the engagements are booked till the ends of the world
since all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, I have been finding time for stuff beyond reviewing data changes at the office.
For starters, wednesday night, I went with dosferatu to see Sleuth at the Alliance. The play was well done, though as dosferatu pointed out, there was an innate stiffness from Americans trying to play convincing Brits. The play itself is amazing, and I highly encourage you all to see it if you get the chance (more on that at the bottom of the review).
Sleuth is a fascinating multi-layered exercise in wit. Textually, the script abounds with one-liners, back-and-forth banter, and other bon mots, to the point that I'm tempted to buy the play just so I can catch them all, and commit them to memory. Beyond that, the entire structure of the play is a back-and-forth of gamesplaying between the characters. The skill that Anthony Schaffer exhibits in developing the characters this way, arguably building a one-act play divided into two massive scenes, with every layer of character opening to a new exchange of games play or simply stated witticism, is exceptional. The story is anything but straightforward, however clear-cut it may seem at any point within it; there's always some new twist waiting to be played out, right till the final lines of the play.
I'd already seen the play last week, though that night one of the leading actors had voice problems and couldn't perform. He was replaced by the director, reading his lines from the book -- a truly remarkable experience, but it's *so* much better with two fully-rehearsed actors at the helm. Because of the circumstances, the Alliance offered comp return tickets to anyone who wanted them that night, so I did.
I should also note that the likely reason that the Alliance picked Sleuth for this year's season is the re-release of the film soon. Back in '74, Schaffer produced a screenplay of the work, which starred Laurence Olivier opposite Michael Caine in the leads. Fast forward thirty-three years, and Michael Caine has taken Olivier's role in the new film, and I don't know who'll take the other spot. Should be interesting to see, at the least.
The other thing I did this week was attend tonight's They Might Be Giants concert at the Variety Playhouse. At long last, I finally managed to make one of their concerts here in Atlanta. Every year before, I didn't find out in time, or was working, or couldn't get to the venue (being carless sucks in this city), or wasn't even in the damn country.
The Johns put on a DAMN good show in concert, I had a blast. It was about an equal mix of songs between their newest album (which the tour is promoting), and some old favorites (Istanbul, Particle Man....with a very odd ad libbed interlude by Linnell...Twisting, Cyclops Rock, and others) and a few obscure ones -- Puppet Head and James Ensor come to memory.
A splendid time was had by all, indeed.
For starters, wednesday night, I went with dosferatu to see Sleuth at the Alliance. The play was well done, though as dosferatu pointed out, there was an innate stiffness from Americans trying to play convincing Brits. The play itself is amazing, and I highly encourage you all to see it if you get the chance (more on that at the bottom of the review).
Sleuth is a fascinating multi-layered exercise in wit. Textually, the script abounds with one-liners, back-and-forth banter, and other bon mots, to the point that I'm tempted to buy the play just so I can catch them all, and commit them to memory. Beyond that, the entire structure of the play is a back-and-forth of gamesplaying between the characters. The skill that Anthony Schaffer exhibits in developing the characters this way, arguably building a one-act play divided into two massive scenes, with every layer of character opening to a new exchange of games play or simply stated witticism, is exceptional. The story is anything but straightforward, however clear-cut it may seem at any point within it; there's always some new twist waiting to be played out, right till the final lines of the play.
I'd already seen the play last week, though that night one of the leading actors had voice problems and couldn't perform. He was replaced by the director, reading his lines from the book -- a truly remarkable experience, but it's *so* much better with two fully-rehearsed actors at the helm. Because of the circumstances, the Alliance offered comp return tickets to anyone who wanted them that night, so I did.
I should also note that the likely reason that the Alliance picked Sleuth for this year's season is the re-release of the film soon. Back in '74, Schaffer produced a screenplay of the work, which starred Laurence Olivier opposite Michael Caine in the leads. Fast forward thirty-three years, and Michael Caine has taken Olivier's role in the new film, and I don't know who'll take the other spot. Should be interesting to see, at the least.
The other thing I did this week was attend tonight's They Might Be Giants concert at the Variety Playhouse. At long last, I finally managed to make one of their concerts here in Atlanta. Every year before, I didn't find out in time, or was working, or couldn't get to the venue (being carless sucks in this city), or wasn't even in the damn country.
The Johns put on a DAMN good show in concert, I had a blast. It was about an equal mix of songs between their newest album (which the tour is promoting), and some old favorites (Istanbul, Particle Man....with a very odd ad libbed interlude by Linnell...Twisting, Cyclops Rock, and others) and a few obscure ones -- Puppet Head and James Ensor come to memory.
A splendid time was had by all, indeed.