Ryan McCartan / Inappropriate Gatsby Laughter- Page 2

[rannells_renthead.11]

Posted: 3/6/25 at 1:43pm

Is this bad staging or a bad reaction?"

I think it's sort of a bit of both. I've seen clips of the scene online and I'm going to see him do it in person at the end of this month. This might sound ridiculous but I think it's all to do with his height. Jeremy was much shorter so it was quicker and easier for his entire body to fold over and to fall into the pool, making it look much more natural. Jeremy is 5' 10" ish and Ryan is 6' 1". Ryan has to fold over much more and it ends up looking sort of awkward. This is sort of the show's fault for not restaging it to accommodate the actors but it's really not the end of the world. I also think the whole thing is partially a bit of a dramatic reaction on Ryan's behalf. I get what's he's trying to say about the whole society not caring about violence anymore or something, but to me it seems like he just has a lot of pent-up political frustration right now due to the current political climate, and he's sort of taking that out on the audiences. I bet the people who laughed were probably stupid kids who weren't expecting it and laughing in sort of an ironic shock was their response. So overall, it's a bit of everything but I think the whole thing isn't that big of a deal and will simmer down quickly.

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 3/6/25 at 5:04pm

rannells_renthead.11 said: "Is this bad staging or a bad reaction?"

I think it's sort of a bit of both. I've seen clips of the scene online and I'm going to see him do it in person at the end of this month. This might sound ridiculous but I think it's all to do with his height. Jeremy was much shorter so it was quicker and easier for his entire body to fold over and to fall into the pool, making it look much more natural. Jeremy is 5' 10" ish andRyan is 6' 1". Ryan has to fold over much more and it ends up looking sort of awkward. This is sort of the show's fault for not restaging it to accommodate the actors but it's really not the end of the world. I also think the whole thing is partially a bit of a dramatic reaction on Ryan's behalf. I get what's he's trying to say about the whole society not caring about violence anymore or something, but to me it seems like he just has a lot of pent-uppolitical frustration right now due to the current political climate, and he's sort of taking that out on the audiences. I bet the people who laughed were probably stupid kids who weren't expecting it and laughing in sort of an ironic shock was their response. So overall, it's a bit of everything but I think the whole thing isn't that big of a deal and will simmer down quickly."

That's a valiant effort but many would disagree -- it's bad staging. When was the last time -- right before you prepared to dive into a pool -- that you removed a pillow from your lounger, only to conveniently fall to your knees on it?! And then the rolling into the pit...the less said, the better. It was obviously staged with the end goal of the using the pit as the pool, and that's unfortunately the best they could come up with.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 3/6/25 at 5:39pm

You people are really overthinking this issue.