Archive for the ‘the flu season’ tag
Four plays and an opera
So, I’m behind on my posts. I’ve actually seen a number of plays (and one opera) since my last review. A quick summary:
The Madwoman of Challiot – this play was fun. Well, it always is. Read it if you aren’t familiar with the story: it’s a good one. You actually have to try to make this one flop. Madwomen, oil companies, saving the world – this stuff apparently never gets outdated. The acting was excellent. The blocking was a problem, however: many scenes left speaking actors completely obscured while on stage. Nevertheless, an excellent time, and excellent play entirely deserving of its status as a theatrical classic.
Rum and Vodka – easily the worst one-actor play I’ve ever seen. Its biggest failure was the protagonist. He’s a total coward and an idiot, and it’s entirely impossible to empathize with him. The entire performance is a downhill experience: he just keeps getting worse and worse, from raping his wife to running off leaving her and their child without any money. Never are we convinced to root for him, yet the play is not set up for us to see it as a case study of “this is what happens to the poor, depressed alcoholic.” No, this play leaves one wondering what, exactly, the point of the story is.
Don Giovanni – marking the reopening of the renovated Old Auditorium, Don Giovanni was a great experience. Highly amusing, and wonderfully melodic, this opera taught me that opera can actually be effective and interesting. The classical set and costumes were a wonderful treat. My only complaint was the scene transitions: total blackout, often with no music. Not that the music always helped: the fist seven minutes of the opera was music with the curtain down, so all one had to look at was the conductor’s head. Considering how well they did everything else in the performance, the amateur scene transitions stood out as a confusing and disappointing mistake. Overall, though? Still a great performance anyway.
The Flu Season – this play was awful. Simply, and truly, awful. Don’t see it. Don’t go anywhere near it. And don’t pay for it. This play epitomizes the stereotype of ineffective, over-the-top storytelling accompanied by bad acting and questionable directing. It wasn’t even bad in a good way. I will say one positive thing, however: the actor playing the Doctor was actually funny. Did it make up for the awful, unneccessary double-narration? Not even partly.
The Madonna Painter – take Unity (1918) and The Lark and combine them. The result? The Madonna Painter. Another not-worth-seeing play, it tells the tale of a young pastor commissioning the painting of a Madonna in the hopes of staving off the Spanish Flu. The play is unsuccessful in a lot of ways: the flu isn’t stopped before loads of people die, the painter ultimately fails to use his love interest for the model, and by the end of the performance I was in disbelief that I’d ever payed money to see it happen. Worse than The Lark, this play simply overdoes it on the monologues. They’re excessive, preachy, and completely unbelievable.
