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The whole time people were stuck in their homes due to lockdowns all over the world, I was busy working and hated the guts of those who complained about being bored, about their clean houses and about their bakery. Yeah, I think I still resent them but just a bit.
I was writing my Master thesis, translating a book on art history, which sadly never saw the light of the day, and teaching. That was on top of household everyday chores. So when about three years later, I heard of a miniseries revolving about the same difficulties, people stuck in their houses had, I wasn't going to jump for it. I admit I wouldn't have if Michael Sheen and David Tennant hadn't starred in it, I wouldn't have even clicked on the links once.
Now, after binge watching seasons one and two, I'm actually rushing through my tasks so I get to watch another episode of season three. Not only those two actors turned out to be their amazing selves, for which I'm personally grateful, I had one acting experience and folks, it's tougher than tough, but it also shatters many layers of reality you might have drawn around your life.
The simple plot revolves around two of the actors, playing as themselves with their real families during the lockdown, moves with them to the next phase because of the success of the first season and now is with them again for the third round which unfortunately seems to be the last one?
And that’s just one of the many attractions of the show. It’s not simply throwing a Welsh and a Scottish into an unfamiliar stage and unmapped waters of improvising. The show is actually scripted but not hundred percent and that adds another layer of intrigue to the whole story because you can also amuse yourself with guessing which lines reflect the real person facing the camera and which ones are coming out of the editorial discussions.
Season three with its documentary style, camera on hand and adventurous angels and of course guests has turned the whole show into a completely new class of its own. Add to that the British sense of humor which comes in boldly in the constant bantering between Michael and David and with just a bit of imagination you can almost see every character they’ve ever played, alive.
They’re not trying to sell themselves, they’re not even themselves and that’s the beauty and challenge of someone who’s chosen this career for life, isn’t it? If you see your favorite actor in, say a restaurant, and you can’t see any cameras around, can you really tell whether they’re playing a role or that’s their real self ordering the very same meal you’re having? That’s what Staged does.
The script doesn’t present them as role models for the society but just as normal people with their worries and pains and yes of course, flaws. That's what I appreciate the most about the whole series. It doesn't try to make you laugh with deliberate setups.
And finally, the undeniable support the lead actors receive from their families is another one of those enjoyable aspects of the show. You get to appreciate them not only because of their professional presence on the screen but for the beautiful realistic tangible and lovely dynamic you get to feel between the couples. Something that cannot be simply faked, no matter how great of an actor you are and on itself, adds another star to the title because you get to see how challenging the life of an artist can be and how intelligent each partner needs to be to keep the relationship healthy.
Worldwide catastrophes, like COVID pandemy have always proved how the sense of identification is actually closer between people of all ethnicities and the fact that I, someone born and bread in Persia, can understand, laugh and be upset by the same triggers in Staged, as for instance a group of individuals in England, goes to prove how humanity is just one living organism which I do hope, will take more steps in saving itself.
Because folks, let’s face it. We only have one Earth.
#Staged
#Georgia_Tennant
#Anna_Lundberg
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