in the middle of the performance. It was shocking, then, that I not only enjoyed the process and performance, but also took it incredibly seriously and did not forget a single line.
Perhaps even more shocking is the part I played: Martin Von Essenbeck.
He's the spoiled, amoral, sexually deviant child of Sofia Von Essenbeck, and the heir of the family firm.
I got this part mainly because of the fact that I spoke German, and Martin performs an iconic German song, "Kinder heut' Abend" originally by Marlene Dietrich. So yes, I sang as well.
Which also brings me back to my previous post: languages continue to play a role in my life, in numerous forms. If I hadn't known German, I probably wouldn't have had this part, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this experience as much as I had, and I probably wouldn't have progressed as much as I did with my Italian thanks to weekly theater meetings and practicing lines...
The point is: there's always a chance for new experiences, and I'm excited to see where this experience will take me in the future.
By the way, if you'd like to watch Visconti's film, it's up on Youtube here.
It was also my first time doing theater (unless we can count those elementary school plays?), and I had a blast. And did I already mention this was all in Italian?
To be entirely honest, I'm not even sure why I participated. The incentive that this would replace the second oral exam for my Italian language class was not that great, given the time commitment of theater and memorizing lines. Moreover, I never thought that I would ever be able to act. I thought I wouldn't be able to take it seriously, or worse, that I would just forget all of my lines in the middle of the performance. It was shocking, then, that I not only enjoyed the process and performance, but also took it incredibly seriously and did not forget a single line.
Perhaps even more shocking is the part I played: Martin Von Essenbeck.
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| Martin in Les Damnés |
He's the spoiled, amoral, sexually deviant child of Sofia Von Essenbeck, and the heir of the family firm.
I got this part mainly because of the fact that I spoke German, and Martin performs an iconic German song, "Kinder heut' Abend" originally by Marlene Dietrich. So yes, I sang as well.
Which also brings me back to my previous post: languages continue to play a role in my life, in numerous forms. If I hadn't known German, I probably wouldn't have had this part, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this experience as much as I had, and I probably wouldn't have progressed as much as I did with my Italian thanks to weekly theater meetings and practicing lines...
The point is: there's always a chance for new experiences, and I'm excited to see where this experience will take me in the future.
By the way, if you'd like to watch Visconti's film, it's up on Youtube here.
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| Me as Martìn Von Essenbeck (pc: Andrés) |
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| Me and Julie (two Belgians!) or: Martìn and Aschenbach (pc: Andrés) |
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| Our last rehearsal before the performance! (pc: Professoressa Chiodo) |
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| And what a performance it was... (pc: Professoressa Chiodo) |
OMG Helena, you have no idea how I feel this is so totally fitting for you. Remembering the countless times you climbed on the coffee table as a little girl in our neighbors house “the Bomma” and stood there singing and performing, I believe it was the only place you did that, but from then on I knew you had that secret talent deep within you which someday would come out. I’m so happy it finally happened!!!!! Congrats girl, hopefully I someday can see you perform!
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