In which I am blindsided by one of Canada's own cultural products...
I recently obtained the first five episodes of the very-Canadian tv show Slings and Arrows through various and assorted underhanded means, and I must tell you all right now: go and watch this series. Download it, buy the DVDs, whatever you need to do, because that show? Is quite the shit. It's hilarious and witty and entertaining and it doesn't take anything seriously except when it does, and then it's *heartbreaking*. For those of you (mainly people on my f-list who aren't in on the whole fangirling-Canada thing) the show revolves around the troubled New Burbage Festival, Canada's leading theatrical company (Um, no, it's not like Stratford. Not at all). The artistic director of the company feels like a sellout, as corporate sponsorship and gift-store revenue have become more important than Shakespeare. (Again, not at all like the Stratford festival. At all). Drunk and depressed, the director passes out in the street and gets hit by a truck carrying Canadian hams (get it? Huh?). Enter new artistic director Geoffery Tennant, who suffered a mental breakdown seven years ago during a definitive performance of Hamlet and has since made a name for himself as an independent director as he mounts a new version of the play that drove him over the edge. This show takes on issues of artistic complacency, the role of the theatre in the era of rampant commercialism, and yeah, it's heavy on the Shakespeare allusions. Plus it's hilarious. I'm only three episodes in and I'm already hooked.
synecdoche, I think you would really like it as it is very smart and literary. And stealthwise, there are a couple of characters who act like complete assholes and say *exactly* what everyone is thinking, and I know how you like that. As for the rest of you, well, who doesn't like smart, well-written, character-driven dramadey? So, go forth and aquire. I promise you won't be sorry. I mean, there are impromptu rapier fights! C'mon!
synecdoche, I think you would really like it as it is very smart and literary. And stealthwise, there are a couple of characters who act like complete assholes and say *exactly* what everyone is thinking, and I know how you like that. As for the rest of you, well, who doesn't like smart, well-written, character-driven dramadey? So, go forth and aquire. I promise you won't be sorry. I mean, there are impromptu rapier fights! C'mon!