Whistling in the dark

playbill

Went to see the first preview of Inherit the Wind at the Lyceum Theater. The play is a fictionalized take on the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. A teacher is put on trial for teaching evolution in a science class, contrary to biblical teaching, and a high profile trial with the great legal minds of the day ensues.

It is left in it’s historical context even though very similar issues are still being argued in today’s courtrooms. The Supreme Court just recently ruled it illegal to force the inclusion of Intelligent Design in public school science classrooms as an alternative theory to evolution, ruling it religious in nature rather than scientific and you would probably then have to include the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The play was already really tight. It is a limited 16-week run. Christopher Plummer is amazing. I would watch him reciting the telephone book. I would watch him watch paint dry. He has great lines and is really captivating. He plays the character based on Clarence Darrow.

I find it funny that I already associate Brian Dennehy with two made-for-TV films he did based on real trials. Skokie based on a Free Speech trial. In To Catch a Killer he is scary, evil, serial killing clown John Wayne Gacy. He is also quite strong in Inherit the Wind.

There is a large cast and they are quite talented. Maggie Lacey does a great job as the conflicted Reverend’s daughter who happens to love the defendant. Byron Jennings is very righteous as the Reverend. Assorted townspeaople really add to the atmosphere – and seem like they are having fun.

I did not like Denis O’Hare as E.K. Hornbeck, a big city journalist who comes to town to cover the trial. He has great lines and I don’t enjoy his reading of them.

It is worth the price of admission to watch Christopher Plummer. I had seats in the first row on Stage. It is as though you are part of the jury. You sit facing the rest of the audience so at times you see people’s backs. At the same time tickets are cheap, $36 or so and you can’t get any closer to the actors. I recommend the experience; discounted tickets on the stage are also available at the fantastic Spring Awakening (am ready to see this for the third time, it is in heavy rotation on my iPod.) I am so excited to be seeing Duncan Sheik in May, he is supposed to be singing songs from Spring Awakening in addition to his stuff.

Related media:

Inherit the Wind (Book) Authors:Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee Manufacturer:Ballantine Books Released:20 March, 2007

Monkey Business: The True Story Of The Scopes Trial (Book) Authors:Marvin Olasky, John Perry Manufacturer:B&H Publishing Group Released:15 May, 2005

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial And America’s Continuing Debate over Science And Religion (Book) Authors:Edward J. Larson Manufacturer:Basic Books Released:02 October, 2006

The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything: Evolution, Intelligent Design, and a School Board in Dover, PA (Book) Authors:Gordy Slack Manufacturer:Jossey-Bass Released:18 May, 2007

The Essential Words and Writings of Clarence Darrow (Modern Library Classics) (Book) Authors:Clarence Darrow, Edward J. Larson Manufacturer:Modern Library Released:12 June, 2007

Inherit the Wind (DVD) Manufacturer:MGM (Video & DVD) Released:11 December, 2001

Skokie (DVD) Manufacturer:Evg Released:12 February, 2004

To Catch a Killer (DVD) Manufacturer:Image Entertainment Released:21 September, 1999

Spring Awakening (2006 Original Broadway Cast) (Music) Artist:Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, Skylar Astin, Lilli Cooper, John Gallagher Jr., Gideon Glick, Jonathan Groff, Brian Johnson, Lea Michele, Lauren Pritchard Manufacturer:Decca Broadway Released:12 December, 2006

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Khalifa Natour

Saw In Spitting Distance a one man show written by Taher Najib, performed by Khalifa Natour and directed by Ofira Henig as part of the Israel Non-Stop Festival 2007. Official description: “Winner of the first prize in Israel’s TheaterNetto Festival, this moving and ironic personal drama touches on all the complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian situation. Experience a rare collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian artists in this humorous yet painful story of a Palestinian actor with an Israeli passport trying to travel from Paris to Tel-Aviv to Ramallah on September 11, 2002.”

Winning first prize at the Theaternetto festival is a big deal. It is a really amazing international theater festival in Tel Aviv for one-person shows.

The show itself is funny, in the everyman against spirit-crushing beaurocracy to the point of the absurd where the only reaction you can have is to laugh in the face of it. Reminiscent of this recent story about US immigration officials. I could definitely picture it as a short film (the words and acting were really vivid) and told the actor so after the show.

Ofira Henig the director and Khalifa Natour the actor were on hand for questions after the show.

The first question, more of a comment, related to what big important statement they were making = how wonderful…She said: “I am an artist before I am an Israeli.” This had me wondering how long it takes before you can say that earnestly without a shred of self-doubt. So at this moment I wanted to hate her but I really enjoyed the rest of the comments so good on her. She commented that they did not want to be seen as an example of coexistence – a thing she believes does not exist. This is their story, a personal story, art, no conclusions should be drawn to either side from it and this is the most important political act they could do.

The next question asked if the play wasn’t too kind to the horrors that exist in the region. Her response was that this was a Palestinian’s playwright’s story. She was not directing the story of the Palestinian People, only the story of Taher and Khalifa. She continued to the questioner: You are looking for a demonstration, maybe. But Art shouldn’t be propoganda, it shouldn’t give answers. It should be more complicated than that and should make you ask questions.

Khalifa joins the conversation a bit late. They both relate that in Palestinian theater the question of who is telling whose story is important. They would like to perform the play more but they are both involved in other projects and the play was produced independently, not as part of a theater company’s repertory.

She likens theater that demonstrates its politics to being sick on an audience. She does this less so in her later work even though she feels she is more radical than ever. She feels you have to touch the audience. You can’t punch or browbeat them. You need to make them feel something. I appreciate this sentiment a lot. I hate being at a performance and feeling like I am being hit over the head with a sledgehammer with the MESSAGE. She continues that they both work on works by Oscar Wilde, Chekhov and Shakespeare. Again she views this as the most political act one can do. That there should be issues of aesthetics and sophistication in art not just what you think.

When asked about the minimalism of the direction she responded it was a lesson in modesty. Not everything has to be Broadway. A good actor, text, lighting and music – you don’t really need anything else.

When asked about the play’s effect on Israeli and Palestinian audiences (It is performed in both Hebrew and Arabic) the response is that it has a big effect on Israelis because of the questions it raises within them. Is it about them, it makes them smile, theyr elate to it. That enjoyment raises questions and it’s quite strong though usually it is the people who are already convinced who attend.

The Palestinians feel immediate empathy. At the Arabic premier in Acco (Acre) there was a full house and from the very first word the audience was with him, identifying with his character immediately. They laugh really hard and empathize. They are laughing at themselves.

In Switzerland was the first performance they ever had abroad. There was complete silence. There were no Israelis or Palestinians in the crowd – all Swiss. They were panicked. It turns out they were really into it. They remembered every word but they didn’t allow themselves to laugh at the situation and to find the irony and humor in it.

There is a fine tradition of Gallows Humor. While this play is about facing beaurocracy rather than death – it comes from that same place where you can cry (with defeat or rage) or laugh so why not laugh or at least giggle hysterically.

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Saw a fun musical yesterday. How to Save the World and Find True Love in 90 Minutes. A high-energy, screwball musical comedy about a phobic U.N. bookstore clerk who develops the ability to read people’s minds, saves the world and finds true love. He happens to have a singing Greek chorus while doing it. This musical will not change your life. It will occasionally appeal to your inner fifth grader. And it will brighten your day and make you leave the theater smiling. Of note in the cast I saw were Kevin Smith Kirkwood and Pamela Bob (understudy) who are in the chorus. Their energy could barely be contained by the stage. We were laughing out loud. For a good time get tix.

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The Treatment

Went to see the treatment by Eve Ensler at The Culture Project tonight. Dylan McDermott (Eve Ensler’s adopted stepson) is a soldier with post-traumatic stress over torture he committed in the line of duty. Portia is the psychologist and soldier tasked with the job of getting the goods on his superiors and treating his disorder.

It had some interesting ideas [about psychological trauma, treatment and torture, transferrence, duty and military life] but didn’t go deep enough with these ideas instead just bludgeoned the audience with a simple message in flat-out exposition about the rules having changed, rules are good, we need them blah blah blah. At some point he says something about not wanting to talk about his mother and then spilling out his guts about his mother. Isn’t that a tired trope at this point?

The playwright should be given credit for using her work to protest something she finds unjust. We don’t seem very involved with this war like Vietnam…maybe it’s because we have cable now – it is not the only thing going on in your living room. The cynical part of me sees it also as an attempt to be relevant – The Vagina Monologues came out in 1996.

It’s like Colombian artist Fernando Botero‘s new paintings based on Abu Ghraib now on exhibit at the Marlborough Gallery. He is a talented artist, known for his pleasant figures with exaggerated proportions (ok they’re fat). Someone may want to tell him prisoners don’t usually look like that. On the one hand, good for him for protesting something ugly with his work. On the other hand according to a recent New York Magazine piece: “The buzz, helped Botero pieces break records at auction this year, two selling for over $2 million each.”

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