Octopus Revisited

I know it's cheating to do another post about Octopus, but I find myself with more to say about it and I also discovered some cool photos from the show that I wanted to post.

First of all, I'm amazed how much this show has stuck with me and stayed in my thoughts since I saw it. I can't remember the last time I was still discovering symbolism and finding new meaning in a show weeks later, just by replaying it in my head. Also, I can't stop telling people about it. For all those reasons, it deserves this second post. :)

Here is a great shot showing the way the water plays out on stage. This scene comes from about halfway through the show, so the water's depth will double before the show ends, but even here you can see how interesting it is to have the characters interact as their world is being flooded.



I just recently realized that the only window in the main characters' apartment is in the shape of a porthole! Nice.



Below is a cool shot from the scene that takes place on the bottom of the ocean floor. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this scene. At first I really wished this character would deliver his dialogue in a more surreal way, like from a "ghostly narrator" or in a disconnected overview type voice. Instead, he gives his monologue as if you were having a long talk at a coffee shop with him, very enthusiastically and sincere and it felt like such a contradiction to his setting. The more I think about it though, the more I think that's an effective way of getting at their message that we all face the "dark unknown depths of the ocean" in our daily lives and have to deal with "what lurks in the darkness."



On that same note, I'd like to take back my critique of the dialogue in this show from my last post. The more I think about it, the more I can't imagine this show without the rhyme and meter that it has. It really is effective and really is almost a character in and of itself. After some reflecting, I think more realistic modern dialogue wouldn't be half as effective as they way they have it now. I just wanted to officially change my stance for the record.

Meanwhile, the final scene in this play really deserves to be called out. Not only is the staging and acting brilliant in that scene, but the actual stuff they're saying is amazing- almost every line is jarring and powerful, and the culminating final moments are really some of the best I've ever seen on stage. The final line of the Telegram Delivery Boy is perfect, and perfectly met with what is happening to the other characters. I really can't give enough praise to how impressive this final scene is!

Ok, now I feel a bit better about having given this show the writeup it deserves. Hope you can see it sometime!