Theatre

All posts tagged Theatre

VINEGAR GIRL – Anne Tyler

Posted by Daniel on August 18, 2017
Posted in: OTHER. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

The Hogarth Shakespeare series is on an incredibly challenging task to get today’s writers retelling Shakespeare’s stories.  In some cases, such as here with Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler, we see how challenging this task is.

I’ve been a fan of Tyler’s since Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant first came out in the 1980’s, and I’ve read most of her work since then.  And as someone who works at a professional Shakespeare festival, I was doubly pleased to see Tyler involved with the Hogarth series.

But Tyler gets the task of retelling a terribly misogynistic story.  Can you do that — tell a story about a man who gives his daughter to another man who hopes to ‘tame’ her, and be relevant to modern audiences?  Perhaps, but Tyler struggles with it, it seems.  This doesn’t feel relevant and the characters come across flat, undeveloped.  I didn’t particularly care about Kate here, and if she’s going to be ‘vinegar’ or ‘shrewish’ or however we choose to title her, then there ought to be something about her that we are attracted to in order to root for her.  Is it enough to root for her because of her peevish father?

What I found interesting is that in modern productions I’ve seen (two or three), Kate in the play is a strong character, likeable, and though she’s ‘tamed’ at the end, we (the audience) gets the sense that Petruchio is as much tamed as she. That was not the case here for me.

While I wasn’t a fan of this book, it hasn’t shaken my appreciation for either Tyler or Shakespeare, but rather reminds me that not all of Shakespeare’s stories are easily relate-able to modern audiences.

Looking for a good book? Anne Tyler’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, Vinegar Girl, struggles to remain relevant to a modern audience.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Vinegar Girl

author: Anne Tyler

series: Hogarth Shakespeare

publisher: Hogarth

ISBN: 1781090181

hardcover, 240 pages

IVY GET YOUR GUN – Cindy Brown

Posted by Daniel on August 8, 2017
Posted in: MYSTERY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

We’re back in an Ivy Meadows Mystery with Cindy Brown’s Ivy Get Your Gun.  This time Ivy takes to the road for some out-of-town acting work, but she can’t escape the need to solve a mystery.

The character of Ivy Meadows (aka Olive Ziegwart) is really growing now that we’re in this, her fourth mystery tale.  She’s out of town, working at the Gold Bug Gulch in Arizona where she’s hoping for the role of “Annie” in Annie Get Your Gun.  But of course Ivy wants people to know the real Annie, and not the phony character from the play.  Which could be a problem since the director just wants some flashy entertainment.

But when Ivy gets to Gold Bug Gulch she immediately gets caught up in a missing persons … er… animal case.  A local pug named “Lassie” has run off with a pack of wild Chihuahuas and the owner fears that the wild coyotes will grab her.  If only that were the worst of things to happen at the gulch…. An actor by the name of Mongo is killed during a ‘fake’ shootout when someone swaps the blanks for real bullets.  Ivy goes undercover and channels as much of Annie Oakley as she can to get to heart of the mystery.

This was a great step for Ivy … to get away from her uncle (even though she gets in touch with him a few times) and really be on her own as an investigator.  We needed to see her step up and we did.  But we also see her grow a little in personality.  She’s still eager, enthusiastic, and reactive, but she appears to be stopping and thinking a little more.  Her research into the real Annie Oakley, to prepare for her audition, also shows a maturity in theatre that we haven’t seen before this as well.

But the maturity does not come at the expense of the fun.  Author Cindy Brown keeps the entertainment level high while also making a stronger mystery.  My only ‘complaint’ here is that I didn’t feel that the unraveling of the mystery was smooth enough.  Too much came all at once, though we were being distracted along the way to notice it.  It was only after, while thinking about what happened, that I wished I’d had a few more hints along the way.

I work in professional theatre and have for much of my career and it is so nice to read a story that incorporates theatre so well.  Cindy Brown clearly has experience in the theatre world beyond a small-town community theatre.  I greatly look forward to the next Ivy Meadows mystery.

Looking for a good book? Ivy Get Your Gun is the fourth installment in the Ivy Meadows Mystery series by Cindy Brown and it’s a fun-filled, humorous mystery worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Ivy Get Your Gun

author: Cindy Brown

series: An Ivy Meadows Mystery #4

publisher: Henery Press

ISBN13: 9781635112092

paperback, 234 pages

A PARTICLE OF DREAD – Sam Shepard

Posted by Daniel on July 12, 2017
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I love to read plays and don’t have as many opportunities to do so since the Fireside Theatre Book Club went out of business (when was that…the 1990’s?).  There seems to slowly be a revival of getting plays in print for the general reading audience.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with Sam Shepard’s work, that he’d be drawn to the Oedipus story.  Shepard has written for years about families and family dynamics and Oedipus is the original story of a dysfunctional family. But when I read or hear about a story/play/film that is a re-telling of a classic, I can’t help but wonder: Why?  What is missing from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex that we need to re-tell it?  Is it just that our modern audience can’t relate to it?  We can’t identify with oracles and … well, I’m no sure what other parts would be so foreign to a modern audience. But, well, Shepard wants to try this and we’ll go along.

But A Particle of Dread is best defined by the sub-title: Oedipus Variations. This play has a very random feel about it.  Short, segmented scenes are assembled to try to fill a narrative.  It’s a bit jumbled or disjointed but generally works okay.  There are some humorous scenes which feel very out-of-place for me.  Perhaps this is what a modern audience needs?  A chance to laugh among the pathos?

Even after reading through this, I ask myself: Why?  What was the point here?  Shepard took a classic story, chopped it up, set it in the present, added some humor, and tossed it back together.  It’s less coherent than the classic, which in my mind makes it less relevant instead of more-so.

If this were written by anyone other than Sam Shepard would it ever have been staged and published?

I’m glad to have read this, but if by some odd bit of coincidence any theatre near me were to stage it (including the Guthrie) I would not likely run out to get a ticket.

Looking for a good book?  Sam Shepard’s script, A Particle of Dread, is a retelling of the Oedipus story, but turns out to be less relevant to modern audiences than a good translation of the original.

I received a digital copy of this script from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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A Particle of Dread (Oedipus Variations)

author: Sam Shepard

publisher: Vintage

ISBN: 1101974397

paperback, 128 pages

5-MINUTE PLAYS FOR TEENS – Lawrence Harbison, editor

Posted by Daniel on June 21, 2017
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

There is a special knack to reading plays and unless you are used to it, it can be frustrating.  But for those of us who enjoy reading plays, it can be difficult to find reading material that isn’t one of the classics that we’ve all already read a dozen times, or not the latest Pulitzer Prize winner. And if you are a student or a younger reader, finding plays that are targeted to you is next to impossible without buying individual scripts directly from play publishers.

5-Minute Plays for Teens is just the ticket!

The plays in this anthology have a wide range of topics and all of them relate-able to the teen reading audience.  Most are two or three person plays so it would be easy to even sit and read these out loud with a friend or two.

As is typical with almost any anthology, not every script appealed to me, but there were plenty of them that did. One of my favorites was “Over the Moon” by Lavinia Roberts in which a perfectionist male teen is trying to tutor an artsy female student who is planning to turn in her science paper as an interpretive dance.  The short play pushes stereotypes to the edge, adds plenty of humor and a resolve of understanding that is often missing in a short play like this.  I would love to see this done or direct it myself sometime.

“Rainbow Bunnies in the Zombie Apocalypse” by Bennet Preuss was strangely stupid but fun.  This is precisely the sort of short play that could easily get students who might normally enjoy theatre into reading, watching, or even being in a play.

Plays such as “The Sibling” by Jeanmarie Collins are nice, even important for letting young readers know that others might have similar issues, and Collins writes a tight, poignant script.  It’s not something I would consider producing nor have interest in seeing performed, but there is a lot of value in having a script like this in such a collection.

Finally, I really enjoyed “We. Are. Un. Cool.” by Nicole Pandolfo in which, unless you attend an arts school, probably really defines many of us who would be reading a collection of five-minute plays.  Although the characters are teen females, I could still identify with students hiding out during a physical education class and complaining about peers.  This should be a hit with most readers.

A book like this can easily be enjoyed by theatre students, but it would also make a great book to have in English and theatre classrooms.  The plays are short enough to read in a matter of minutes, easy enough to perform in a classroom, and topical and appealing to the target audience. This is highly recommended.

Looking for a good book? 5-Minute Plays for Teens, edited by Lawrence Harbison, is a great collection of very short plays that could easily get more students interested in theatre.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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5-Minute Plays for Teens

editor: Lawrence Harbison

publisher: Applause Theatre & Cinema Book Publishers

ISBN: 1495069257

paperback, 256 pages

STORIES ON STAGE – Aaron Shepard

Posted by Daniel on April 20, 2017
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, ENTERTAINMENT. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE

Reader’s Theatre is a bit of a lost art. From the late 1970’s through the mid-1980’s I participated in a number of reader’s Theatre programs – usually through church groups but also in my university theatre program.  It’s quite likely that some of those scripts I performed in were written by Aaron Shepard.

This current collection of short reader’s theatre scripts is a revised reprint of a collection printed in 1993 and revised in 2005.  They’ve been revised again for fit the e-device reader.

The scripts are geared for a young audience – late elementary school/early middle school, most likely and it is easy to see how these short plays, intended to be read aloud and not necessarily performed, might fit nicely into a school English or speech class.

Only one moment in a script struck me as not particularly ‘pc.’  In the final script, Westwoods, a Narrator (there are almost always more than one narrator per script) says: “The Princess was beautiful, thought John, only very, very fat.  Her father was still fatter.” And just a few lines later King John recites a poem:

You’re fatter than butter, you’d melt by the fire.
You’re very much fatter than I could desire.
When I see you, my courage commences to ooze.
I’ve come to propose, but I hope you’ll refuse.

Funny, but every overweight child in the class will cringe and there will be snickering all around.  I don’t see this particular script getting much attention in today’s educational system that is extremely sensitive to issues such as this.

The scripts included in this book are:

Millions of Cats – Wanda Gag
Harriet – Florence Parry Heide
The Legend of Lighting Larry – Aaron Shepard
Mr. Bim’s Bamboo – Carol Farly
Three Sideways Stores From Wayside School – Louis Sachar
The Jade Stone – Caryn Yacowitz
Talk – Harold Coudrlander
The Bean Boy – Monice Shannon
How Tom Beat Captain Najork – Russell Hoban
Tapiwa’s Uncle – Nancy Farmer
The Kid From the Commercial – Stephen Manes
The Fools of Chelm – Steve Sanfield
Mr. Twit’s Revenge – Roald Dahl
Mouse Woman and the Snails – Christie Harris
Westwoods – Eleanor Farjeon

All the scripts were adapted for reader’s theatre by Aaron Shepard and they do tend to sound the same when you read them straight through, as I did.  My favorites were Millions of Cats, Three Sideways Stories from Wayside School, The Jade Stone, and The Bean Boy.

Looking for a good book? Reader’s Theatre is a great opportunity to involve a number of ‘performers’ without having to spend any rehearsal time and Aaron Shepard’s Stories on Stage is a collection of fifteen Reader’s Theatre scripts for young readers and is a wonderful introduction to the format.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Stories on Stage

author: Aaron Shepard

publisher: Shepard Publications

ASIN: B00LLXRG98

Kindle edition, 164 pages

HAG-SEED – Margaret Atwood

Posted by Daniel on March 27, 2017
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, OTHER. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

For me, Margaret Atwood is one of those writers who quietly keeps invading the literary world, transforming fiction and storytelling and leaves an indelible imprint on the reader’s soul.  I don’t seek out her works the way I should (and the way I do for a few other writers) which is why she seems so quiet to me.  But of course that’s really on me and no one else.

I was drawn to this not only because it’s an Atwood novel but because of the Shakespeare theme – the description of this as a re-telling or re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.  When not reading and writing my blog, I work for a Shakespeare festival and have an affection for Shakespeare’s works.  I applaud any opportunity to bring his stories to a new audience.

Atwood is a remarkable and gifted writer and she takes this story and puts her magic touch on it, bringing it to a very modern world.

The story is about Felix – an artistic director at a major theatre who very suddenly is given the ol’ heave-ho and replaced by his assistant. Understandably, Felix is upset and wants to make the theatre regret their decision but finding a way to make a bold, theatrical statement is hard to do without a theatre company.

Felix becomes involved with a program called Literacy Through Theatre where he teaches and stages theatre productions at a local correctional facility (prison).  His current production?  The Tempest.

In a rather unique manner, Atwood retells the story in multiple layers.  There is the straight-forward manner of Felix’s teaching the story to the inmates, but we also see the parallels of the story to the characters inside Atwood’s story.  Felix isn’t just playing Prospero … he is a modern Prospero – discarded, lost, looking for revenge.  In fact, all the characters are the characters that they are portraying in some way.  It’s a brilliant bit of writing.

I can’t say that I’ve ever seen The Tempest where I felt so connected to the characters as much as I did with this book, and I feel I’ve seen some very good productions.

One small touch that I just loved was the idea that Felix presented to his inmate cast – that they could not swear during their rehearsals unless they did so using Shakespeare’s words.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read and can be enjoyed on so many different levels.  It is highly recommended.

Looking for a good book? Hag-Seed shows why Margaret Atwood is a true powerhouse as a writer and why Shakespeare’s plays are still relevant to us today.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Hag-Seed

author: Margaret Atwood

series: Hogarth Shakespeare

publisher: Hogarth

ISBN: 0804141290

hardcover, 301 pages

ERTÉ’S THEATRICAL COSTUMES – Érte

Posted by Daniel on March 9, 2017
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE

There’s not much to this book – it’s a short forty-eight pages long – but what’s here is beautiful.

Érte is one of those names you might recognize but not be quite so sure why.  Érte is a theatrical costume designer who created some of the most stunning costumes ever seen on stage throughout the 20th century.  His designs are works of art by themselves and you just might want to buy two copies of this book so that you can tear out all the pages and frame each painting.

When I’m not reading books and writing about books, I work in professional theatre.  I’ve often been impressed by the design concepts for the costumes.  Some designers are much better at presenting the designs than others, with some including backgrounds and interesting poses.  Érte is one such designer.  You get the feeling that his concepts aren’t just about the costume, but about the mood the costume evoke in the actor and the setting in which it will be used, as well.

I’d love to see photographs of the costumes themselves, in use on stage.  I Googled a couple of them (That Octopus costume! That Ceres costume!) and most of these are pretty scarce, but then again, some are from as early as 1911!

There is a strong sense of Art Deco and Art Nouveau here.  Being a theatrical and fashion designer, Érte had a hand in creating these genres.

Looking for a good book? Érte’s Theatrical Costumes is all-around beautiful and worth picking up for anyone interested in fashion, theatre, theatrical costuming, and art.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Érte’s Theatrical Costumes in Full Color

author/artist: Érte

publisher: Dover Publications

ISBN: 048623813X

paperback, 48 pages