tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66500867175013603722024-03-05T01:24:45.624-08:00The PhD Projectrick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-12534956860370374842010-12-20T21:22:00.000-08:002010-12-20T22:14:15.959-08:00Fast Forward 13 months<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLy9v-02YnpMFhaVQ19lN2hFejEqBXJhKdPtO6FMTf_hihT4OLwK3fWNxWQFopJpWajqZ9F5qYkYcxIlTKcjaAwqlETNoklVqDSbPypR6jAIQQmnpJjILetyg1ePZpf1MBAPfsnUolY2o/s1600/campus-1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 300px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553011163450171554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLy9v-02YnpMFhaVQ19lN2hFejEqBXJhKdPtO6FMTf_hihT4OLwK3fWNxWQFopJpWajqZ9F5qYkYcxIlTKcjaAwqlETNoklVqDSbPypR6jAIQQmnpJjILetyg1ePZpf1MBAPfsnUolY2o/s400/campus-1.jpg" /></a><br /><div><div>Holy crap...my blog is still here. OK, so let's try this again...I did indeed get accepted into a PhD program. I just completed my first semester at <a href="http://www.depts.ttu.edu/theatreanddance/">Texas Tech University</a> where I am working on my PhD in Fine Arts, with a concentration in Theatre, focusing on Theatre History/Theory and Criticism and Acting and Directing.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><div><div>My family moved to lovely Lubbock in July, we've been here for nearly 6 months and so far so good...It has been a monumental year for us...Olivia (who now refers to herself as Livi) started Middle School and is attending the Arts Magnet program <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_H31Dx2nawBGyhlr91Peh6ZJIsZNK3U-OxfbXhahNrNOQQTd-ob_ufT86qy7BimsMRY1s_x9i5-F20uSqcJdt7m-ZitCeKJhYUUhtU4Bwkulr1WOmtAEJyQ7NQX8WvOB1hJL_oRX3Ag/s1600/40529_425817158346_718503346_4991836_191815_n.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 372px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553011346448710034" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_H31Dx2nawBGyhlr91Peh6ZJIsZNK3U-OxfbXhahNrNOQQTd-ob_ufT86qy7BimsMRY1s_x9i5-F20uSqcJdt7m-ZitCeKJhYUUhtU4Bwkulr1WOmtAEJyQ7NQX8WvOB1hJL_oRX3Ag/s400/40529_425817158346_718503346_4991836_191815_n.jpg" /></a>at <a href="http://olslaton.lubbockisd.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=146116&sessionid=ef019d3455f16e93cb2193f6a026b704&sessionid=ef019d3455f16e93cb2193f6a026b704">O.L. Slaton</a>. Aidan (who now refers to himself as Aidan) started Kindergarten at <a href="http://centennial.lubbockisd.org/">Centennial Elementary</a> and Lara and I are wondering if and when you can enroll your kid in military school...</div><br /><br /><div>In my first semester, I had to prepare two different formal auditions (I don't act, so that was hilarious), I assisted on a mainstage production of Jane Martin's <em>Anton in Show Business</em> and directed a cutting of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.48_Psychosis">Sarah Kane's <em>4:48 Psychosis</em></a>...I took 9 credit hours (Graduate Directing, Dramatic Analysis and Postmodernism which was the hardest goddamn class in the history of the entire universe) and generally had a fantastic time with things, even if I did occassionally bitch and moan about some of the inanities of academentia...I also served as the TA for a fabulous class called Crtitical Issues in Arts and Culture that was team taught by faculty from the music department, art department and theatre department. The theatre instructor was a PhD student called <a href="http://kylerconway.wordpress.com/">Kyle Conway</a> and he was/is FABULOUS! Passionate about his subject matter, genuinely interested in his students, creative in his teaching...it was great watching him work this semester.</div><br /><br /><div>I finished up, grade-wise, with an A+ in Directing, a B+ in Postmodernism and the strangest damned B in the world in Dramatic Analysis...apparently despite the successes I have had as a director, if you ask me to analyze a script for you, there is a good chance I will only be able to handle 80-89% of it or something...anyhoo, moving on...</div><br /><br /><div>In the Spring, I am taking Theatre History, Teaching of Acting, and a Contemporary Music class (the program is interdisciplinary so I will take courses in Art, Music and Philosophy as well as theatre), I am guest directing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weir">Conor McPherson's fabulous play <em>The Weir</em> </a>for a local company and directing a one-act play for the (R)ed-(R)aider (O)ne (A)ct (P)lay festival in March. The play is called <em>Well It Ain't Ozzie and Harriet</em> by one of my new peeps and fellow PhD student <a href="http://www.floodstone.net/floodsplace/main.html">Michael Flood</a>...I am also teaching an Intro to Acting class, so I am really looking forward to January.</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8uK_hvGkHaIbIgTUesWogPgqNY1i07Bdw7_wOodBqt5Alk8jQIV4ouCRAZCoO5TKwKaHfLwYEK8_SvEL6J3sg8PfV64RhPQhcu8mXEXk5VqAStRxd7s4orti-O8L11GbhDsPABCY0DY/s1600/163648_477465858346_718503346_5884241_27320_n.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 327px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553012969459665970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8uK_hvGkHaIbIgTUesWogPgqNY1i07Bdw7_wOodBqt5Alk8jQIV4ouCRAZCoO5TKwKaHfLwYEK8_SvEL6J3sg8PfV64RhPQhcu8mXEXk5VqAStRxd7s4orti-O8L11GbhDsPABCY0DY/s400/163648_477465858346_718503346_5884241_27320_n.jpg" /></a><br /><br />So I am going to attempt to reconnect with this blog, I am actually pleasantly surprised I remembered how to log back in...time permitting we will be discussing the life of a 40 year old PhD student, his (slightly older) harried long suffering wife, my often endearing and sometimes ridiculous kids and just the world in general. I am in a much better place mentally than I was a year ago, I have settled some of the demons that were created by my leaving my AD job (LexArts are still fuckers though and I gotta ask when the hell is anyone gonna take a look at how absolutely poorly they are being run) and I am excited about the future. This week is Christmas, which we are celebrating here in Lubbock, followed by a trip to Dallas to see my great in-laws and then on to San Antonio for New Year's Eve on the Riverwalk with my terrific father and step-mother.<br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 268px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553011859504822802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPAoCmC7Z53PUmCzUCDMb9RpRGHkzf-uM81cKcjcqeHGjXuviGkLgo0Vob-fPXsU9l4sPKSBzcOvO6wzNXdyKNw0pcGvKoIi9qs54IX72txKoq8cirgwf6AqwNUnX4vZXjNeX6QM1rtg/s400/San-Antonio-River-Walk-night.jpg" />In the meantime, I wish you all a very very happy holiday season filled with joy and love...<br /><br /><br /><div>I'm back bitches!! (We'll see for how long this time!)</div><br /><div>Peace and love</div><div>Rick St. Peter</div><div>12-20-2010</div></div></div></div></div>rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-70815967689830028032009-11-05T11:47:00.001-08:002009-11-06T17:00:53.923-08:00Play #9: Mother Courage<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqWPq8CSGPbrOuIaJsCVkMLVOxU7Wz7t6V4RWOkTQIOK-3gi0K20jk3mPvmjY3Dxx8AKMEiRMYZd3ovFRo_PlhTPl2qGdwxXPDR6p82Lm72m6pRt9KIYIXIQlu_8b24d_OJqNOfZI3sY/s1600-h/brecht.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 227px; float: left; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401016966622966146" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqWPq8CSGPbrOuIaJsCVkMLVOxU7Wz7t6V4RWOkTQIOK-3gi0K20jk3mPvmjY3Dxx8AKMEiRMYZd3ovFRo_PlhTPl2qGdwxXPDR6p82Lm72m6pRt9KIYIXIQlu_8b24d_OJqNOfZI3sY/s320/brecht.bmp" border="0" /></a> Ah Brecht...What to say about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht">Herr Brecht</a>? I consider myself a neo-proto-quasi-post-Brechtian (whatever the hell that means) but I don't like a lot of his plays. I adore <strong><em><a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Resistible_Rise_of_Arturo_Ui">The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui</a> </em></strong>(My pops and I saw an interesting production of it at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyric_Hammersmith">Lyric Hammersmith </a>in London a couple of years ago that essentially turned Arturo into <a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe">Robert Mugabe</a>, I th<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGZXHvVcinX2aoOEEhZ737iPviQiDovg2YzMzhyphenhyphenQB4E_7-mhkNLLI0HvquODwVd9SgBwqOUvQrfoXD7il4zJryRu7eCPzo62qN2aUvXPtm_01KEoUDMZB3yaEPitRpYrf5NyjwYJ9Cl84/s1600-h/arturo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px; float: right; height: 103px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401053071328504866" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGZXHvVcinX2aoOEEhZ737iPviQiDovg2YzMzhyphenhyphenQB4E_7-mhkNLLI0HvquODwVd9SgBwqOUvQrfoXD7il4zJryRu7eCPzo62qN2aUvXPtm_01KEoUDMZB3yaEPitRpYrf5NyjwYJ9Cl84/s200/arturo.jpg" border="0" /></a>ought it worked on a simplistic level, Pops didn't like it). I have also always wanted to direct <strong><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_%28play%29">Galileo</a></em></strong>, which I believe to be Brecht's finest play. A couple of years ago, my buddy and favorite writer Chazz and I kicked around an idea about doing an adaptation of it, but the Brecht estate is notoriously difficult to license such things (ironic considering his proclivity for "ahem" adaptations, don't you think?), so unfortunately we didn't get it off the ground.<br /><br />So when it comes to wrestling with Brecht, you have three different versions of Brecht to wrestle with: Brecht the theorist, Brecht the director, and Brecht the playwright. For me, in order of preference, I would rank them that way: I prefer theorist, then director, then playwright. But make no mistake, he was a total man of the theatre. And though this blog is supposed to be about <strong><em>Mother Courage, </em></strong>since I don't really like the play that much, I will focus more on Brecht the practitioner and theorist with a quick nod to Brecht the playwright in general and specifically <strong><em>Mother Courage.</em></strong><br /><br />"For our London season...our playing needs to be <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEMiMCOOOxwms4u-ilIxbNfT7siSQ_-Iqvhehn1eljR49vOtUO1_Pb259lujj5-j_Ojkzo-2UfyJN7GtqxQmdg2mzIqqfZNo5varFOF5E_IFCq7qkQcI7AMcsvn5Xlc7vD9YoR5WEtYo/s1600-h/courage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 309px; float: right; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401025325888661858" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEMiMCOOOxwms4u-ilIxbNfT7siSQ_-Iqvhehn1eljR49vOtUO1_Pb259lujj5-j_Ojkzo-2UfyJN7GtqxQmdg2mzIqqfZNo5varFOF5E_IFCq7qkQcI7AMcsvn5Xlc7vD9YoR5WEtYo/s320/courage.jpg" border="0" /></a>quick, light, strong. This is not a question of hurry, but of speed, not simply quick playing but quick thinking. We must keep the tempo of a run-through and infect it with quiet strength, with our own fun. In the dialogue the exchange must not be offered reluctantly, as when offering somebody one's last pair of boots, but must be tossed like so many balls. The audience has to see that here are a number of artists working together as an ensemble in order to convey stories, ideas, virtuoso feats to the spectator by a common effort." This was the last thing Brecht ever wrote, he died on August 14, 1956 and his company, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht">the Berl</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht">iner Ensemble</a>, opened <strong><em>Mother Courage</em></strong> in London on August 27 with his wife <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_Weigel">Helene Weigel </a>playing the title role.<br /><br />To understand Brecht, one really needs to understand both the times he lived and worked in and the influences that shaped the artist he became. He was a Communist ("Oh no, not that!") and worked with a Marxist dialectic, he remained loyal to the Soviet Union for many years, he could be enormously cruel, but was a brilliant poet...influenced by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimbaud">Rimbaud</a>, the painter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauguin">Gauguin</a> (coincidentally my favorite painter as well), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling">Rudyard Kipling</a> and the early German expressionist writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_B%C3%BCchner">Georg Buchner</a> (author of <strong><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woyzeck">Woyzeck</a></em></strong>, we will hear from him again...) He was also adept at adapting other people's work for his own purposes (think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II_%28play%29">Marlowe's <strong><em>Edward II</em></strong></a>), he was influenced by the Russian filmmaker <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Eisenstein">Eisenstein</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin">Charlie Chaplin</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyerhold">Meyerhold</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscator">Piscator</a> and others.<br /><br />For Brecht, the writing of a play was but one part in the creation of a theatrical experience, he was not a playwright but a production creator, who would write the play, direct the play, supervise the design and creation of the music and it all served his fundamental vision, his hope that the theatre could become an organ of revolution...to that end, he synthesized a variety of styles to create what he called Epic Theatre, a style of theatre that meant to rebel against naturalism and realism, to impact the viewer intellectually as opposed to emotionally, to constantly remind the viewer that what they were witnessing was an artificial creation with a specific goal: to encourage revolution. The widely used term (often misused) for Brecht is "Alienation Effect", which is almost impossible to properly define, but the idea in performance can be described (as Brecht does in his essay <em>The Street Scene</em>) as Actor as Demonstrator. There is no disappearing into character, no <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Strasberg">Lee Strasberg </a>nonsense, no Marlon Brando "I gotta feel the pain for real" kind of silliness. From Brecht: "The theatre's demonstrator, the actor, must apply a technique which will let him reproduce the tone of the subject demonstrated with a certain reserve, with detachment (so that the spectator can say: 'He's getting excited -- in vain, too late, at last...' etc.). In short, the actor must remain a demonstrator; he must present the person demonstrated as a stranger, he must not suppress the 'he did that, he said that' element in his performance. He must not go so far as to be wholly transformed into the person demonstrated." I like to call it sketching a character, others call it commenting on the character...the bottom line is that the actor NEVER disappears into a role, the audience is always reminded the actor is in fact acting. The same theory applies to design as well...place is suggested, scenes are introduced with title cards, scenes of incredible sadness are accompanied by upbeat, jaunty music that would be wholly inappropriate for the occasion if what was occurring was actually real...Brecht made great use of film and projections to suggest location, costumes and props remained visible onstage throughout, as did actors...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Kushner">Tony Kushner</a> once described his ideal production of <em><strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_America:_A_Gay_Fantasia_on_National_Themes">Angels in America</a></strong> </em>as one in which "the wires were visible" or something to that effect...theatre is a made thing, why hide it?<br /><br />So, here is a quick summary of <strong><em>Mother Courage</em></strong> and then back to Brecht:<br /><br />Recruiting Officer and Sergeant are introduced, both complaining about the difficulty of recruiting soldiers to the war. A canteen woman named Mother Courage enters pulling a cart that she uses to trade with soldiers and make profits from the war. She has three children, Eilif, Kattrin, and Swiss Cheese. T<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGmKO80ERJm0x_ByKjGw2qWwBSCdaheMOrebF7DquWo7lzTGEKdhnQ4WM4x6I03FYhrdUL2-3QSTqGXH_pvufy2npt_kwWoQaOMhqQNzYk9NKTpDv7CpjOhX-VgV_goONVuODW2IyuPt8/s1600-h/mothercourage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 320px; float: right; height: 306px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401023971588301554" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGmKO80ERJm0x_ByKjGw2qWwBSCdaheMOrebF7DquWo7lzTGEKdhnQ4WM4x6I03FYhrdUL2-3QSTqGXH_pvufy2npt_kwWoQaOMhqQNzYk9NKTpDv7CpjOhX-VgV_goONVuODW2IyuPt8/s320/mothercourage.jpg" border="0" /></a>he sergeant negotiates a deal with Mother Courage while Eilif is led off by the recruiting officer. One of her children is now gone. Two years from then, Mother Courage argues with a Protestant General's cook over a chicken. At the same time, Eilif is congratulated by the General for killing peasants and slaughtering their cattle. Eilif and his mother sing "The Song of the Girl and the Soldier." Mother Courage scolds her son for taking risks that could have gotten him killed and slaps him across the face.<br /><br />Three years later, Swiss Cheese works as an army paymaster. The camp prostitute, Yvette Pottier, sings "The Fraternization Song." Mother Courage uses this song to warn Kattrin about involving herself with soldiers. Before the Catholic troops arrive, the Cook and Chaplain bring a message from Eilif. Swiss Cheese hides the regiment's paybox. Mother Courage and company hurriedly switch their insignia from Protestant to Catholic. Swiss Cheese is captured by the Catholics while attempting to return the paybox to his General. Mother Courage deals her cart to get money to try and barter with the soldiers to free her son. Swiss Cheese is shot anyway. To acknowledge the body could be fatal, so Mother Courage does not acknowledge it and it is thrown into a pit.<br /><br />Later, Mother Courage waits outside of the General's tent in order to register a complaint and sings the "Song of Great Capitulation" to a young soldier waiting for the General as well. The soldier is angry that he has not been paid and also wishes to complain. The song persuades the soldier that complaining would be unwise, and Mother Courage (reaching the same conclusion) decides she also does not want to complain.<br /><br />When Catholic General Tilly's funeral approaches, Mother Courage discusses with the Chaplain about whether the war will continue. The Chaplain then suggests to Mother Courage that she marry him, but she rejects his proposal. Mother Courage curses the war because she finds Kattrin disfigured after collecting more merchandise.<br /><br />At some point about here Mother Courage is again following the Protestant army.<br />Two peasants wake Mother Courage up and try to sell merchandise to her while they find out that peace has broken out. The Cook appears and creates an argument between Mother Courage and the Chaplain. Mother Courage departs for the town while Eilif enters, dragged in by soldiers. Eilif is executed for killing peasants but his mother never finds out. When the war begins again, the Cook and Mother Courage start their own business.<br /><br />The seventeenth year of the war marks a point where there is no food and no supplies. The Cook inherits an inn in Utrecht and suggests to Mother Courage that she operate it with him, but he refuses to harbor Kattrin. It is a very small Inn. Mother Courage will not leave her daughter and they part ways with the Cook. Mother Courage and Kattrin pull the wagon by themselves.<br />The Catholic army attacks the small Protestant town of Halle while Mother Courage is away from town, trading. Kattrin is woken up by a search party that is taking peasants as guides. Kattrin fetches a drum from the cart, climbs onto the roof, and beats it in an attempt to awake the townspeople. Though the soldiers shoot Kattrin, she succeeds in waking up the town.<br />Early in the morning, Mother Courage sings to her daughter's corpse, has the peasants bury her and hitches herself to the cart. The cart rolls lighter now because there are no more children and very little merchandise left.<br /><br />Umm...the end...(thanks Wiki for the extra long summary)<br /><br />It is a remarkable anti-war play, an extremely sad affair in that our heroine learns nothing from the death of all her children, she stubbornly carries on...It is an indictment of capitalism and war profiteering and it shows the inherent randomness of war. The final iconic image of Mother Courage pulling her almost empty cart across the stage is one of the defining images of 20th century theatre.<br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px; display: block; height: 250px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401020089803834530" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZia-5jQxiyTrWc2cePXB6iV7xYtch7KT__gL3Tk9bIhOJszmbFEFPDNcFm49LDzprdglXAbliYemQkGWp2zOY3BrFkmOoeqe0NHDUUp0MRLXAnUfMykLtB_nKpk-yMjUXCt-pNyTcN6Q/s320/mother_courage_29.jpg" border="0" /> So, ok Rick (you ask), what is it you like about Brecht? My answer is complicated. I certainly don't believe in his politics, I don't care for many of his plays but what I like about him as a theorist is the style in which his plays were/are presented. As you can see from the above summary, they are very episodic, meaning scenes are presented in an almost patchwork fashion, and the presentational style of the acting appeals to me in a way that allows theatre to differentiate from film and television. When it comes to realism/naturalism, theatre cannot compete with mass media art forms. In film, if we want to show an army climbing a mountain, we show an army climbing a mountain...all of the work is done for you as an audience member...you don't need to engage your imagination, you just have to sit back and be assaulted by "real" pictures. In Brecht's theatre (and I hope in mine), you are required to participate, you have to be actively imaginative for the evening to work. Our contemporary society more and more revolves around instantaneous images at our fingertips and as a consequence, we have a hard time imagining anything we cannot see. I want you to be an active participant <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTX9ekkRljMC5WlnX6odSTw4S41N3Bwv5vcg9sFGYLAoRZPn6G_YQ9nDE_h_xoc1OeIAErnzpv_zYt89XmxYBQ8jmwCYHW5NTjsXOO0aPTfzSPArQveNI8-8QHoxqX9jDalLlNatbiwKY/s1600-h/n718219404_1042643_2604.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTX9ekkRljMC5WlnX6odSTw4S41N3Bwv5vcg9sFGYLAoRZPn6G_YQ9nDE_h_xoc1OeIAErnzpv_zYt89XmxYBQ8jmwCYHW5NTjsXOO0aPTfzSPArQveNI8-8QHoxqX9jDalLlNatbiwKY/s320/n718219404_1042643_2604.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401108204065621298" border="0" /></a>in the theatre we are collectively making...so your imagination needs to allow you to "see" an army crossing a mountain when 3 actors on stage clamber over a raked stage, in <strong><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laramie_Project">The Laramie Project</a></em></strong>, when an actor is describing seeing a sign upon her entrance into Laramie that says "Hate is not a Laramie value", you need to be able to "see" what she is seeing...Does it make for a better experience than going to the movies? I think so, I know I am in a TINY TINY minority when I say that, but I think one of the reasons why people get so bored going to theatre is that when you are watching a piece of realism unfold, there is a sense of "why am I here, I can see this watching TV at home". And Brecht invented nothing, a lot of what we are talking about here was being done by the Greeks, by the Elizabethans and so on. Brecht refined it for his own political purposes, but his impact was massive...<br /><br />So at long last, <strong><em>Waiting for Godot, Look Back in Anger, </em></strong>and <strong><em>Mother Courage </em></strong>all opened in London within 18 months of each other...(<strong><em>Godot </em></strong>and<strong><em> Courage </em></strong>had already played in other places), and the English speaking theatre was never the same. And I think that is a good thing...<br /><p>Bertolt Brecht is my guy and I believe his influence on 20th century theatre is 2nd only to Stanislavski's and in reality, Brecht may be THE MOST influential figure in 20th century theatre history... </p>One final little Brecht piece, from Kenneth Tynan's interview with Richard Burton:<br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLshNlxL0AeEnJnU5pf7pP5-1G9EWDG-ZTOOqJUpHW_ZVFHh8KTxap31EbisZR-cEXG5reoef1ynB1bz0KbejpPKLm3GhrevavDZT3fw2hJh1kPYVj1y7VOuwZr4agVhV2Xzv8HByN6J4/s1600-h/finch1-28-08-2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 207px; float: right; height: 320px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401028493576463586" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLshNlxL0AeEnJnU5pf7pP5-1G9EWDG-ZTOOqJUpHW_ZVFHh8KTxap31EbisZR-cEXG5reoef1ynB1bz0KbejpPKLm3GhrevavDZT3fw2hJh1kPYVj1y7VOuwZr4agVhV2Xzv8HByN6J4/s320/finch1-28-08-2.jpg" border="0" /></a></p>TYNAN: Is there any great playwright whose work has never tempted you at all?<br />BURTON: Brecht.<br />TYNAN: Why not Brecht?<br />BURTON: Loathsome, vulgar, petty, little, nothing.<br />TYNAN: Large, poetic, universal, everything.<br /><br />I'm sure they had already had 11 highballs and 62 cigarettes each at this point...I'm with Tynan on this one!!<br /><p>Thanks for being patient, have a great weekend...<br /><br />Peace and Love<br />Rick St. Peter<br />November 6, 2009<br /><br />PS. I didn't see it and far be it from me to criticize Meryl Streep, but I always find the photos from the production of <strong><em>Mother Courage </em></strong>she did in Central Park a few years ago to appear to be very show-bizzy...anyone see it? Any thoughts?</p>rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-55349284968841786652009-10-30T05:57:00.000-07:002009-10-30T10:18:06.862-07:00Where the Hell have I been??Hello Dear Reader(s) --<br /><br />I flatter myself by adding the (s) after "reader"...So, October is coming to an end, where, pray tell, have I been??<br /><br />Well to be honest, October has been what can charitably be described as a "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">dogshit</span>" month...there was some good stuff, but mainly it has been a month worth forgetting the sooner the better...<br /><br />I did get to spend the first part of the month visiting the school I plan on attending for my PhD. That was fun, and I got to go to San Antonio TX (where I spent a good part of my childhood) for the first time since 1989, which was great...my wife had a birthday, also cool. (It is especially cool since she is approximately 7 weeks older than me and for those 7 weeks, pretty much annually, I am merciless in my "older woman" jokes with her. It is the comedy gift that keeps on giving!)<br /><br />Beyond that, the month sucked...On October 15, one of my best friends passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer, which breaks my heart and simultaneously makes all of my subsequent bitching seem petty and self involved...after all, I am still alive...(I think)...<br /><br />I had short listed for a directing gig which I ultimately didn't get...for the first time in my professional career, I have no idea when and if I am going to direct a play anytime soon. (I am currently substitute teaching at a school that had a Halloween costume contest today, I dressed as an unemployed director, which me<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8inS9l4M9jdPEmwHh6BRMLf6HAcbJtYLN3Sh4w60S-APLcOKRc4Vynr8Y1K0IPAMzcGEMLIdpVofbnHwF-oTYYBhBFyBuFPN_8_vdZxqR0T1LtwZJ-tDnpmRGd73afp_Und6H2Qtcyxk/s1600-h/hamlet2_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8inS9l4M9jdPEmwHh6BRMLf6HAcbJtYLN3Sh4w60S-APLcOKRc4Vynr8Y1K0IPAMzcGEMLIdpVofbnHwF-oTYYBhBFyBuFPN_8_vdZxqR0T1LtwZJ-tDnpmRGd73afp_Und6H2Qtcyxk/s400/hamlet2_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398411642626138066" border="0" /></a>ant that I just wore regular clothes. Further side note, I was sitting with the art teacher at this school at lunch earlier this week and she was talking about a "Day of the Dead" project she had her students working on. We spent a few minutes trying to remember who had died in 2009 BESIDES Michael Jackson and at one point, I said "My career.") My life is dangerously beginning to resemble Steve <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Coogan's</span> in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104733/"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Hamlet 2</span></span></a>, without the cool "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" finale.<br /><br />I have emotionally and mentally checked out of the city I am living in, I kind of feel like a prisoner waiting for my parole date, which can't come soon enough. The city is hosting a major event in just under a year and there are stupid countdown signs for it all over the place, so literally everyday, those signs mock me...It is approximately 330 days away, so I have subtracted about 60 days from it (give or take) to start my own countdown...so I got roughly 270 days left in purgatory...<br /><br />So enough bitching, I plan on getting back on track in November. I still owe you a reading of <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mother Courage</span></span> (if anyone cares) and I will try to get to it this weekend. I literally haven't been in the mood to read plays this month. So I have read some other stuff:<br /><br />1<a href="http://www.nytimes/2009/13/books/review/Filkins-t.html">. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Where Men Win Glory</span></span></a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Krakauer">Jon <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Krakauer</span></a>...I first came across <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Krakauer</span> wh<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOuLQbcX9X6F5iuGjYW5jMVbSfxhoR5rjPm8B0s9zl-TpytS78uoJzXmTI7GWQzxPmsyRHmvZEoh6DAtrK3E2i-ezU4vE0MqGtuMnZXX5Eh_w7L7M-kSmz6NMli9PT3TaQIGWfalhzRI4/s1600-h/abc_pat_marie_tillman_090909_mn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOuLQbcX9X6F5iuGjYW5jMVbSfxhoR5rjPm8B0s9zl-TpytS78uoJzXmTI7GWQzxPmsyRHmvZEoh6DAtrK3E2i-ezU4vE0MqGtuMnZXX5Eh_w7L7M-kSmz6NMli9PT3TaQIGWfalhzRI4/s400/abc_pat_marie_tillman_090909_mn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398411431181230162" border="0" /></a>en I read his book <span style="font-style: italic;">Into Thin Air</span>, about a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">disastrous</span> ascent of Mount Everest that claimed the lives of a number of climbers. He is an astonishingly humane writer, reading his stuff, you feel like you are having a conversation with him. <span style="font-style: italic;">Where Men Win Glory</span> is the heartbreaking story of Pat Tillman, the NFL safety who walked away from a multimillion $ contract in the NFL to join the Army Rangers following 9/11 and was subsequently killed by a friendly fire incident in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Afghanistan</span> in 2004. To say Tillman is a kind of Greek tragic hero is an understatement. He certainly comes off larger than life but at the same time, there is a tragic flaw (an overdeveloped sense of duty/honor that leads him to join the military and prevents him from getting out early when offered, even as he recognizes the blatant illegality of the Iraq invasion...) His death has a rippling effect through his family, including his wife, his parents and his brothers, one of whom joined him and was present in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Afghanistan</span> when he was killed.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ocDYz-maRslhQgjnXVE5p-P8NbWnlw6tOyd95SQs-_9r6cHGhzbz7Cul6TPzx7NCsPeTT2q6jUSzpmiFX2YjI2PfgPz_oce_xxUsYxN2E31y8ubZYDnq2gxXpeavmc4O2hK7jZEk0Zs/s1600-h/51aZCG3JZeL.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ocDYz-maRslhQgjnXVE5p-P8NbWnlw6tOyd95SQs-_9r6cHGhzbz7Cul6TPzx7NCsPeTT2q6jUSzpmiFX2YjI2PfgPz_oce_xxUsYxN2E31y8ubZYDnq2gxXpeavmc4O2hK7jZEk0Zs/s400/51aZCG3JZeL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398410657615771714" border="0" /></a> It is a terrific read, alternating between Tillman's life story and the development of the Taliban and Al <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Qaeda</span> and I recommend it highly...my heart breaks all over for his family...<br /><br />2. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322004574475602013608632.html"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Book of Basketball </span></span></a>by <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index">Bill Simmons</a>...My buddy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Scotty</span> turned me on to Bill Simmons back when he was the "Boston Sports Guy" and he has become one of my favorite writers for his ability to mix sports with pop culture, two of my favorite things. His new book, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy</span>, is his attempt to explain why certain teams and players matt<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL5ot-CyM1I9ntt8RsEUuFnmY8Uh7N0QqwtYb8LCIVHPPr9usVZmXKkSCyY6j6uWyPXprmABsr6J0aoItRVTAFdk3cefsoLj8u8Q8YEWdDFLUin_yf_5FusO6FbyLjyR_6kJEquDb9lVU/s1600-h/GeorgeGervin.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL5ot-CyM1I9ntt8RsEUuFnmY8Uh7N0QqwtYb8LCIVHPPr9usVZmXKkSCyY6j6uWyPXprmABsr6J0aoItRVTAFdk3cefsoLj8u8Q8YEWdDFLUin_yf_5FusO6FbyLjyR_6kJEquDb9lVU/s200/GeorgeGervin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398411146601998482" border="0" /></a>er more than others. My first ever "hero", when I was 7 years old, was an NBA basketball player named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gervin">George <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Gervin</span></a> of my beloved San Antonio Spurs. I love basketball and have been enjoying my foray into Simmons's book...It's long, like 700 pages long (they were actually trying to shoot bullets through the book on an ESPN show earlier this week and it stopped a 9 mm bullet!) but it is fun to read. Another favorite writer of mine, the BRILLIANT <a href="http://www.gladwell.com/">Malcol</a><a href="http://www.gladwell.com/">m <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Gladwell</span></a>, wrote the Forward...If you like the NBA, pop culture and great humor, it is worth checking out.<br /><br />So here I sit on October 30, 2009...contemplating what the hell is going on with my life and how the hell I am going to get anything out of what is rapidly becoming a wasted year for me...I am enjoying substitute teaching, it is like being a guest star on a different sitcom every day, but I am really missing the buzz of being in rehearsal and having a creative project to work on. Plus my son Chicken Butt has decided in the last two weeks to become Damien from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075005/"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Omen</span></span></a><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>movies. Suddenly, at the ripe old age of 4 1/2, he has decided the following things:<br /><br />1. He doesn't like school.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvKtoQK1OpXmDQT-rZhD-zFHhQ6ChRuhexf64DjS996DtpD1FyntV1-0RdOtBTmMh6qSlUCofnkv9foCN4RQWtQPQDPhirK3ik1PmfcYa03WlbREWur7ISvZ0z19AWlOkv7J-CsI5QvWQ/s1600-h/DSCN5375.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvKtoQK1OpXmDQT-rZhD-zFHhQ6ChRuhexf64DjS996DtpD1FyntV1-0RdOtBTmMh6qSlUCofnkv9foCN4RQWtQPQDPhirK3ik1PmfcYa03WlbREWur7ISvZ0z19AWlOkv7J-CsI5QvWQ/s400/DSCN5375.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398410384891985906" border="0" /></a><br />2. He doesn't like his teachers.<br />3. He doesn't like following rules.<br />4. His brain tells him to be bad.<br /><br />I am sincerely hoping this is a phase that will be short lived and not the beginning of a path that will lead him to become Jeffrey <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Dahmer</span> II: Electric <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Boogaloo</span>...but just to be on the safe side, I have already started looking for military schools for Kindergartners...<br /><br />So to sum up, my life sucks...I hate the town I am in, I am spending all my time with Bill Simmons and Jon <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Krakauer</span> and my son may or may not be on the road to the serial killer hall of fame...My lovely wife and I were talking about him the other night, you know how whenever they show the serial killer Behind the Murders documentary, there is ALWAYS the section where some relative or neighbor says, "We never would have believed that (insert horrific murderers name here) could have done these things...he was always so quiet and well mannered, we were just shocked." When they do the special on Chicken Butt in 2027, my wife and I will be like, "YES! The little bastard! We totally saw it coming, it started when he was 4 1/2 and frankly we are surprised everyone made it out of his <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Pre</span> K 2 class alive!"<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Anyhoo</span>...that's enough bitching and self-wallowing for now. I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!!<br /><br />Peace and Love<br />Rick St. Peter<br />October 30, 2009<br /><br />PS...Go see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477715/"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Michael Jackson's THIS IS I</span></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477715/">T</a> </span></span>to see glimpses of a consummate professional in rehearsals. It should be required viewing for anyone aspiring to a career in the performing arts, no matter what your discipline. He was a genius and the world is a lesser place without him in it...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ylqI_5V-MFgb9HC9FX3h3iu5cv-9eKgFmvK9P8A7V8ZUC2_clovHDQhroPRXfwu7Gb7vlxxQVvCzkZDALWxtgn_Wc3xjcd7hVMyZ143mp1yHk8c6FA5Q-oozo0G16sdfCaaCSk7DjQc/s1600-h/this_is_it_poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ylqI_5V-MFgb9HC9FX3h3iu5cv-9eKgFmvK9P8A7V8ZUC2_clovHDQhroPRXfwu7Gb7vlxxQVvCzkZDALWxtgn_Wc3xjcd7hVMyZ143mp1yHk8c6FA5Q-oozo0G16sdfCaaCSk7DjQc/s400/this_is_it_poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398408900054077602" border="0" /></a>rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-73378202763251096782009-09-28T17:06:00.000-07:002009-09-28T20:36:54.416-07:00Play #8: Waiting for Godot<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjabGvSzdrv5xG9j8BrYvMJXU8rwCWVpNZK_ESVm_UlP1ItZrESVoFh4MD2J7JLxEZUaCZGmTnAkeNmOAn4HZxyqZFfYBsx3btVwoNq8yCGc2c0ivBRipDmlfy3LOdbJ4tAjoI81buBF0U/s1600-h/samuel_wideweb__470x317,0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjabGvSzdrv5xG9j8BrYvMJXU8rwCWVpNZK_ESVm_UlP1ItZrESVoFh4MD2J7JLxEZUaCZGmTnAkeNmOAn4HZxyqZFfYBsx3btVwoNq8yCGc2c0ivBRipDmlfy3LOdbJ4tAjoI81buBF0U/s400/samuel_wideweb__470x317,0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386693165980476978" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"I know creatures are supposed to have no secrets from their authors, but I'm afraid mine for me have little else." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett">Samuel Beckett</a></span><br /><br />To prepare us, here is a funny Beckett story from John Heilpern: "One day he was walking through a London park with a friend. It was a glorious day and Beckett seemed almost uncharacteristically happy. The friend said it was the kind of sunny day that made one glad to be alive. 'I wouldn't go that far', replied Beckett...and that is pretty much what you need to know to understand and appreciate Samuel Beckett!<br /><br />I first read <span style="font-style: italic;">Godot </span>as I was preparing for grad school in 1995. At the time, I was totally perplexed about what this play was supposed to be about. Reading it again in 2009, it is easier to understand it intellectually and to appreciate it as a great work of art, but ultimately it is not for <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7HAQheTFd4eLP24wzKBHG9dvtOkVcf8s50wnN3wpx78GQm5pzC-JwiDnzAukKoLMEzEjgWLj5jOMraldEzxD6odhmYDcLK4UcqlwvMd2-Xm8hmZCFb1dwB37Y-bPJMCzu4B40Oix6uZU/s1600-h/Friedrich,-2-men-contemplat.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 291px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7HAQheTFd4eLP24wzKBHG9dvtOkVcf8s50wnN3wpx78GQm5pzC-JwiDnzAukKoLMEzEjgWLj5jOMraldEzxD6odhmYDcLK4UcqlwvMd2-Xm8hmZCFb1dwB37Y-bPJMCzu4B40Oix6uZU/s400/Friedrich,-2-men-contemplat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386728073144683634" border="0" /></a>me.<br /><br />Vladimir and Estragon, two tramps (Beckett loved <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin">Chaplin</a> and especially <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Keaton">Buster Keaton</a>) are perpetually waiti<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PW9flmlmTWw-adxcVseiO9oJE10j2SK5w-L_GsK9BRjccYa_9sTAR4RbptuBtHFRqaBLnQ3WJJr9zcB5Y96kgR0E6feub8toGxsAeRTjx2lLcfjZFK3CLAVKbcACllqxQRwYI93p6ws/s1600-h/WaitingForGodot1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 313px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PW9flmlmTWw-adxcVseiO9oJE10j2SK5w-L_GsK9BRjccYa_9sTAR4RbptuBtHFRqaBLnQ3WJJr9zcB5Y96kgR0E6feub8toGxsAeRTjx2lLcfjZFK3CLAVKbcACllqxQRwYI93p6ws/s400/WaitingForGodot1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386693015239128962" border="0" /></a>ng for someone called Godot to meet them in a kind of wasteland whose dominating feature is a kind of gnarled old tree, and that's what they do...they wait. If the breath of drama is found in action, the breath of Godot can be found in inaction. The action of the play is almost all misdirection....Didi and Gogo (as Vladimir and Estragon call each other) wait, they question, they seek, they fret, and they wait. Two characters called Pozzo and Lucky appear, Lucky is a kind of slave to Pozzo and Pozzo waits with Didi and Gogo. The time passes (the time would have passed anyway, as one of them says to the other) and in the end, we find out that Mr Godot will not come today, but surely will come tomorrow...and for the tramps, the never ending cycle starts all over.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism">Absurdism</a> is where we are and as a style, it kind of had its hay day in the 1950's with playwrights like Beckett and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Ionesco">Ionesco</a>. I think what made absurdism what it was, and gave it its dramatic power, was a direct result of the time that produced the plays. For the first time in the history of humanity, someone could press a button and destroy, wipe out, obliterate all of humanity. It made for an existential crisis, what was the point of humanity? Why bother? If language could be perverted to support the policies of (pick one) communism, capitalism, racism, genocide etc than there is clearly no meaning in language. Words themselves are meaningless...life is meaningless. You are born, you suffer, you die...the end. That is what Beckett is getting at with <span style="font-style: italic;">Godot. </span><br /><br />While I intellectually appreciate the play and I can see how good actors could attack it, I don't think I would be terribly inclined to see it in a theatre. A couple of years ago, I saw a sensational production of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endgame_%28play%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">Endgame</span></a> at <a href="http://www.cincyshakes.com/">Cincinnati Shakespeare Company</a> and while I admired the production (the acting, directing and design were all first rate) I could not love the play. As I stated earlier, I have to find some ray of light for me to fully engage in a production or play. I know life sucks, I go to the theatre to find alternatives and perhaps even better, deeper ways of living. To be told "why bother" is disheartening.<br /><br />As I mentioned in my <span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back in Anger </span>post, <span style="font-style: italic;">Godot</span> is the 2nd of three plays I contend changed forever the English speaking theatre world. <span style="font-style: italic;">Godot</span> had its world premiere in Pa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyLFaMHl7qBy49rRjRSz19wvbPuL02iIrUKmHTCBWRPX62TiJ850lAuXHUW22EwRbD8OTTV0ylflZvwQA4l5cxuUauQqKiP1Lu1lswLSaCQ1I1WtkhTCF9ETHdhOTrOV690_kkLs29bg/s1600-h/Waiting-for-Godot-at-the--001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyLFaMHl7qBy49rRjRSz19wvbPuL02iIrUKmHTCBWRPX62TiJ850lAuXHUW22EwRbD8OTTV0ylflZvwQA4l5cxuUauQqKiP1Lu1lswLSaCQ1I1WtkhTCF9ETHdhOTrOV690_kkLs29bg/s400/Waiting-for-Godot-at-the--001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386692768912238322" border="0" /></a>ris during the 1952-53 theatre season and even though Beckett was Irish, the play was written in French and didn't have its English language premiere until 1955, when Peter Hall directed it at the Arts Theatre in London. Of the English language production, Kenneth Tynan wrote that he cared "little for its enormous success in Europe over the past three years." He did, however and much like <span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back in Anger</span>, ultimately give it his seal of approval. "It forced me to re-examine the rules which have hitherto governed the drama; and, having done so, to pronounce them not elastic enough."<br /><br />In his autobiography, <span style="font-style: italic;">Making an Exhibition of Myself</span>, Peter Hall discusses the original English language production in some detail: "I, and everyone else at the Arts, thought the enterprise was a huge gamble. The text had arrived in my little cupboard of an office several weeks earlier and in the most conventional way possible -- through the post. With it was a letter from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Albery">Donald Albery</a>, a leading West End manager, asking if I would like to stage it. Attempts to set up a West End production had completely failed. Many luminaries, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gielgud">Gielgud</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Richardson">Richardson,</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Guinness">Guinness</a> among them, had refused to appear in it."<br /><br />Hall goes on to talk about his reaction to reading the play: "I found it enormously appealing, and written by a master. This was p<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzFV04qV6ICQJ02Zx6QvUDkzyJMvdByTLe2bq4-d6Z44tdg9115Z1iLMndttx_74qgs8YNukjaVFpIb1D-JoHRx9iOTMmwDVImeCnXsSlgX3WV7grtbw8TXowrlgm-_nj6RffjjwGO60/s1600-h/Sir_Peter_Hall_sml.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzFV04qV6ICQJ02Zx6QvUDkzyJMvdByTLe2bq4-d6Z44tdg9115Z1iLMndttx_74qgs8YNukjaVFpIb1D-JoHRx9iOTMmwDVImeCnXsSlgX3WV7grtbw8TXowrlgm-_nj6RffjjwGO60/s400/Sir_Peter_Hall_sml.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386692514939752130" border="0" /></a>oetic theatre. What do I mean by poetic? Well, it wasn't sequinned with applied adjectives like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Fry">Christopher </a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Fry">Fry</a>, or with dry ironic platitudes like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot">T.S. Eliot</a>. Here was a voice, a rhythm, a shape that was very particular: lyrical, yet colloquial; funny, yet mystical. Though expressed in natural speech, unpretentious and believable, it was much <span style="font-style: italic;">more</span> than natural speech: there was a haunting subtext."<br /><br />Hall's reporting of the opening night audience is a beautiful indicator that the artists tend to crave the new and the audience tends to crave the familiar: "On the first night, very little went right. After half an hour, there were yawns and mock snores and some barracking. Later on the audience nearly erupted into open hostility but then decided not to bother and settled instead into still, glum boredom. A few people laughed with genuine recognition; and the same few applauded enthusiastically at the end. It was a mixed reception, with the mixture very definitely on the side of failure."<br /><br />Ultimately the play was saved by the Sunday critics, notably <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Hobson">Harold Hobson</a>, and was subsequently produced in America for the first time, in Miami of all places. The A<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNMArz4hbjc-4vjGeJT36ZYEX-GKAjEaYI5t_jzb_IKmV5pEfHk-e39xAyv6_zRQuxuOAKtNnXkT1k2AYyUf804FekWRLCCaT22zB4yC7gjUXyYE9WEcEnFQt3gF6a882L1qKb_MeLOko/s1600-h/758_Randy-Harrison-Inter64151.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 347px; height: 287px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNMArz4hbjc-4vjGeJT36ZYEX-GKAjEaYI5t_jzb_IKmV5pEfHk-e39xAyv6_zRQuxuOAKtNnXkT1k2AYyUf804FekWRLCCaT22zB4yC7gjUXyYE9WEcEnFQt3gF6a882L1qKb_MeLOko/s400/758_Randy-Harrison-Inter64151.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386691903870755170" border="0" /></a>merican production starred <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Lahr">Bert Lahr</a> as Estragon and was billed (oddly) as the "Laugh Sensation of 2 Continents." If the British reaction was mixed, the American was openly hostile (imagine that, Americans being threatened by something that requires thinking). At intermission on opening night, more than 2/3 of the audience had left. Lahr received a letter from someone who walked out: "How can you<span style="font-style: italic;">, </span>Bert Lahr, who has charmed the youth of America as the Cowardly Lion in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wizard of Oz</span>, appear in this Communistic, atheistic, and existentialist play?"<br /><br />And so it goes...what is the purpose of Art? What do we want our theatre to do? Is the theatre supposed to be something more than empty calorie entertainment? Does it need to strike a balance? I always refer to the Greek notion of Profit and Delight...yes it needs to be entertaining, but there needs to be more than that. I think the theatre should stimulate the heart and the head and that being challenged with some difficult intellectual concepts can be an ENTERTAINING night out. Of course, I am still searching for the theatre where this kind of work can thrive. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company,<a href="http://www.knowtheatre.com/"> Know Theatre</a> and <a href="http://www.cincyetc.com/home/">Ensemble Theatre in Cincinnati </a>are three companies that have a rigorous intellectual bent to their very entertaining work. From the outside, they seem to be thriving, or at least succeeding.<br /><br />So the quest continues. I am off to Texas in the morning and hopefully will have some definitive news soon...stay tuned!<br /><br />Peace<br />Rick St. Peter<br />September 28, 2009rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-80579250969720632392009-09-20T07:06:00.000-07:002009-09-20T12:07:21.967-07:00Play #7: Look Back in Anger<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"I believe we started out with hope, and hope deferred makes the heart sick, and many hearts are sick at what they see in England now." <a href="http://en.wikipedia/wiki/John_Osborne">JOHN OSBORNE,</a> 1959</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhF39u-FPOrmYQYrMi0oqRGkwE-nt-70HJaIBQlAYhePjxqi3IR2Xem2-kQdCANSaANbhsNfpGvPJoNfAzVcPRYOLqb7Vi0YZ4HnSoHxZ4_65O2_vAn3Q-AHlX4sjIB6Ru7krhRupdCU/s1600-h/_41640572_osborne1_body.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhF39u-FPOrmYQYrMi0oqRGkwE-nt-70HJaIBQlAYhePjxqi3IR2Xem2-kQdCANSaANbhsNfpGvPJoNfAzVcPRYOLqb7Vi0YZ4HnSoHxZ4_65O2_vAn3Q-AHlX4sjIB6Ru7krhRupdCU/s400/_41640572_osborne1_body.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383624381143725106" border="0" /></a><br />These next few posts are going to concern 3 plays that changed the English speaking theatre world and all premiered within 18 months of each other...First was Peter Hall's English language premiere production of <a href="http://en.wikipedia/wiki/Samuel_Beckett">Samuel Beckett's</a> <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Waiting for Godot</span></span> in 1955. The second was the world premiere of <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Look Back in Anger </span></span>by the new English Stage Company at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Ensemble">Royal Court Theatre</a> in May 1956 and the third was the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Ensemble"> Berliner Ensemble's</a> first visit to London with <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Moth</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">er Courage </span></span>in August 1956, two weeks following the death of Brecht.<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span>Those are the next three plays we are going to look at on this journey and we will begin with John Osborne.<br /><br />It is hard now to understand the impact <span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back in Anger</span> must have had when it was first produced. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Devine">George Devine</a> at the Royal Court apparently didn't care too much for it and was talked in to produ<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGX9B8fUtCYvHQaPjD8KdR00HYG_ozZxuoQ0-NL6CW6oQlHNYeb51zHRmIw3IyQIYrL8kSvrJCF6dBl16-_-g7ecA93bBhWulh-S_MFtOrb9ZdTs0c3-UcMweh9Sq9TiFClToVtkz-YE/s1600-h/dyn006_original_258_275_pjpeg_2535747_898a2939b8768fc1a5a4c6a8ad8af3a8-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGX9B8fUtCYvHQaPjD8KdR00HYG_ozZxuoQ0-NL6CW6oQlHNYeb51zHRmIw3IyQIYrL8kSvrJCF6dBl16-_-g7ecA93bBhWulh-S_MFtOrb9ZdTs0c3-UcMweh9Sq9TiFClToVtkz-YE/s400/dyn006_original_258_275_pjpeg_2535747_898a2939b8768fc1a5a4c6a8ad8af3a8-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383623604716562370" border="0" /></a>cing it by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Richardson">Tony Richar</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Richardson">dson,</a> the original director of the production.<br /><br />In creating the character of Jimmy Porter, Osborne forever altered the world of English theatre and began to shatter the dominance of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binkie_Beaumont">Binkie Beaumont</a>-dominated theatre world of Noel Coward, Terrence Rattigan and others. Simply put, Jimmy Porter is a son-of-a-bitch...he has beyond firm ideas about what he believes in and at one point, he actually says, "You are either with me or against me." (Sounds familiar, no?)<br /><br />Being an American, reading <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Look Back in Anger </span></span>is to truly read a foreign play. 1950's England was still recovering from the decimation of World War II. The country was struggling to redefine itself in the new world and its rigid class system was coming to grips with the changing times. Conservative factions wanted to return to empire, libe<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFcmFaoL9a3g4bdU232hMTeYOHsF_HQCT0s3OU2dzgqTcIBkebSJsj0Lzi1nW5jG-DEfWNUf_61FiX6dr31ivmDqo2ChHZYFwyGp9vIGrkWrRqV-iUI5jIPSI8yLf7zSoq7gYVje6biNQ/s1600-h/326704.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 309px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFcmFaoL9a3g4bdU232hMTeYOHsF_HQCT0s3OU2dzgqTcIBkebSJsj0Lzi1nW5jG-DEfWNUf_61FiX6dr31ivmDqo2ChHZYFwyGp9vIGrkWrRqV-iUI5jIPSI8yLf7zSoq7gYVje6biNQ/s400/326704.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383623318489941906" border="0" /></a>ral factions were crafting what would become the cradle-to-grave welfare state...it was a country at war with itself and Jimmy Porter breaks through conventions to take on EVERYBODY.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMx8yGHXc8CxXzlSuWXifg6DcbxLhJ4Gy9MKGPcFeLclTZ7tUtYFBLOwciLAc9tk_pKL_NoyrSrsxL3aC9VAV_h1ZW4bBoo4mrhnvH5uaFROmJygprA11vghjkuYHUh8tRN32FQCJRj7o/s1600-h/415xAqiAtDL.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMx8yGHXc8CxXzlSuWXifg6DcbxLhJ4Gy9MKGPcFeLclTZ7tUtYFBLOwciLAc9tk_pKL_NoyrSrsxL3aC9VAV_h1ZW4bBoo4mrhnvH5uaFROmJygprA11vghjkuYHUh8tRN32FQCJRj7o/s400/415xAqiAtDL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383623980598390258" border="0" /></a><br />This is from Richard Eyre and Nicholas Wright's fantastic book, <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Changing Stages</span></span>:<br />"<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Look Back in Anger </span></span>is set at the epicenter of 50's inertia -- an early Sunday evening in a small rented room in a dull Midlands town, with the air thick with boredom and...is it sexual frustration? The protagonist, Jimmy Porter, runs a sweet-stall in the market and is engaged in an attritional war with his wife Alison, trying to goad her into life: 'If only something--something would happen to you, and wake you out of your beauty sleep! If you could have a child and it would die.' (She does get pregnant and she does lose the child.)<br />He is cruel, violent and iconoclastic (he is also a thinly veiled portrait of Osborne himself, check out John Heilpern's book <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">John Osborne: The Many Lives of the Angry Young Man</span></span> for a definitive Osborne biography), and he hacks away at his pet aversions with a wild and always beautifully orchestrated rhetoric: the upper classes, the middle classes, the Sunday papers, his wife, his friend Cliff, women, Americans, apathy and absence of feeling. Not exactly misogynistic -- he gives far too much credit to the power of women for that -- but demanding a commitment from them that is absolute."<br /><br />English class structure is interesting...Alison is solidly middle class, her father is a retired Indian army colonel, and Jimmy is solidly working class...he clearly married above his station, Alison's parents disapproved of the marriage, and he has been taking their disapproval out on Alison ever since. He seems to do everything he possibly can to drag her down to his class level...she becomes pregnant and leaves and Jimmy takes up with her friend Helena, which doesn't work out any better than he relationship with Alison does. Alison eventually loses the baby but returns to Jimmy, Helena and Jimmy's friend and roommate Cliff (with screaming homosexual subtext) leaves, leaving Alison and Jimmy alone in a final scene that is sort of an anti-<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Doll's House.</span></span><br /><br />What makes this play extraordinary? Simply put, it was a new voice on the British stage...the anger, frustration, bewilderment of Jimmy Porter (and by extension Osborne) was something new. Peter Hall, the original director of <span style="font-style: italic;">Waiting for Godot</span>, thinks Beckett deserves more credit for changing the landscape because he changed form. <span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back in Anger</span> is a conventionally structured 3-act play, like the kind Osborne played in as an actor in regional reps early in his career. But the voice was unmistakable. Tony Richardson, his director, says of Osborne, "He is unique and alone in his ability to put on the stage the quick of himself, his pain, his squalor, his nobility -- terrifyingly alone." This voice appeared at a time when the British theatre was "hermetically sealed off from life" as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller">Arthur Miller</a> had famously remarked. Already in the United States<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcsU4Dfh_ZUkPOlem0vh-HZa-gOphOjKTSKjVlG4dMj4FwgjexWcJ9-KOGetC0i_zxGdfxsK90VCU4upU0M072_rZ3LQLkKKUKV-iDjECRwnM8i_qDrIVY11VeePNgZWXHmDGfVbwAD7A/s1600-h/20060126224439_royal+court+theatre+sloane+sq.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcsU4Dfh_ZUkPOlem0vh-HZa-gOphOjKTSKjVlG4dMj4FwgjexWcJ9-KOGetC0i_zxGdfxsK90VCU4upU0M072_rZ3LQLkKKUKV-iDjECRwnM8i_qDrIVY11VeePNgZWXHmDGfVbwAD7A/s400/20060126224439_royal+court+theatre+sloane+sq.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383622965488773842" border="0" /></a>, plays like <span style="font-style: italic;">Death of a Salesman, All My Sons, The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Camino Real </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Rose Tattoo </span>had premiered. The combination of Binkie Beaumont and the Lord Chamberlain made sure nothing of like measure was being produced by British dramatists at the same period. Osborne changed all of that...he made possible Wesker, Bond, Arden and others and he helped to establish the Royal Court Theatre has the most important theatre for new plays in the world.<br /><br />I actually hadn't read this one till last week and I am a fan, though I don't know how a production would play today. I would suspect that in the United States, it would be seen with a kind of intellectual bewilderment, but how about in England? Jimmy Porter is a virtuoso role for a young actor and the writing sizzles...I also think I am a fan because I would want to make <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Tynan">Kenneth Tynan</a> happy. Tynan, perhaps the greatest theatre critic ever, famously remarked in his review of <span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back, "</span>I doubt if I could love anyone who didn't love <span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back in Anger."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back in Anger </span>is a critically important play because it provided a snapshot of a time and place and captured it perfectly through the eyes of its creator. It is also a major accomplishment because of what it prologued. <span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back in Anger</span> helped usher in a golden age of British theatre, even if the entire "Angry Young Men" label was largely media driven, it still helped capture the mood of its time and provide inspiration for a number of young artists who previously may have never thought about writing plays as a means of their expression. It is a singular achievement and Osborne is certainly a singular individual.<br /><br />Up next, <span style="font-style: italic;">Waiting for Godot...</span><br /><br />Peace<br />Rick St. Peter<br />September 20, 2009<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Quick Post Script: Can the American theatre in 2009 (0r ever) produce a Look Back in Anger? If every the great American play was going to be written, it seems now that our hopelessly polarized times could produce a galvanizing play. Of course, the theatre in America doesn't have the same place as theatre in England does, and in 2009, even theatre in England is diminished by all of the competition. I am not sure if it is possible for the American theatre to produce a work like Look Back and even if it did, the country is so distracted by the stupidity of our mass media and conglomerate entertainment, would anybody even hear it? Unfortunately I don't think so...<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span>rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-12367339116477006902009-09-09T15:39:00.000-07:002009-09-10T15:47:23.547-07:00Play #4 (through #6 actually) The Oresteia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetdLFdwUHJXkjj5PpV-N9kac3fcylZpDFiiRHn8JYQdCmfBAP_78zCmJhoXZ2mBlBVUiYp0QJzMvuDd5IhbZUE8p0eSJJBkykg8rSo5csS0g5qj7j-jR7wnuor8dk30tZZnHUlENFDlU/s1600-h/225px-Aischylos_B%C3%BCste.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 361px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetdLFdwUHJXkjj5PpV-N9kac3fcylZpDFiiRHn8JYQdCmfBAP_78zCmJhoXZ2mBlBVUiYp0QJzMvuDd5IhbZUE8p0eSJJBkykg8rSo5csS0g5qj7j-jR7wnuor8dk30tZZnHUlENFDlU/s400/225px-Aischylos_B%C3%BCste.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379625959125847586" border="0" /></a>Greetings all! Hope everyone had a pleasant and relaxing weekend...it is extraordinary that tomorrow is already Thursday. Sorry for my absence, I had a relaxing weekend but at the same time, I have been getting my ass handed to me by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeschylus">Aeschylus</a>!<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Oresteia</span> </span>is perhaps the oldest extant <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">playscript</span> we have. It is the only trilogy still around...in the Ancient Greek theatre, plays were performed as part of a religious festival, a couple of times a year, and each performance consisted of 3 plays, built around a theme, and followed by a satyr play which basically spoofed the trilogy that came before it...Of all the Greek plays still around, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophocles">Sophocles'</a> <span style="font-style: italic;">Oedipus</span> plays, <span style="font-style: italic;">The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Oresteia</span> </span>is the only remaining trilogy....<br /><br />Basically, the story of <span style="font-style: italic;">The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Oresteia</span></span> is the worlds oldest family feud...the Fall of the House of Atreus...<br /><br />Play One: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Agamemnon</span><br /><br />The Greeks await anxiously the word from Troy, it has been 10 long years since the Greek armies departed, determined to recapture <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen">Helen</a> and destroy Troy. Suddenly (actually there is a lot of talking first), a signal fire blazes from across the sea! Success...Troy has fallen and the great <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ki</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">ng</span> (or "Clan-chief" in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Harrison">Tony Harrison</a>'s extraordinary tribal adaptation/translation) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agamemnon">Agamemnon</a> will be returning to Argos!<br /><br />However, there is a problem...10 years prior, his army was stuck on the shore, un<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixH5dWxc-uBSlufBii6P1l-MReuTho5ym7ipdq0QcsfwN_YMRCOhi9kWoa78zJpSBz84lV2Sjg75ek_rZxFh4Sly7xv38cT6-Qy9WLsUFLDeapccmTgX8oMPGEcn3HAY_m4nE98RmRbZE/s1600-h/587px-G%C3%A9rin_Clytemnestre_h%C3%A9sitant_avant_de_frapper_Agamemnon_endormi_Louvre_5185.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixH5dWxc-uBSlufBii6P1l-MReuTho5ym7ipdq0QcsfwN_YMRCOhi9kWoa78zJpSBz84lV2Sjg75ek_rZxFh4Sly7xv38cT6-Qy9WLsUFLDeapccmTgX8oMPGEcn3HAY_m4nE98RmRbZE/s400/587px-G%C3%A9rin_Clytemnestre_h%C3%A9sitant_avant_de_frapper_Agamemnon_endormi_Louvre_5185.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379674741994348562" border="0" /></a>able to get a favorable breeze to lead his forces to Troy. In order to do so, the Gods made him sacrifice his daughter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iphigenia">Iphigenia</a>...which naturally has pissed off his wife <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clytemnestra">Clytemnestra</a>. Perhaps the first <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">villain-ness</span> in dramatic literature, Clytemnestra has been plotting her revenge (and shacking up with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegisthus"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Aegisthus</span></a>) since Agamemnon departed...upon his return, Clytemnestra feigns joy, he steps on the purple carpet, goes into his palace...and is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">whacked</span>!! Welcome home, Agamemnon!! In addition to this, his trophy from the Trojan War, the poor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra">Cassandra</a>, is also murdered. Has any character had it worse in history than Cassandra? How would you like to have the ability to see the future but never have anyone believe you because Apollo has also made you appear to be completely nuts? So, play ends with Agamemnon dead, Cassandra dead and Clytemnestra and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Aegisthus</span> (who has his own issues with Agamemnon: his family, particularly his father and brothers, was essentially destroyed by Atreus, Agamemnon's father) ruling Argos and the citizens, represented by the chorus, in despair.<br /><br />Play Two: <span style="font-style: italic;">The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Choephori</span> (The Libation Bearers)</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXRrPRPd7YalUfsYOLrFLt4UZIiFY2fsI1bn05F2y06CyNlttOjHVYXi1DXWsOXE3-iZKVTS-QtzawOno2-5fVoUUakRKmd92mZr-JEns0jdZOjsjsLC0xsWr591qfA1M7ysAPdZMHczo/s1600-h/383px-Orestes_Elektra_Hermes_Louvre_K544.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXRrPRPd7YalUfsYOLrFLt4UZIiFY2fsI1bn05F2y06CyNlttOjHVYXi1DXWsOXE3-iZKVTS-QtzawOno2-5fVoUUakRKmd92mZr-JEns0jdZOjsjsLC0xsWr591qfA1M7ysAPdZMHczo/s400/383px-Orestes_Elektra_Hermes_Louvre_K544.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379625544511236370" border="0" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orestes"><br />Orestes</a>, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra is home! He stands before his father's woefully distended grave. No honors have been laid out for him, no proper mourning...as he mourns, he cuts off a lock of his hair and places it on Agamemnon's grave. Suddenly, a group of women appear and he moves off to overhear them. The women, led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra">Electra</a>, are bringing libations to pour over the grave of Agamemnon, a little too late, but I guess better late than never. Electra is clearly reluctant to do anything, as she hates and curses her mother for the murder of her father. Clytemnestra, like Lady Macbeth down the road a ways, is wracked by guilt and nightmares about the murder. She keeps dreaming about giving birth to a serpent that will come for revenge. At the grave, Electra notices Orestes lock of hair, realizes it is just like hers and begins to surmise that her brother has returned, because, clearly, all it takes for recognition in ancient Greece is a lock of hair! Orestes and Electra reunite, they hatch a plan for revenge, and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">hijinks's</span> ensue...(every synopsis of every play ever written can include the phrase "<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">hijinks's</span> ensue"). Orestes disguises himself and pretends to deliver word to Clytemnestra and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Aegisthus</span> that Orestes is in fact dead....he then avenges his father's murder by killing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Aegisthus</span> and Clytemnestra. And immediately feels guilty and exits, pursued by the Furies!<br /><br />Play Three: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Eumenides</span><br /><br />The third play<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5K1_-yNgYHrhDduUD_h4opSOXTXcmM_eWUNq_ybVZeGOoB34s9LJowvC6JSjhmZk7e1VTo0gU7c31HGjDsB-rHj-dEfMhAT6QGhiX7QnYqDONgNLDeobaXXjV_JMDLYfVbJ-iowFf9o/s1600-h/200px-William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_The_Remorse_of_Orestes_(1862).jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5K1_-yNgYHrhDduUD_h4opSOXTXcmM_eWUNq_ybVZeGOoB34s9LJowvC6JSjhmZk7e1VTo0gU7c31HGjDsB-rHj-dEfMhAT6QGhiX7QnYqDONgNLDeobaXXjV_JMDLYfVbJ-iowFf9o/s400/200px-William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_The_Remorse_of_Orestes_(1862).jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379625227832692786" border="0" /></a> in the trilogy (Episode Three if you will) is in effect a trial. So we have a bunch of murders...Agamemnon murdered Iphigenia, for that Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon, for that Orestes murdered Clytemnestra...quite the family tree! Orestes has been pursued by the Furies to the Oracle at Delphi and has sought refuge with Apollo. When we discover Orestes, he is surrounded by sleeping Furies and under the protection of Apollo, who is actually responsible for the Furies falling to sleep. Apollo takes responsibility for having Orestes murder Clytemnestra and urges him to flee to Athens, where he will essentially have a trial before Athena.<br /><br />The Ghost of Clytemnestra appears before the sleeping Furies and tries to roust them up to avenge her murder...after her exit, the Furies awake and debate Apollo over which is the worst crime: a wife murdering her husband to avenge her daughter or a son murdering his mother to avenge his father...and there is the conundrum of the plays...Orestes arrives in Athens:<br /><br />Orestes:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Athena, high she-god, I was sent by Apollo.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Look on me kindly, I'm cursed and an outcast.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Though still a cursed outcast there's no need of more cleansing.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">My <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">bloodguilt's</span> been blunted enough by my contact</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">with places and people who helped my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">purgation</span>.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">All this was decreed by Apollo at Delphi.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">I've crossed land and sea to your house and your statue.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Until the issue's decided, I stay beside you.</span><br /><br />The Furies arrive to kill Orestes ("seek seek scour the ground/the mother-killer's got to be found") and are preparing to kill Orestes when Athena arrives, fresh from Troy. A trial begins, with Athena has judge. The Trial of Orestes takes place in the Acropolis and is presided over by Athena, with a jury of 12 Athenians...and Apollo essentially serving as Orestes' defense attorney and the Furies the prosecutors.<br /><br />The argument of Apollo and Orestes essentially boils down to Clytemnestra had it coming to her simply because she was a woman. She had no right to murder Agamemnon and his death outweighs hers, since he was a guy and all plus he was a hero during the war with Troy...and she was just a woman. (Sorry ladies, it was a patriarchal society, although Apollo does say it would be <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">ok</span> for a woman to kill a man if she is an Amazon!)<br /><br />Ultimately, we see the first hung jury in the history of the world, Athena as the judge votes to acquit Orestes, he is thrilled and before he returns to Argos pledges his never ending support to Athena and Athens. The Furies are pissed! The third play concludes with a long debate between Athena and the Furies where she convinces them not to pursue revenge on Orestes, but rather stay and make Athens a great city...which they agree to do...THE END!!<br /><br />Now we have tragedy...everything that comes after, from Sophocles and Euripides to Shakespeare and Ibsen to Brecht and Beckett to August Wilson and Arthur Miller, comes from the roots of these plays...Aeschylus expands the number of characters onstage, thereby allowing for conflict to happen more easily (even though the violence happens offstage) and the rest, as they say, is history.<br /><br />I love these plays...I expect in our modern day and age they are difficult to do well, I am wondering if this Tony Harrison translation/adaptation is from Peter Hall's 1981 production, which I believe was performed in Greece.<br /><br />Questions about the plays:<br /><br />1. Do they need to be performed only be men, as listed in the script? (they originally would have been performed by men for men, since women didn't attend the theatre)<br />2. Do they need to be performed in masks, or does it work without masks?<br />3. They are extraordinarily talk-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">ey</span>...do they move well as theatre? And can you do all three in one sitting in this day and age?<br /><br />I'd like to tackle them one of these days. My friend <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Chazz</span> and I have been chatting about one day doing our own version of the Trojan War, pulling from all the myths and creating our own telling of it. I love the Trojan War, I admit I've always hated it when Hector dies at the hands of Achilles but if I have learned anything over the last few years, it is that I am apparently a sucker for lost causes...But unlike, say, Shakespeare's History plays that have been adapted into the War of the Roses and such, I believe the Greek tragedies work on levels beyond even Shakespeare because they are so primal. What makes Harrison's translations so interesting is how primal and even savage they are. This is not the Greece of Pericles the great orator...this is primitive, dangerous, tribal Greece...<br /><br />It is a hard read but I urge you to check them out....<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Oresteia</span></span></span>...the birth of tragedy, the development of character and the start of our 2,500 year theatrical tradition.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0fFk86JrD_R_1aoe5ZQ5AvNtvjdxfjEg9tq9NYYhyphenhyphen5OvIHu0BgomTV4aXWgdOOn5O-8bXYPBYH9ZDcoMpp7Q7VPhf1UNwnBliKZST9rgJ6CtXL45ovNnfmalwp7iH43_YBg3HIjdbEw/s1600-h/800px-Athen_Dionysos-Theater.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0fFk86JrD_R_1aoe5ZQ5AvNtvjdxfjEg9tq9NYYhyphenhyphen5OvIHu0BgomTV4aXWgdOOn5O-8bXYPBYH9ZDcoMpp7Q7VPhf1UNwnBliKZST9rgJ6CtXL45ovNnfmalwp7iH43_YBg3HIjdbEw/s400/800px-Athen_Dionysos-Theater.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379624830046444882" border="0" /></a><br />While we are here, if I could go back in time, I would love to go to one of the Festivals of Dionysus and see an original performance of a Greek tragedy (probably <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Women">The Trojan Women</a> </span>by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euripides">Euripides</a>) at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_Dionysus">Theatre of Dionysus</a> in Athens, I'd like to sit in on a rehearsal and the original production of <span style="font-style: italic;">Hamlet</span> at the Globe and I'd like to see Brecht in rehearsal...<br /><br />Where would you go? What would you see?<br /><br />Until next time: "Let the terriers yap, all bark and no bite!/You and I, we'll rule this house, and set it right." Clytemnestra to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Aegisthus</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>final line of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Agamemnon</span>...<br /><br />Peace<br />Rick St. Peter<br />09/09/09rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-80354267560055283982009-09-04T18:56:00.000-07:002009-09-09T17:20:07.631-07:00Happy Labor Day Weekend!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2TKEGXIfBlfD1-OvFt605G5H_1p9-OWGZficb_VEN-Mrvg3glVrbiRGIDaNRJCEC4oyAdyG53IL8oGHMKSVEdRK05osq1_gUgT97dn1VelcC3nR8HnmDMXcc0xVdhxWeIYIGlqUqoNSk/s1600-h/new-star-trek-logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2TKEGXIfBlfD1-OvFt605G5H_1p9-OWGZficb_VEN-Mrvg3glVrbiRGIDaNRJCEC4oyAdyG53IL8oGHMKSVEdRK05osq1_gUgT97dn1VelcC3nR8HnmDMXcc0xVdhxWeIYIGlqUqoNSk/s320/new-star-trek-logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377799656433976834" border="0" /></a><br />Hope everyone has a great weekend...I will be laboring over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeschylus">Aeschylus's </a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orestia"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Oresteia</span></span></a> and will be back by Monday...Be safe everyone...<br /><br />BTW, after my post about<a href="http://www.startrekmovie.com/"> <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Star Trek </span></span></a>yesterday, I decided to see it again...took my fabulous wife and lovely children...good time was had by all!!<br /><br />Until next time, Live Long and Prosper...<br /><br />Peace<br />Rick St. Peter<br />September 4, 2009rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-49214298736590377502009-09-03T15:56:00.000-07:002009-11-06T16:11:02.135-08:0020th Century Fantasy Draft<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYK69emiuYKMaZ-rqkLeZTqn9MHV48ZnFe5bD2veuwg6da-FkAR0YQWMMCElskObSOT8Fz_WKhCVHqP6ZqrygivzghnRPyfSUtC1n1sbiEccG40Ubep8KykN1dh_6lae_2NJxqIg93t4/s1600-h/th2_stnemesis.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYK69emiuYKMaZ-rqkLeZTqn9MHV48ZnFe5bD2veuwg6da-FkAR0YQWMMCElskObSOT8Fz_WKhCVHqP6ZqrygivzghnRPyfSUtC1n1sbiEccG40Ubep8KykN1dh_6lae_2NJxqIg93t4/s320/th2_stnemesis.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377404915422910818" border="0" /></a>OK, I'm in a foul mood today, so I didn't read a play...I couldn't decide what I wanted to read and I have had one of those days plagued with self-doubt, where you think to yourself, "Am I doing the right thing?" I picked up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_%26_Guildenstern_Are_Dead"><span style="font-style: italic;">Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead</span> </a>and couldn't get into it, I picked up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyman_%28play%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">Everyman</span></a> and couldn't get into it so I decided to punt and just goof off...I watched <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253754/">Star Trek: Nemesis</a> </span>for approximately the 2,739,473,947 time, give or take a viewing or two and while it is a terrible film, I really like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0362766/">Tom Hardy</a> in it, I love <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart">Patrick Stewart</a> and I think its got the coolest battle scene of any of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Trek </span>films.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh39DHxPd-TjTkAj6xHR3Lw2gJr92U0YAA_GScfifSDcVoanMV4iGs3bSY_IHoV2UvtVqFBGJcjs1QPp0PTpM-KWXjbiYuFWPNXGZmub4_9k_Y0m7yCUGEjMm-KptXln1FzRcBNSX0dUvA/s1600-h/03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 173px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh39DHxPd-TjTkAj6xHR3Lw2gJr92U0YAA_GScfifSDcVoanMV4iGs3bSY_IHoV2UvtVqFBGJcjs1QPp0PTpM-KWXjbiYuFWPNXGZmub4_9k_Y0m7yCUGEjMm-KptXln1FzRcBNSX0dUvA/s400/03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377404713195540466" border="0" /></a><br />And while we are on the subject of <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek </span>films, I gotta give a big shout out to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0846687">Captain Robau</a> of the USS Kelvin. For the first time in the entire <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek </span>cannon, the captain of a ship other than the Enterprise (or I guess Voyager and DS9), wasn't a total and complete loser (And even the Enterprise had a loser, they put Cameron from Ferris Bueller in command after Kirk and before Picard for God sakes...I'm surprised he didn't try to call in sick for their shake down cruise and have to be talked into showing up by his first officer Commader Bueller, but I digress). Back to Captain Robau, yes he dies two minutes into the film (before they even roll the damn opening credits), but he goes to his death like a total badass and even though the sensors read his elevated vital signs, indicating he is afraid, he has a complete poker face in dealing with Nero and goes out a hero...(Hope I didn't give anything away there)...<br /><br />So with Fanta<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1GVAapceikcI9aMPuORqkG1Q3RaoJ3PpblUTk_qjA0926ZBwKrOwFPWP6qvCFwr_3OVBapfFcWUxq4nEsRQVi0e4FSFXUNVYCH-n0fW-q0vDmJC6oWPE-zIdF06UdddMNIRWHqWG3Ik/s1600-h/nfl_u_rivers_300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1GVAapceikcI9aMPuORqkG1Q3RaoJ3PpblUTk_qjA0926ZBwKrOwFPWP6qvCFwr_3OVBapfFcWUxq4nEsRQVi0e4FSFXUNVYCH-n0fW-q0vDmJC6oWPE-zIdF06UdddMNIRWHqWG3Ik/s200/nfl_u_rivers_300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377404525173270226" border="0" /></a>sy football drafts in the air, I am in full on mock fantasy drafts about anything and everything...Yes I took <a href="http://search.espn.go.com/phillip-rivers">Phillip Rivers</a> in the 2nd round of my draft and when he finishes his MVP season, you can all credit me for being a genius...so, here is today's fantasy draft...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The Most Influential Theatre Practitioners of the 20th Century...</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">What does that mean to you? What does that mean to me? How do we determine influence? Can a critic be involved (say<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Tynan"> Kenneth Tynan</a>)? How about a theorist? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gordon_Craig">Gordon Craig</a>? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Appia">Adolphe Appia</a>? Artaud?? What about actors? Playwrights? Artistic Directors?? The field is wide open, you determine what influence means to you...Without further ado, here is my top 10:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGklEkGLRg7eVPM4XD2xTObLGBJWDsoQXqWHJBW7DbWMAT7l-OhoVSiBnkBPoPdVCGacpJtcnBKwzHE2In0MgMDx94q_Z2DFhzm6PZo-7b4xK7-w3PlgRLBUjWQcwHpcbeJndxIvEkXUo/s1600-h/Stanislavski_Constantin-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGklEkGLRg7eVPM4XD2xTObLGBJWDsoQXqWHJBW7DbWMAT7l-OhoVSiBnkBPoPdVCGacpJtcnBKwzHE2In0MgMDx94q_Z2DFhzm6PZo-7b4xK7-w3PlgRLBUjWQcwHpcbeJndxIvEkXUo/s320/Stanislavski_Constantin-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377403793148546370" border="0" /></a><br />1. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/stanislavski">Konstantine Stanislavski </a>-- Influenced everybody, even those who rejected him...Perhaps my #2 pick (after Shakespeare) of most influential of all time...<br /><br />2. <a href="http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/brecht.htm">Bertolt Brecht</a> -- Theorist, playwright, director...Unmistakable influence....<br /><br />3. <a href="http://www.fandango.com/peterbrook/biographies/p83136">Peter Brook</a> -- Director, theorist...Dominates the second half of the 20th century, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Empty Space</span> might be the most influential book of the century...add in his productions like <span style="font-style: italic;">The Dream</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Marat/Sade<span style="font-style: italic;">, </span></span>Paul Scofield <span style="font-style: italic;">Lear</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Mahabharata</span>, his work in Paris...<br /><br />4. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hall_%28director%29">Peter Hall</a> -- The founding of the modern Royal Shakespeare Company helped shape modern repertory theatres in both England and the US...his work in theatre and opera has spanned more than 50 years, he directed the English language premiere of <span style="font-style: italic;">Waiting for Godot</span>, he really shaped the modern Royal National Theatre (just the NT under his leadership) and for me, defined what an Artistic Director should be...<br /><br />5. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Devine">George Devine</a> -- Founded the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre and created the template for the development of new works for the rest of the century. Died young and didn't establish a lengthy track record but <span style="font-style: italic;">Look Back in Anger</span> changed everything. You can make a case that you can divide the 20th century into pre-1956 and post 1956...<br /><br />6. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Papp">Joseph Papp</a> -- The New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre has probably introduced more people to Shakespeare than any other organization in the world. His notion of the democratic appeal of theatre helped demystify the experience for countless #'s of people. He was also apparently a terrible director...<br /><br />7. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Olivier"> Laurence Olivier</a> -- The actor of the 20th century...everyone measured themselves against him and he also walked away from Hollywood at the height of his film career to take on the establishment of the English National Theatre...add his iconic performances as <span style="font-style: italic;">Hamlet, Henry V, The Entertainer</span>, and countless others, I believe rate him ahead of Geilgud and Richardson as his closest rivals.<br /><br />8. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margo_Jones">Margo Jones</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Vance">Nina Vance</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_Fichandler">Zelda Fichandler</a> -- Founders and Artistic Directors of Dallas Theatre Center, the Alley Theatre and Arena Stage respectively. The Founding Mothers of the American Regional Theatre movement. They helped bring to life the notion that high quality professional theatre and culture in general need not be confined to a few blocks in midtown Manhattan.<br /><br />9. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Mackintosh"> Cameron Mackintosh</a> -- Love him or hate him, he perfected the notion of the event megamusical that changed the face of Broadway and the West End forever (for better or worse). <span style="font-style: italic;">Cats</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Les Miz</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Phantom </span>etc etc etc ad naseum...Without him, there probably never is a Disney Theatricals and perhaps we wouldn't have the opportunity to see <span style="font-style: italic;">Spider Man the Musical</span> on Broadway this season...not all influences are good influences...<br /><br />10. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artaud">Antonin Artaud</a> -- French theorist...obviously insane, spent time in and out of psychiatric hospitals and more than likely killed himself...<span style="font-style: italic;">The Theatre and It's Double </span>was a HUGE influence on Peter Brook, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grotowski">Grotowski</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_Mnouchkine">Mnouchkine</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Theatre">The Living Theatre</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Theatre">The Open Theatre</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Schechner">Richard Schechner</a> and countless other...advocated for the sacred and holy in performance and sought to banish or minimize the written word.<br /><br />So there you have it...clearly I am a director first as I cannot believe my list of 20th century theatre practitioners does not include a single playwright save for Brecht, who makes it for me as much on theory as for playwrighting. Some of the ones on my short list included: Chekhov, Miller, Shaw, Beckett, Osborne, Kushner, O'Neil and Coward, but alas, none of them made it...<br /><br />Who's got next??<br /><br />Peace<br />Rick St. Peter<br />September 3, 2009<br /><br />BTW, Happy 62nd Birthday t<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-aZfGfPTnY7Itfq8d5aGp7QgZxqizPwjSayvf72aepGSec2pZR2CQ7Gbz8gxxJFy8Osxr-xQ9YEz1zBkZzfGSDH87ziLpHJKIa4Stuq-lNbX2VkIcgu3NPfNkbXfZH2vtTC9v2I8uQk/s1600-h/n718219404_1101344_2234-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-aZfGfPTnY7Itfq8d5aGp7QgZxqizPwjSayvf72aepGSec2pZR2CQ7Gbz8gxxJFy8Osxr-xQ9YEz1zBkZzfGSDH87ziLpHJKIa4Stuq-lNbX2VkIcgu3NPfNkbXfZH2vtTC9v2I8uQk/s320/n718219404_1101344_2234-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377403270500276210" border="0" /></a>omorrow to the greatest father in the history of fathers, Richard St. Peter, Sr...Have a great day, Pops and enjoy your trip to the Outer Banks! I am looking forward to Texas at the end of the month!!!</div></div>rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-35303521941650881682009-09-02T10:49:00.000-07:002009-09-02T15:38:44.261-07:00Play #3: Vaclav Havel's Largo Desolato<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJf2y6vHaGH9bwojUdM-vV56eqfAMuaO11RJYzqWu3oFTUpeLB9AO3Nb5fSyY_kE2kgvRSh3uGqYxX-KrgfJrUbO7urE55_rfAr9QYbqheB36-OfiXkDYXwrtGvRFf1UihdxzymkLUGQ/s1600-h/Vaclav-Havel-2max.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJf2y6vHaGH9bwojUdM-vV56eqfAMuaO11RJYzqWu3oFTUpeLB9AO3Nb5fSyY_kE2kgvRSh3uGqYxX-KrgfJrUbO7urE55_rfAr9QYbqheB36-OfiXkDYXwrtGvRFf1UihdxzymkLUGQ/s320/Vaclav-Havel-2max.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377002202799029778" border="0" /></a>With<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaclav_Havel"> Vaclav Havel</a>, I have to start with <a href="http://www.au126.com/peterbrook/index.html">Peter Brook</a> writing about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Kott">Jan <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Kott</span></a>: "Here we have a man writing about Shakespeare's attitude to life from <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">direct experience</span> (my emphasis). <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Kott</span> is undoubtedly the only writer on Elizabethan matters who assumes without question that every one of his readers will at some point or another have been woken by the police in the middle of the night. I am sure that in the many million words already written about Shakespeare -- almost precluding anything new ever being said by anyone any more -- it is still unique for the author discussing the theory of political assassination to assume that a director's explanation of his actors could begin: 'A secret organization is preparing an action...You will go to Z and bring a case of grenades to the house No. 12.'" From the Introduction to Jan <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Kott's</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Shakespeare Our Contemporary</span></span><br /><br />Mr. Havel is an extraordinary man...playwright, essayist, dissident, President first of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Czechoslovakia</span> and subsequently the first President of the Czech Republic following the Velvet Revolution. He is a man who risked his life for his art, for his ideals and for his people. He is a stunning profile in courage...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSIwK0RM7I9MnO-yxKaI4ANj9e-SFuEJ3Bm66yekFLMATxRHaTVIvNtOA4Tf_744_4pFdMUMlTiHRx6zmuYBAERKnQug8Ynl6ErNtTm4jaWIokgQWiLN5m1z0PqsqC8TvB3S_XvvLsn1U/s1600-h/LARGO-DESOLATO-BURUK-EZGI-VACLAV-HAVEL__10445844_0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 249px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSIwK0RM7I9MnO-yxKaI4ANj9e-SFuEJ3Bm66yekFLMATxRHaTVIvNtOA4Tf_744_4pFdMUMlTiHRx6zmuYBAERKnQug8Ynl6ErNtTm4jaWIokgQWiLN5m1z0PqsqC8TvB3S_XvvLsn1U/s320/LARGO-DESOLATO-BURUK-EZGI-VACLAV-HAVEL__10445844_0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377001733717083714" border="0" /></a><br />His play, <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Largo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Desolato</span></span></span>, gets to the heart of drama about the "great person". In 2001, I directed a production of Marlowe's <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edward II</span></span>, a hauntingly political play, especially in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. In my director's notes, I wondered about the dreams of George Bush and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Osama</span> Bin Laden, when they closed their eyes at night, what did that still small voice deep inside their souls say to them. Did they listen? Did they ignore? Did those voices help or hinder them in their attempts to shape history?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Largo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Desolato</span>, </span></span>in my view, shows us the inner workings of a person at the crossroads of history, in fact Havel wrote it in 4 days within a year of being released from prison,...the choices made, the competing demands, the threats, the hopes, the fears...all of those things that make us compellingly human. Written in 1985, Havel is on the cusp of great things, but while there, he shows us what it is like to look into the void. It is a thrilling, terrifying mechanistic, cyclical play, like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Kott's</span> Grand Mechanism, but also, in the creaking final days of Soviet style Communism, the machine is breaking down...what will happen next?<br /><br />The story: Professor Leopold Nettles, the "hero" of <span style="font-style: italic;">Largo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Desolato</span></span>, is the author of a book that contains a troublesome paragraph laying him open to arrest on charges of "disturbing the intellectual peace." Pressed by the government to deny what he wrote, Nettles is tortured by internal demons as well as external ones. Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovakia's foremost playwright, who is in constant conflict with his government, has created a vivid and terrifying portrait of the writer in the totalitarian state that is as real and immediate as today's headlines. (From the English version by Tom Stoppard)<br /><br />The play is written in 7 short scenes, 3 of which have no dialogue. It is a nightmare of repetition, mechanical actions, and an almost oppressive sense of danger. Professor Nettles is pressured on the one hand by two factory workers, called First Sidney and Second Sidney, to take his theories to the next level, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ie</span> to stop being a philosopher and start being active. He is also pressured by two members of, perhaps, the secret police called First Chap and Second Chap, to renounce something he is written. Their banal idea for a return to normalcy is to have him simply say he is not called Leopold Nettles and they will leave him alone. At the same time, his estranged wife/lover/ex-girlfriend <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Suzana</span> has taken up with his friend Edward, he is kind of with a woman called Lucy, although he doesn't admit it and it enrages her. Finally, a man called Bertram is trying to prod him into action as well, albeit with a series of qualifications.<br /><br />Scenes are repeated over and over, lines of dialogue are as well...<br />Examples:<br /><br />Scene 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0fPQn1hbsJ6CYF98HSUUR4Pa6TuNDIQFFylXoiG3CekSJvuSJXHhT48Y1t6lJmkEMOGTIUNGHbj1SJlQBUB0lU9yfeM-A9-90O46A0tzhNV6hpjUVvWW02KDx_FSHWjTZG_vSYnkhnI/s1600-h/Largo_card.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 292px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0fPQn1hbsJ6CYF98HSUUR4Pa6TuNDIQFFylXoiG3CekSJvuSJXHhT48Y1t6lJmkEMOGTIUNGHbj1SJlQBUB0lU9yfeM-A9-90O46A0tzhNV6hpjUVvWW02KDx_FSHWjTZG_vSYnkhnI/s400/Largo_card.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377001049887884770" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">As the music dies away the curtain rises slowly.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Leopold is alone on the stage. He is sitting on the sofa and staring at the front door. After a long pause he gets up and looks through the peep-hole. Then he puts his ear to t</span><span style="font-style: italic;">he door and listens intently. After another long pause the curtain drops suddenly and at the same time th</span><span style="font-style: italic;">e music returns.<br /><br /></span>Scene 2<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">As the music dies away the curtain rises slowly.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Leopold is alone on the stage. He is sitting on the sofa and staring at the front door. After a long pause he gets up and looks through the peep-hole. Then he puts his ear to the door and listens intently. After another long pause the curtain drops suddenly and at the same time the music returns.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><br />Scene 5<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Suzana</span> makes a sign to Edward who accompanies her to the kitchen. During the rest of the scene both of them can be seen through the glass-panelled kitchen doors taking out various foodstuffs from the shopping bag, putting them w</span><span style="font-style: italic;">here they belong, and, during all this time either discussing something in a lively way or perhaps quarrelling. Leopold notices that First Sidney's glass is empty and fills it up for him) BTW, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Suzana</span> and Edward do this exact same thing in Scene 3 as well...<br /><br />1st Sidney: Thanks! Cheers!<br />(First Sidney drinks the whole glass in one go and then burps, satisfied. Leopold refills the glass.)<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">1st Sidney: Thanks! Cheers!<br />(First Sidney drinks the whole glass in one go and then burps, satisfied. Leopold refills the glass.)<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">1st Sidney: Thanks! Cheers!<br />(First Sidney drinks the whole glass in one go and then burps, satisfied. Leopold refills the glass.)<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">1st Sidney: Thanks! Cheers!<br />(First Sidney drinks the whole glass in one go and then burps, satisfied. Leopold refills the glass. First Sidney takes the glass but when he is on the point of drinking it he puts it back on the table.)<br />1st Sidney: Someone has to be sensible --<br />(Short pause)<br />2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">nd</span> Sidney: We're not holding you up are we?<br />Leopold: No --<br />1st Sidney: Are you sure? Because if we are you only have to say so and we'll push off --<br />L: You are not holding me up -- excuse me --<br />(Leopold gets up, goes to the place where his medicines are, turns his back to the room so as not to be seen, pulls out his box, quickly takes out a pill, throws it in his mouth and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">swallows</span> it and puts his box back and returns to his seat. Pause.) Again, the repeat of an action done earlier</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">nd</span> S: Have you thought about it yet?<br />L: About what?<br />1st S: What we were talking about yesterday -- that it's time for an initiative --<br />L: Oh yes -- I haven't got round to it yet --<br />2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">nd</span> S: Pity. You know, I'm an ordinary bloke, a nobody, but I can spot a few things and I've got my own opinion and nobody can deny me that. And what I think is, there's a lot that could be done -- certainly more <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">tha</span>n is being done at the moment --<br />1st S: One just has to get hold of the situation by the --<br />2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">nd</span> S: Who else but you is there to get things going again?<br />(Leopold is starting to get nervous. He looks discreetly at his watch.)<br />1st S: We're not holding you up are we?<br />L: No --<br />2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">nd</span> S: Are you sure? Because if we are you only have to say so and we'll push off --<br />L: You're not holding me up. Excuse me --<br />(Leopold gets up and goes into the bathroom, leaving the door open. There is the sound of running water and Leopold gasping. The sound of the water stops and shortly afterwards Leopold returns to his seat.) Again, the repeat of an action that occurs many times in this scene.<br /></span><br />Going back to Peter Brook and Jan <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Kott</span>, the fundamental difference between the theatre of Eastern Europe and the West is the palpable sense of danger always lurking beneath the surface of their drama. The Eastern Europeans had to use their theatre to talk in code to one another, to avoid the censors and to keep revolutionary ideas alive. Their theatre could literally be about life and death. One of my mentors, the Macedonian director <a href="http://www.naumpanovski.net/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Naum</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Panovski</span></a> used to talk about keeping vodka around the theatre to try and get the censors drunk when he was working in Yugoslavia under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tito">Tito</a>. If they were drunk enough, it was easier to slip things past them. The theatre in the West is so much more about middle class, middlebrow entertainment. "Hey gang, let's put on a show in a barn." The work becomes a commodity, the artists involved are nothing more than independent contractors and the entire purpose, in our era of celebrity and money, is to get noticed and turn a profit.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyerhold"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Meyerhold</span></a> was murdered by the Soviets because he refused to compromise his ideas on theatre. He rebelled against Soviet socialist realism and "they" shot him. Is there ANYONE in the US who would be willing to die for their theatrical beliefs? Is their a Vaclav Havel, a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Vsevelod</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Meyerhold</span>, an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugard"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Athol</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Fugard</span> l</a>iving here in this country? Somehow I doubt it, and I am OK with that because it reinforces the idea that we are a free society...do you have to die for your work? No, because no one will sanction the killing! I guess the closest we have co<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYNNrp9PvyfMKH9xSmJy7EQUbvkz0uxkrxlh4nqEuxDUu1eJO2hDZ9j2mLhy4D2BR7AHrevLIhTQQirtUNJrs-Z10IgbkwrKvB0cTR_uvoCxHxwyJrXhtw-FoKs0X0K-6R22KMbRgEpdY/s1600-h/450px-V%C3%A1clav_Havel_9._%C4%8Dervna_2006,_Caf%C3%A9_d%27Europe.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYNNrp9PvyfMKH9xSmJy7EQUbvkz0uxkrxlh4nqEuxDUu1eJO2hDZ9j2mLhy4D2BR7AHrevLIhTQQirtUNJrs-Z10IgbkwrKvB0cTR_uvoCxHxwyJrXhtw-FoKs0X0K-6R22KMbRgEpdY/s400/450px-V%C3%A1clav_Havel_9._%C4%8Dervna_2006,_Caf%C3%A9_d%27Europe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377000320180842594" border="0" /></a>me was the controversy at <a href="http://www.mtc-nyc.org/">Manhattan Theatre Club</a> over their decision to premiere<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrence_McNally"> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Terrence</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">McNally's</span></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Christi_%28Play%29"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Corpus</span> Christi</span> </a>and the religious lunatics who threatened to blow up the theatre if they did.<br /><br />Vaclav Havel, like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Fugard</span>, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela">Mandela</a>, is an extraordinary human being who could not read the future and did not have a road map for where he was heading. <span style="font-style: italic;">Largo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Desolato</span></span> gives you a peek into the psyche and a glimpse at the soul, the fear, the hopes, the doubts and the dreams of a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">transcendent</span> figure in modern world history. For that alone, it is worth the read.<br /><br />Peace<br />Rick St. Peter<br />September 2, 2009rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-68682673603459161072009-09-01T15:35:00.000-07:002009-09-01T19:51:33.430-07:00Play #2: David Mamet's Oleanna<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_PloRY1mAElAXMspyynrgZKIpkETZWRLUXC9W2WVyFajP7b7Pkuc8XHU0uIu7sEXvDxPOuCmEjYGA-O3Bdy9Vc_wUXXLG8zdicy5F2tuea4HlB_VraTqC1E322QT9TLqyULr7_9NAio4/s1600-h/200px-David_Mamet_2_by_David_Shankbone.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 309px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_PloRY1mAElAXMspyynrgZKIpkETZWRLUXC9W2WVyFajP7b7Pkuc8XHU0uIu7sEXvDxPOuCmEjYGA-O3Bdy9Vc_wUXXLG8zdicy5F2tuea4HlB_VraTqC1E322QT9TLqyULr7_9NAio4/s320/200px-David_Mamet_2_by_David_Shankbone.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376653878996661154" border="0" /></a>What the hell do we do with<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/david_mamet"> David Mamet?</a> Some people love him, some people loathe him...for the record, I run hot and cold...I love plays like <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Buffalo_%28play%29">American Buffalo</a> </span></span>and <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glengarry_Glen_Ross">Glenngarry Glen Ross</a> </span></span>and I directed a production of <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_Perversity_In_Chicago">Sexual Perversity in Chicago</a> </span></span>as my final graduate school project. That production was really the first time I felt like a director, like I had something to offer and I remember it fondly. However, I despise plays like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed-the-Plow"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Speed-the-Plow</span></span></a> (I saw an up and down production of this play in London at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Vic">Old Vic </a>in 2008 with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Spacey">Kevin Spacey </a>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Goldblum">Jeff </a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Goldblum">Goldblum</a>. Spacey was BRILLIANT, Goldblum was Goldblum...I kept waiting for him to say "Must go faster, must go faster", somewhere <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Meisner">Sanford Meisner </a>rolls over in his grave) and I will admit I think <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oleanna </span></span>is kinda sorta piece of shit...<br /><br />One of my basic rules for any sort of dramatic event, be it film, TV, the theatre, what have you, is I gotta give a damn about SOMEBODY for me to care about the events unfolding in front of me. That's not the case in <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oleanna</span></span>, as we have Professor Obtuse and Student Idiot debating some sort of class on something at the University of Dumbass...I bet their basketball team is good though!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQECN2aifqFthjf0DrVCgbyKpS2Hmehp157Tz_V_R7Iti5WHgbpgCIZ4zR-AIpuAGWn9iWtF3OMBQYJO5CZ1lXC1q9q7UWpMi2PCHSuqJHXgsOhQWtcKOjIOuDgrjui7Lk5VdKcSA_6mo/s1600-h/oleanna_poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQECN2aifqFthjf0DrVCgbyKpS2Hmehp157Tz_V_R7Iti5WHgbpgCIZ4zR-AIpuAGWn9iWtF3OMBQYJO5CZ1lXC1q9q7UWpMi2PCHSuqJHXgsOhQWtcKOjIOuDgrjui7Lk5VdKcSA_6mo/s400/oleanna_poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376655176388729938" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here's a short summary of the story:<br /><br />A male college professor and his female student sit down to discuss her grades and in a terrifyingly short time become the participants in a modern reprise of the Inquisition. Innocuous remarks suddenly turn damning. Socratic dialogue gives way to heated assault. And the relationship between a somewhat fatuous teacher and his seemingly hapless student (who appears to be a borderline retard in Act 1) turns in to a fiendishly accurate (no it doesn't) X ray of the mechanisms of power, censorship and abuse...and he beats her up at the end, hope I didn't ruin it for you...<br /><br />I gather this play made a bit of a splash in 1992, when it was first produced against the backdrop of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas#Anita_Hill_Allegations">Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill </a>soap opera of 1991, but as bad as those two came off in their various dances of death, they at least appeared to be operating somewhat NEAR a human level...Mamet's two characters in <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oleanna</span></span> seem about as human as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bridges">Jeff Bridges' </a>character in that old flick <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starman_%28film%29"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Starman</span></span></a>, or maybe closer to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_D%27Onofrio">Vincent D'onofrio's </a>bug in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_In_Black_%28film%29"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Men In Black</span></span>.</a>..I mean, they sort of look human...they kinda of talk human (and I know everyone always talks about Mamet's hyper-realistic, highly stylized language but in <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oleanna</span></span> it doesn't work at all), but they do not approximate any real human traits. Just the stupidity of meeting alone after the first meeting should drown the play in implausibility...<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br />Some examples of these two trying to communicate:<br /><br />Carol: You don't do that.<br />John: ...I...?<br />Carol: You don't do...<br />John: ...I don't, what...?<br />Carol: ...for...<br />John: ...I don't for...<br />Carol: ...no...<br />John: ...forget things? Everybody does that.<br />Carol: No, they don't.<br />John: They don't...<br />Carol: No.<br />John: (Pause) No. Everybody does that.<br />Carol: Why would they do that...?<br />John: Because. I don't know. Because it doesn't interest them.<br />Carol: No.<br />John: I think so, though. (Pause) I'm sorry I was distracted.<br />Carol: You don't have to say that to me.<br />John: You paid me the compliment, or the "obeisance" -- all right-- of coming in here...All right. <span style="font-style: italic;">Carol</span>. I find that I am at a <span style="font-style: italic;">standstill</span>. I find that I...<br />Carol: ...what...<br />John: ...one moment. In regard to your...to your...<br />Carol: Oh, oh. You're buying a new house!<br />John: No, let's get on with it.<br />Carol: "get on"? (Pause)<br /><br />Rick throws his hands up in frustration and makes an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Izzard">Eddie Izzard</a> face!!<br /><br />So John is up for tenure, he's trying to close on a house and his wife and lawyer keep calling because something is going wrong with the house, he has either the biggest moron in the history of college students or one of the most conniving individuals in the history of dramatic literature (dare we call Carol a Machiavel) sitting right in front of him and they all babble on for 3 (thankfully short) scenes.<br /><br />So, what's the point of <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oleanna</span></span>...here I turn to one of my favorite critics:<br /><br />From the BRIALLIANT <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Heilpern">John Heilpern</a>, in his wonderful collection of reviews perfectly titled <span style="font-style: italic;">How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway?:<br /><br />In a perverse way, he brings out the worst in us. Perhaps, as I did, you found yourselves wishing to kill the sexually harassed victim in Oleanna. "There you are!" Mr Mamet's admirers said at the time. "You're no better than the average male chauvinist pig." The playwright ha</span><span style="font-style: italic;">d therefore made his subversive dramatic point: if you sided with the male hero -- the professor who happened to be innocent --- you were no better than an abuser (or were smugly indifferent about important issues). But Mr Mamet had so loaded the dice against the vicious -- and deranged -- victim of Oleanna that nausea was the only response to her, and to the playwright's heavy-handed manipulation."</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikM3rL-JmdxabWrMNY91Nj38_vQPQf4yywSmB-B8QTMmufBfXsnoLZ7WAOyfwR1mP_2A8vmHw2Rcy3KARul5nbpGupqqGUg3qg7yp68JM1ecPhNfCGVWJ_1Lq-2tzuQwWDGG8aYXDRA2U/s1600-h/images.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 121px; height: 117px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikM3rL-JmdxabWrMNY91Nj38_vQPQf4yywSmB-B8QTMmufBfXsnoLZ7WAOyfwR1mP_2A8vmHw2Rcy3KARul5nbpGupqqGUg3qg7yp68JM1ecPhNfCGVWJ_1Lq-2tzuQwWDGG8aYXDRA2U/s400/images.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376654594456497586" border="0" /></a><br />That is primarily my complaint with <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Oleanna </span></span>is that I am being manipulated as a reader (and, if the film version starring the original cast members <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Macy">William H Macy</a> and the stunningly untalented <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Pidgeon">Rebecca Pidgeon</a>, who singlehandedly disproves all of Mamet's acting theories prove, as a viewer as well). Mamet's characters ARE NOT CHARACTERS in any normal sense of the word. They are simply vessels for him to spout his preposterous ideas about academia...<br /><br />But, I say again, what the hell do we do with the enigma of David Mamet...? Like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brecht">Bertolt Brecht</a>, he is part theorist, part director and part playwright...I believe his main treatise on acting, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_And_False:_Heresy_And_Common_Sense_for_the_Actor"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">True and False</span></span></a> is mostly GIGANTICALLY false, but at the same time, it is clear he dearly loves and admires actors, even if he does not understand or refuses to understand, the process by which actors craft their performances...What about his plays? Will we still be seeing them, studying them in 50 years, 100 years? How does he rate on that mythical list of GREAT AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT...<br /><br />So I will wrap today's post up with my first ever GREAT AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT FANTASY DRAFT...1 Round draft, 10 picks, you get all of their work, good, bad or indifferent...(for the record, I think you can play fantasy anything, it is one of my passions...my fantasy baseball team currently has a 7 point lead heading into the final month of the season, and if my guys can stay healthy, take it one day at a time and hope for the best, good Lord willing, things will work themselves out, yes wonderful sports cliches, even in my blog)...I ask this question a lot, if we opened it up to all playwrights, Shakespeare is kinda Albert Pulojs and LeBron James all rolled into one right? I mean, who gets picked ahead of Will...so the intriguing question there is always who is the #2 pick in the draft, the Kobe Bryant, Hanley Ramirez pick...for me it's Ibsen, but that's just me...thanks for reading this tangent...<br /><br />Any, back to THE GREAT AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT FANTASY DRAFT, Round 1:<br /><br />1. Arthur Miller<br />2. Tennessee Williams<br />3. August Wilson<br />4. Eugene O'Neill (whom I loathe)<br /><br />That's the pantheon...those guys are the best of the best in terms of influence, work created, legacy etc.<br /><br />5. David Mamet<br />6. Tony Kushner<br />7. Sam Shepard (whom I loathe too, sorry Sam, I"ll leave you alone if I run into you in a bar again)<br />8. William Inge<br />9. Thorton Wilder<br />10. Wendy Wasserstein<br /><br />That's my top ten, how about you?<br /><br />Anyhow, thanks for reading, feel free to disagree with me about <span style="font-style: italic;">Oleanna</span>, I'd love to hear some thoughts and thanks for the feedback from those of you who commented.<br /><br />BTW, I think this blog is destined to happen. I finally got some money today, so I am getting my car that has been dead since June fixed. I was cleaning it out waiting for the tow truck to come and in my back seat was a copy of Tom Stoppard's translation of Vaclav Havel's <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Largo Desolato</span></span>, one of the 127 I gotta read and one of the few I didn't know prior to looking at the list...well, how the hell did that script end up in the backseat of my car that hasn't moved since June? As Mr Henslowe says, in the Stoppard co-scripted <span style="font-style: italic;">Shakespeare in Love, </span>"I don't know, it's a mystery."<br /><br />So, Vaclav Havel's <span style="font-style: italic;">Largo Desolato </span>is on deck.<br /><br />Stay tuned, I hope you come back, and if you don't, to quote Mr Mamet, "...fuck..."<br /><br />Peace<br />Rick St. Peter<br />September 1, 2009<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6650086717501360372.post-41716434394091142512009-08-31T16:58:00.000-07:002009-08-31T18:17:46.050-07:00The PhD Project<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge2eu5dwrz8uh5ebL_D5Cn3LxQ0FORic6aStY4LBy3Egifkq0AVg1xe4h_LQv8R7CEbhWp0GezBQRNTgOq9CseHbw9ZwbU4SCQS72DE2owoLG6NkECELAAWvFhjdXgGKVUq9bZkoKekqs/s1600-h/n1304779_34288972_1200.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge2eu5dwrz8uh5ebL_D5Cn3LxQ0FORic6aStY4LBy3Egifkq0AVg1xe4h_LQv8R7CEbhWp0GezBQRNTgOq9CseHbw9ZwbU4SCQS72DE2owoLG6NkECELAAWvFhjdXgGKVUq9bZkoKekqs/s320/n1304779_34288972_1200.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376299767122117554" border="0" /></a><br />Greetings...My name is Rick St. Peter, I am a 38 year old husband, father, theatre director and teacher at a major crossroad in my life. I recently completed 5 1/2 years as the Artistic Director of a small pseudo-professional theatre in a town that didn't really want or need professional theatre. During that time, as the economy tanked, the local politics got ridiculous and the money became impossible to find, I found myself hating theatre. Was this what I trained for? Was this what I worked years for? I walked into a mess in 2003/04, solved some of the mess, made other parts of it worse and finally needed to walk away. Would I have done some things differently? Of course, but the decisions I made, I made to the best of my ability. I make no apologies...I only wish I could have found a play about a bourbon drinking racehorse who plays basketball and was friends with Abraham Lincoln and Adolph Rupp...Oh well, c'est la vie!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIF1IYtQr7Rlp0-5xefpV8IJmxSRBAn_Ny4rky232wyz8vl9BA2zdcIwx5Vt80yPosUvukbmzqP0iFDQUH_lWe-OaOeiQjghNhxxfDGcsV3FpqVLCwlnz9zDiYrf8UCenkmwxfKia3APg/s1600-h/n51800926_33245191_3424570.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIF1IYtQr7Rlp0-5xefpV8IJmxSRBAn_Ny4rky232wyz8vl9BA2zdcIwx5Vt80yPosUvukbmzqP0iFDQUH_lWe-OaOeiQjghNhxxfDGcsV3FpqVLCwlnz9zDiYrf8UCenkmwxfKia3APg/s400/n51800926_33245191_3424570.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376299124550887410" border="0" /></a><br /><br />What I realized is that I didn't hate the act of creating theatre, I hated the process by which WE had to create theatre. So about a year ago, I began contemplating making a major change...I was going to go back to school...at 38 or 39...with a wife (a vastly patient, supportive and long suffering wife!)...and a 10 year old daugther (who is perfect)...and a 4 year old son (who is a boy)...and we are going to have to move...more on that later.<br /><br />I began to research PhD programs and settled on 3, one of which I really like and will not name until all the details are worked out. In the course of my research, I realized I had to read, or reread, 125 plays (127 if you count <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/orestia"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Orestia</span></a> as 3 plays), many of which I haven't read since grad school, a number of which I was able to sneak through grad school without reading, a few I had actually never heard of.<br /><br />So, here is the gist of my blog: I am going to read all 127 plays and record thoughts about them, me, my life, my career...what have you...it's my damn blog, so it will be about whatever I want it to be, but the focus will be on 2500 years of dramatic literature as distilled in these 127 plays...<br /><br />I have decided to select plays at random, because if I went chronologically, I would probably get bored and quit by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/aristophanes">Aristophanes.</a>..<br /><br />So, here goes, play #1 is none other than <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Paphnutius </span></span>by the legendary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hroswitha_of_gandersheim">Hrosvitha of Gandersheim</a>...(hold your applause!!)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFl1sUajqMGton44O2wM9CjDtxm-8h6pUgGlITO1YaRVejNjF6g7qvPZo9gCTKnfbu3AzkEuW7SI8IEQOXTE6o9NO8lwMgvrCGnY3fPwbx9UQuIDVhyphenhyphenzt6pTf901c1GvMVL65cb5I86vw/s1600-h/200px-Roswitha_of_Gandersheim.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFl1sUajqMGton44O2wM9CjDtxm-8h6pUgGlITO1YaRVejNjF6g7qvPZo9gCTKnfbu3AzkEuW7SI8IEQOXTE6o9NO8lwMgvrCGnY3fPwbx9UQuIDVhyphenhyphenzt6pTf901c1GvMVL65cb5I86vw/s320/200px-Roswitha_of_Gandersheim.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376295537508424178" border="0" /></a><br />Hrosvitha is pretty cool simply for the fact that she is the first recorded female playwright in the history of western dramatic literature. She was a Saxon nun who lived approximately 935-1001 AD (or CE depending on who you worship), and her plays were largely influenced by the Roman <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence">Terence </a>and anticipated the coming of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgical_drama">Latin liturgical drama</a> and served as a bridge between the fall of Rome and the coming of Medieval religious drama.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Paphnutius </span></span>could be categorized as the greatest play never written by the Taliban, except for the fact that they would kill Hrosvitha because she was a woman...who could read...and she wrote plays...damn her all to hell! It is interesting to see how much (or little, depending on your thoughts) we have evolved in roughly 1000 years.<br /><br />The story concerns the conversion of Thais the Harlot by the Hermit Paphnutius. Dre<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQggRRCLCtn_Lgf0ignKvJgI8Bw426A3sCfeEP-PVpDx7JPvsRHTwWZGUVbV22EhHGDQk5UZntZDvDyKzCMG2aq9t2_MCZaI7W3WyoPsnaFqOKgE-vjU_BglB1FrFQY9mPAeGapQiY9Eo/s1600-h/180px-Koceks_-_Surname-i_Vehbi.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 156px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQggRRCLCtn_Lgf0ignKvJgI8Bw426A3sCfeEP-PVpDx7JPvsRHTwWZGUVbV22EhHGDQk5UZntZDvDyKzCMG2aq9t2_MCZaI7W3WyoPsnaFqOKgE-vjU_BglB1FrFQY9mPAeGapQiY9Eo/s320/180px-Koceks_-_Surname-i_Vehbi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376296497962031250" border="0" /></a>ssed in the disguise of a lover, the hermit Paphnutius goes in search of Thais the harlot, that he may recall her from her evil ways. Moved by his pleading, Thais is converted (quickly). Paphnutius proposes a penance which confines her to a narrow cell for five years (as near as I can tell she only serves 3). Thais, by this worthy expiation, is reconciled to God, and 15 days (for some reason) after the completion of her penance, she "goes to sleep in Christ." The End...<br /><br />Sigh...it is incredibly didactic, Paphnutius the hermit basically sounds a lot like a cult leader (he's got his own disciples) and he simply doesn't mind his own business. He doesn't even live in the town of Thais, he doesn't know her, she is basically a goodtime girl getting her kicks who has a regional reputation...so off he goes to squash her fun...My main complaint, as with a lot of dramatic literature, is that THE WOMAN IS THE PROBLEM...all the men get off scot free, the bastards. Only Thais is guilty of sinning...<br /><br />Some cool lines:<br />From Scene 2<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Paphnutius: A certain infamous woman lives in this neighborhood.<br />His Disciples: This is dangerous to the people.<br />P: Her beauty is unsurpassed, her wickedness is unspeakable.<br />Disciples: Horrible! What is her name?<br />P: Thais<br />Disciples: That harlot!<br />P: Yes, that one.<br />Disciples: Her wickedness is known to everyone.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From Scene 4<br /><br />Thais: Come together, hasten, my wicked lovers.</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVi2iPTqvYkWoRZQZvA42KGccx509EexZ3KP3gWOwpPuOMbGNYMK00f4u1Fj0mx0xQHXvODuzcz40seDhi_uF1-X9O6jRegeqshviZBenbEsjmM6bpflR9o4z62b8bf1R2qFrl02uWD0U/s1600-h/220px-Annunciation_-_Jan_van_Eyck_-_1434_-_NG_Wash_DC.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 121px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVi2iPTqvYkWoRZQZvA42KGccx509EexZ3KP3gWOwpPuOMbGNYMK00f4u1Fj0mx0xQHXvODuzcz40seDhi_uF1-X9O6jRegeqshviZBenbEsjmM6bpflR9o4z62b8bf1R2qFrl02uWD0U/s320/220px-Annunciation_-_Jan_van_Eyck_-_1434_-_NG_Wash_DC.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376295729651098770" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Lovers: The voice of Thais is calling us; let us hasten to go to her lest we offend her by being late.<br />T: Hurry, come to me that I may speak to you.<br />Lovers: O Thais! Thais! Why do you wish a funeral pyre for yourself? What are you building? Why do you heap your many and precious treasures near the flames?<br />T: You ask?<br />Lovers: We wonder greatly.<br />T: I shall explain quickly.<br />Lovers: Please do.</span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">T: Behold!<br />Lovers: Stop, stop Thais. What are you doing? Are you insane?<br />T: I am not insane. I am in my right mind.<br />Lovers: But why waste 400 pounds of gold and many other riches? (Thais was DAMN good at her job)<br />T: All which I unjustly extorted from you, I would burn that you may have no spark of hope that I may yield any more to your love.</span></span><br /><br />And on it goes...there is some argument about whether Hrosvitha's plays were ever performed or were simply read in her abbess. There is actually some interesting things in it, Thais's conversion at the hand of Paphnutius is a wee bit quick, but what the hell, it was like 975...they had to do things quick, before the plague, barbarians or the Taliban got them...So Thais converts, serves her jail time in the name of God, and for some reason, dies 15 days later, happily and presumably Paphnutius moves on to some other town to terrorize women there...The End...<br /><br />1 play down, 126 to go...hope you will go along with me on this journey! By the way, I am currently obsessed with <a href="http://juliepowell.blogspot.com">Julie Powell</a>...<br /><br />Until next time, "Come together, hasten, my wicked lovers!"<br /><br />Peace...<br /><br />Rick St. Peter<br />August 31, 2009<br /><br />PS I know Wikipedia doesn't count as a source, but this ain't supposed to be scholarly so if you don't like it, piss off...<br /><br />If you made it this far, you must either be killing time at work, bored out of your mind or you clearly don't have enough to do, thanks for hanging in there!!<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span></span>rick8http://www.blogger.com/profile/14920313122820990761noreply@blogger.com7