Theatre
Went to the theatre last night with kittensbroadway. Saw The UN Inspector.
Interesting - I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say that the lurches between mannered farce and Greek choral tragedy, slapstick and intense political drama, were intentional (like Eliot's The Cocktail Party, bringing weighty drama into the world of social comedy). Some good performances, but I think they were stretching it too far from Gogol's The Government Inspector. I saw a production of that years ago, and remember Anthony Quayle challenging the audience; "you're laughing at YOURSELVES!". OK if we're talking about general human venality, but don't know that that's valid when the people on stage are corrupt national leaders using torture and murder to protect their grip on power...
The staging was good, and costumes spot on - everyone looked sort of seedy or sleazy, in ways appropriate to their characters. I liked the balalaika band playing "Can't get you out of my head", too. That was nicely surreal.
Interesting - I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say that the lurches between mannered farce and Greek choral tragedy, slapstick and intense political drama, were intentional (like Eliot's The Cocktail Party, bringing weighty drama into the world of social comedy). Some good performances, but I think they were stretching it too far from Gogol's The Government Inspector. I saw a production of that years ago, and remember Anthony Quayle challenging the audience; "you're laughing at YOURSELVES!". OK if we're talking about general human venality, but don't know that that's valid when the people on stage are corrupt national leaders using torture and murder to protect their grip on power...
The staging was good, and costumes spot on - everyone looked sort of seedy or sleazy, in ways appropriate to their characters. I liked the balalaika band playing "Can't get you out of my head", too. That was nicely surreal.