Retreat + The Broken Heart

[deliasherman]

I'm back from Mexico, where I drafted the new last half of my WIP (all except the last scene, owing to the plane landing before I quite finished writing it, and exhaustion and Real Life taking up all my time since) and talked Writing, Business, and Cowboy Boots pretty much around the clock.  San Miguel de Allende is very beautiful, the Spanish

Comments

[ecmyers]

Yay for retreats and writing progress! Does that mean I'll get to read this soon? :)

[deliasherman]

It's still kind of at the orts and fragments stage. I'll send it as soon as it approaches coherence.

And--Thank You!

[csecooney]

Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man! THAT I want to EAT! That whole entry. Then go off somewhere melodramatic to digest it theatrically!

[rachelmanija]

So jealous! I have never seen a Ford play performed.

[deliasherman]

Doesn't happen often. They are hardly crowd-pleasers, and most damnably crabbed besides. I feel lucky, lucky, lucky that both the strange, small New York theater companies that love this stuff have trotted out a reading of "'Tis Pity" and "Broken Heart" this season. I don't expect it'll happen again for some time.

[vschanoes]

Hmm. I found The Broken Heart fun, but far too long. There was an awful lot of pausing and slow speaking, which dragged things out to 3.5 hours at the performance I saw. There were also some bizarre plot holes that are really uncharacteristic of the drama of the time: Orgilus disguises himself as a monk/student, and while in such disguise, is solicited by his sister and her love to carry messages back and forth. He's disgusted by this match because her lover's best friend is the brother who married off Penthea, so here is a prime opportunity to play hell with the young lovers...but nothing happens

[deliasherman]

Yeah. I know. But by the time they got to the plot holes, I'd already completely given up on anything making actual sense--rhetorical, dramatic, psychological, or rational.

For some reason,the pauses and declaiming didn't bother me. I guess I was too busy enjoying watching everyone chowing down on the scenery. The mad scene on Miss Havisham's table just made me smile.

Wish we'd seen it with you. The after-play discussion would have been prime.

[vschanoes]

I was lucky enough to see it with Erika, who came into town for the occasion, so I got the benefit of her professional insights!

I think my ability to withstand the length was severely hampered by the fact that by midway through the first half, I was already becoming rather hungry...

[deliasherman]

Well, that explains a lot. I kind of wish I'd seen it with Erika, too. It's been far too long since I read it (or the contemporary plays). So it was like a fresh, new experience of confusion for me.

[lareinenoire]

Oh, man, I want to see that play so badly. There is not enough Jacobean drama in my life!

I am teaching The Spanish Tragedy at the moment and I really want to apply your Ophelia index to pretty much every character in that play. I think Isabella qualifies for at least an eight since she manages to kill herself onstage after uprooting an entire garden.

[deliasherman]

Oh,yeah. Isabella has Penthea beat all hollow. I missed The Red Bull reading of The Spanish Tragedy this winter, and am sad, sad, sad.

[lareinenoire]

That is sad! It's also not quite as much fun for me to teach because there aren't any recordings that I'm aware of. However, my students are doing their scene performance on Monday so we'll see what they do.