Joshua Jackson and the supertitles

[Pippin]

So last night I saw Children of a Lesser God, and I found the direction and the show to be pretty dull. I was pretty bored, and while I thought some of the performances (Ridloff) were quite good, I was not impressed at all with Joshua Jackson. I found he lacked character and was severely lacking in the charisma department. 

Now, if that had been the only problem with the show, I would've walked away with slight disappointment, but I am really pissed at what I saw on stage last night, almost to the point of being offended as an audience member. 

 

 

A little background for those who have not seen the production: they made the show accessible for the deaf by broadcasting supertitles of the script, which is a fantastic idea, and we even had a talkback with Nyle DiMarco last night, and we had discussed that many more shows should do this in some variation to make broadway more accessible in general to audiences of all types. 

 

So - There was a bit of an issue with the supertitles lining up with with the text in real time, but it was a minor issue. The major issue is that Joshua Jackson was paraphrasing the script the ENTIRE night. Literally every other line was not what was being displayed on the supertitles. He was adding words here and there, substituting words for similar meaning words, he was missing little words, and by the middle of the second act, I was so distracted by his lack of memorization and, TBH, disrespect of the script and playwright, that I couldn't concentrate on the play anymore. I was LIVID!!! I felt cheated and lost whatever respect I had for him. I just wanted to shout out during the show "STICK TO THE SCRIPT"!!!!! This isn't hollywood. You can't just "wing" the lines and editing will take care of it later..... This is a friggin' tony award winning best play, and he couldn't be bothered to LEARN THE TEXT. If it were any other play, I wouldn't have known he was paraphrasing, but the script was displayed for all of us to read along with, so you better learn it verbatim. The rest of the cast did. Why couldn't he? It came off as lazy and amateurish. I KNOW he has a heavy workload in the play, but c'mon, dude. Learn your lines. The playwright wrote those words for a reason, and you're metaphorically spitting in his face.

 

Has anyone else noticed this issue? does anyone else feel the same way? I don't know If I blame Jackson, or Leon for letting him get away with this bulls***

[haterobics]

Pippin said: "The major issue is that Joshua Jackson was paraphrasing the script the ENTIRE night. Literally every other line was not what was being displayed on the supertitles. He was adding words here and there, substituting words for similar meaning words, he was missing little words, and by the middle of the second act, I was so distracted by his lack of memorization and, TBH, disrespect of the script and playwright, that I couldn't concentrate on the play anymore. I was LIVID!!! "

Err, why pay attention to them at all if you don't need them? Seems like at that point you're not watching a performance, you're grading his memorization skills.

[IlanaKeller]

"The rest of the cast did. Why couldn't he?" 

Going out a limb here, how do you know if Lauren Ridloff, who has a similar workload in the show (everyone else had far fewer lines), was sticking to the script precisely? He learned a good bit of ASL, how do we know he's not stating what she said, if THAT differed from the script? (This isn't a knock on her at all, she's fantastic -- just pointing out we don't know all the facts here.)

"If it were any other play, I wouldn't have known he was paraphrasing" 

So it's OK if anyone else shows such "disrespect" to the playwright, as long as you don't know about it?

"This isn't hollywood. You can't just "wing" the lines and editing will take care of it later...."

You're right, it's not Hollywood, where you get as many takes as you need to get something perfect. It's live theater.

[henrikegerman]

Do you know the text well and are you quite sure the supertitles are more loyal to the script than Jackson was?  Supertitles are quite often not taken verbatim from the script.  They frequently, as at the Met, are much abridged.
 

[The Distinctive Baritone]

henrikegerman said: "Do you know the text well and are you quite surethe supertitles are more loyal to the script than Jackson was? Supertitles are quite oftennot taken verbatim from the script. They frequently, as at the Met, are much abridged.
"

This is a good point: the supertitles may not be Medoff's script at all, but a more direct translation of the sign language being used. I hope that this is the case, otherwise, that is quite embarrassing for Jackson. Even in professional theatre, some paraphrasing is likely going to happen, especially when it comes to leading roles in straight plays. It is partly the job of the stage manager or ASM to correct paraphrasing with line notes, because most of the time actors don't even realize they are doing it. However, needless to say, it is ultimately up the actor to learn their lines, and to learn them word for word.

[Dancingthrulife2]

The Distinctive Baritone said: "henrikegerman said: "Do you know the text well and are you quite surethe supertitles are more loyal to the script than Jackson was? Supertitles are quite oftennot taken verbatim from the script. They frequently, as at the Met, are much abridged.
"

This is a good point: the supertitles may not be Medoff's script at all, but a more direct translation of the sign language being used. I hope that this is the case, otherwise, that is quite embarrassing for Jackson. Even in professional theatre, some paraphrasing is likely going to happen, especially when it comes to leading roles in straight plays.Itis partly the jobof the stage manager or ASM to correct paraphrasing with line notes, because most of the time actors don't even realize they are doing it. However, needless to say, it is ultimately up the actor to learn their lines, and to learn them word for word."

No it is not. When Ridloff signs, the supertitle only shows "(she signs)" or something to the same effect.

[haterobics]

All I know is that when I went to see Streisand live, I was toward the side of the stage, and up where the scoreboard would be for a sporting event, all of her between stage banter and song lyrics appeared verbatim. At first, you couldn't help but see if she went off-script, but at some point, I forced myself to watch the show in front of me and whether she ad-libbed, stuck to the script, or anything else, there was no way to watch the script and experience the performance at the same time. So, I never looked at it again...

[henrikegerman]

Dancinthrulife2 said:

"No it is not [a good question whether the supertitles might be not as loyal to Medoff's script as Jackson is]. When Ridloff signs, the supertitle only shows "(she signs)" or something to the same effect."

I'm not understanding your comment. 

What do Ridloff's signings not being supertitled have to do with which is more loyal to Medoff's script, the supertitles of Jackson's lines or Jackson lines as he's giving them?  

 

[IlanaKeller]

henrikegerman said: "What doRidloff's signingsnot being supertitled have to do with which is more loyal to Medoff's script, thesupertitles of Jackson's lines or Jackson lines as he's giving them?"

 

The script would include what she is signing. The supertitling doesn't. I assume they are inferring from that, that that means the supertitles are not 100 percent loyal to the script, so it is not as far a jump to conclude that they may be otherwise altered. Correct me if I'm wrong, Dancinthrulife2.  

 

[henrikegerman]

Does the script include what Sarah signs?  it's been decades since I've seen the play, but doesn't James repeat almost everything, if not everything, Sarah signs?  If I'm right about that, the published script might well not include a "translation" of Sarah's signed lines.

Of course, an actor's script would include it.

But I don't see why supertitles would need to include it. For those in the audience who don't know sign, they, in keeping with Medoff's intent, would not know what Sarah is signing until James translates her signings for himself (and, by extension much of the audience).  For those in the audience who do know sign, there would be no need for supertitles of the signed lines (especially since they are repeated or intimated by James's own lines, which are supertitled). 

[Pippin]

 Henrick said "Do you know the text well and are you quite sure the supertitles are more loyal to the script than Jackson was?  Supertitles are quite often not taken verbatim from the script.  They frequently, as at the Met, are much abridged."

 

In all of the other scenes that did not have Ridloff and Jackson alone, Every other actor was saying what was presented in the supertitles exactly. This leads me to believe it is the full and complete text. The only time the text did match up with what the actor was saying was when Jackson was speaking. 

[scarlet721]

Pippin, you weren't the only one to notice that the supertitle didn't match what Jackson was saying, my sister and I both noticed it.  We were in the mezzanine, so the titles were on our eye level, and for some reason, my attention always wanders to titles/captions.  

My sister and I know a bit of ASL, enough to pick up one other issue at the performance we saw.  During the scene where Sarah is practicing her "speech" to the commission, Jim is seeing it for the first time and is interpreting it. But Jackson was always a word or two ahead of her, instead of being a word behind her.  

The other nitpicking issue I had was that for the most part, the signers were signing in the same syntax as would used in spoken English, rather than in standard ASL syntax, as was done in Deaf West's Spring Awakening.  

[EthelMae]

Very surprised to read this thread. I saw the Wed matinee last week in the 3rd Row Front Mezz so I was also at practically eye level with the supertitles. I didn’t read the supertitles all the time as I have no need to but I did glance occasionally and was shocked that Mr. Jackson was saying the lines almost verbatim to the titles. There was a word here and there and some juxtapositions of sentences but I truly believe Jackson was very much on the money with his lines. In fact, I was surprised how accurate he was. And, again, he deserved a Tony nomination this year.

[Broadway Joe]

Hah I was at this same exact show and commented in another thread that I thought the text was always either behind or ahead of what they were saying.

I did notice he changed some words but you're really getting nit picky from what I had noticed. I didn't think he was changing the text completely, more just changing a simple word with another one but it still meant the exact same thing. Really not an issue for me.



I stayed for the talk back too.... There was some Spanish teacher who was yapping about how there were some people in the theatre who don't even speak English or understand it and they deserve to be included in the theatre too. I'm paraphrasing but what the hell does she expect? You can't translate shows for everyone.

[brdway411]

Was at the show on Tuesday. Was really looking forward to seeing it. I loved the movie.
This was the most boring pos I have seen in a long time. The subtitle thing was a total disaster. Been to the Met many times and I know it can be done flawlessly. JJ showed almost no emotion. Total disappointment. Avoid, avoid avoid.

[dramamama611]

I noticed some discrepancies but nothing that took my attention away. Heck film subtitles are wrong all the time but it still MEANS the same thing.

As to him speaking before she signs, I'm sure that's poetic license to try to keep the pace going.

As to Jackson himself, I stated in another thread, he's just not a dynamic (or talented) enough performer to pull it off. It needs a very particular talent to do so.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

It's sort of crazy how some of the posters here differ so much from most of the reviews I've read praising Jackson's performance.

[EthelMae]

It is crazy, Scotty. I don't know what you need to do in this town to get a Tony nomination. Just as Gideon Glick was overlooked last year for a nomination, in what I think was an incredible performance, Mr. Jackson has been overlooked this year for a great performance. The ultimate scene when he forcing Sarah to speak was emotionally draining. I let out an audible wail of my own. My partner asked me if I was OK as we were leaving. Go see it, if you can.

[Jordan Catalano]

Of all th Deaf/HH people I know (and trust me, they know this play very well), none of them have taken any issue with the supertitles. So maybe that’s all that matters here...

[haterobics]

Jordan Catalano said: "Of all th Deaf/HH people I know (and trust me, they know this play very well), none of them have taken any issue with the supertitles. So maybe that’s all that matters here..."

As history has shown us, common sense always ends a BWW pile-on.

[brdway411]

My issue with it was where our seats were it was almost impossible to ignore and it would lag for almost a page of dialogue then speed through or skip the next 3 pages to get caught up.

Went to the Opera in Amsterdam and they were doing 3 languages on the same screen. It was flawless. Yes, I had seen the opera many times before. Both in German and English.

Tuesday night was a disaster. You could tell it was not a Roundabout production. They never would have let that crap fly.

As for JJ paraphrasing, I know it happens. That didn't bother me at all. It was his acting (or lack there of). I really was looking forward to this and it just fell flat.