"Herod was a liberal!"
Aug. 4th, 2005 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidOf all the excellent dialogue in the staged reading of a play, for some reason that stuck out, more than "No one would choose to be a Hebrew," and mentions of murdering imaginary cats, among other things. The play was In Divisiblunder, by Richard Sewell, and the staged reading was part of Boston Theatre Works' festival of new plays, which is staged readings to seven (this year) new plays.
This play was a lot of fun, finding a lot of humor in the politics of today. The basic plot involves a fundamentalist's house being raided by an operative of homeland security (sic), due to the belief she's involved in a terrorist cabal. Ideologies clash, obviously, though they're a bit less strained when they discover that each has turned to zir's current fanatacism in the wake of being screwed by the Enron debacle. Add in a 'Hebrew scholar' and an alcoholic sister who didn't have an abortion, and the zingers fly fast and furious.
I very much liked it (as if that weren't obvious by now), as did most of the rest of the audience. The ones that annoyed me were the ones who talked back to the dialogue; don't interrupt it for the rest of us!
ETA Even the actors were amused; all of them smiled/laughed silently at times, as did the director (reading the stage direction. /edit
I stayed for the playwright feedback session, and it was interesting to hear what people had to say. I obviously want more closure from a play than most people, for instance. And the playwright reminded me of Farwing, pulling out a little notebook (not the same brand as hers!) to write down a turn of phrase of someone's comment that he particularly liked.
The reading are free (though they'll happily take a donation, which is suggested), and this particular one will show again Sunday at 5:15, if anyone wants to see it. Of the rest, my eye was caught by a new play by Joyce Carol Oates (and directed by a friend of mine, as was tonight's), and from the brief description on the flier, the play tomorrow night (and 6:45 on Sunday) would be of interest to poly people. Though really, I tend to think that brief synopses are useless for deciding whether to see a play or not. I'd rather go and see what I think it's about... and all of them sound interesting. I wish I had time to see them all.
ETA The one huge drawback last night was the temperature: the room was frigid! I had goosebumps the whole way through, and was glad I'd not chosen sandals. Hopefully this will not be an issue again...
This play was a lot of fun, finding a lot of humor in the politics of today. The basic plot involves a fundamentalist's house being raided by an operative of homeland security (sic), due to the belief she's involved in a terrorist cabal. Ideologies clash, obviously, though they're a bit less strained when they discover that each has turned to zir's current fanatacism in the wake of being screwed by the Enron debacle. Add in a 'Hebrew scholar' and an alcoholic sister who didn't have an abortion, and the zingers fly fast and furious.
I very much liked it (as if that weren't obvious by now), as did most of the rest of the audience. The ones that annoyed me were the ones who talked back to the dialogue; don't interrupt it for the rest of us!
ETA Even the actors were amused; all of them smiled/laughed silently at times, as did the director (reading the stage direction. /edit
I stayed for the playwright feedback session, and it was interesting to hear what people had to say. I obviously want more closure from a play than most people, for instance. And the playwright reminded me of Farwing, pulling out a little notebook (not the same brand as hers!) to write down a turn of phrase of someone's comment that he particularly liked.
The reading are free (though they'll happily take a donation, which is suggested), and this particular one will show again Sunday at 5:15, if anyone wants to see it. Of the rest, my eye was caught by a new play by Joyce Carol Oates (and directed by a friend of mine, as was tonight's), and from the brief description on the flier, the play tomorrow night (and 6:45 on Sunday) would be of interest to poly people. Though really, I tend to think that brief synopses are useless for deciding whether to see a play or not. I'd rather go and see what I think it's about... and all of them sound interesting. I wish I had time to see them all.
ETA The one huge drawback last night was the temperature: the room was frigid! I had goosebumps the whole way through, and was glad I'd not chosen sandals. Hopefully this will not be an issue again...