Does anyone else feel like the clock is ticking backwards over the last eight years?
ps. How did that film get so many oscar nods?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Hump Day of Exam Week
Today Sucks.
The goods news is that I finally found rice that does what its suppose to do - stick together - and its the cheapest in the store. YIPPEE!!
The bad news is I'm fighting off the overwhelming urge to drink at lunch. The whiskey might win today.
The goods news is that I finally found rice that does what its suppose to do - stick together - and its the cheapest in the store. YIPPEE!!
The bad news is I'm fighting off the overwhelming urge to drink at lunch. The whiskey might win today.
Dear President Obama,
As you stand in front of the cheer crowds of the nation who have placed their hopes and dreams in you open hands, remember that it’s you we voted for. Do not forget yourself. Trust your methods of decision-making.
And as your first term counts down, and your hair has turned a sombre grey, do not count each strand as a pillar of your stresses, but as threads in the quilt that tucks the United States safely to bed every night, count them as the ropes that pull up the sun in the morning and has the ribbons that bring all the people in our nation home.
Don’t let your daughters forget who their father is, who don’t have to be the President to be their hero. Make sure you take them on the walks with their new puppy. I will always be a daughter, before I am anything else and my father is the one I turn to when I don’t know which path to take.
I might not be old or wise, but I know how to build a story, and you have only just accepted the call to adventure. Like all good roads, its never easy, but its harder to stop.
When your silvery ropes pull the morning sun to close, because they are too strong, in 2016 you will step away from our house and join the ranks of men who kept the sun aloft in darker corners of the world. We will still stand behind you then.
Best of luck, Callan Stout
As you stand in front of the cheer crowds of the nation who have placed their hopes and dreams in you open hands, remember that it’s you we voted for. Do not forget yourself. Trust your methods of decision-making.
And as your first term counts down, and your hair has turned a sombre grey, do not count each strand as a pillar of your stresses, but as threads in the quilt that tucks the United States safely to bed every night, count them as the ropes that pull up the sun in the morning and has the ribbons that bring all the people in our nation home.
Don’t let your daughters forget who their father is, who don’t have to be the President to be their hero. Make sure you take them on the walks with their new puppy. I will always be a daughter, before I am anything else and my father is the one I turn to when I don’t know which path to take.
I might not be old or wise, but I know how to build a story, and you have only just accepted the call to adventure. Like all good roads, its never easy, but its harder to stop.
When your silvery ropes pull the morning sun to close, because they are too strong, in 2016 you will step away from our house and join the ranks of men who kept the sun aloft in darker corners of the world. We will still stand behind you then.
Best of luck, Callan Stout
Monday, January 19, 2009
Blue Monday
While over in the US of A, its Martin Luther King Jr day and our shining beacon of hope (and Colin Powell) have called a day of service. Over here in the UK of A (here it stands for assholes) it is Blue Monday. No that not a day where everyone gets free Blue Hawai'i's at lunch. Blue Monday is the most depressing day of the year (as evidenced by having to type this blog entry twice, because the first one didn't save). Some newspapers are calling it the most depressing day in HISTORY. Now that's depressing. I need a drink.
So today is the most depressing day because of holiday bills being due and pay checks not yet out. Add in the next UK holidays isn't scheduled for 82 days from now, crap weather and "the credit crunch", people are having a lousey day. I can also personally throw in two exams that I'm not really prepared for.
BUT I'm in luck. I have something to look forward to and its much sooner thatn 82 days. I'm going to Ireland on friday, for my week off between exams and the new term. I'm excited. And I have the money to pay for it (well, the government wont want it back for another 30 years). AND the Temple Bar area of Dublin is having aTradFest (traditional culture festival).
So other than the fact that I'm wearing Blue, and would honestly prefer to be back in NYC building houses for orphans or innoculating the homeless against diseases (did I get that the wrong way around?), today is not too blue. The weather does suck and I still have exams, but in my heart I have Ireland.
So today is the most depressing day because of holiday bills being due and pay checks not yet out. Add in the next UK holidays isn't scheduled for 82 days from now, crap weather and "the credit crunch", people are having a lousey day. I can also personally throw in two exams that I'm not really prepared for.
BUT I'm in luck. I have something to look forward to and its much sooner thatn 82 days. I'm going to Ireland on friday, for my week off between exams and the new term. I'm excited. And I have the money to pay for it (well, the government wont want it back for another 30 years). AND the Temple Bar area of Dublin is having aTradFest (traditional culture festival).
So other than the fact that I'm wearing Blue, and would honestly prefer to be back in NYC building houses for orphans or innoculating the homeless against diseases (did I get that the wrong way around?), today is not too blue. The weather does suck and I still have exams, but in my heart I have Ireland.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Reviews of Shows I saw in NYC and should have posted sooner
6 Jan 2009
Hedda Gabler
By Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Christopher Shinn
With Mary Louise Parker, Michael Cerveris, Paul Sparks, Peter Stormare, Lois Markle, Ana Reeder and Helen Carey
Roundabout Theatre Company
Despite the fact that I’m a playwright I’ve never read Hedda Gabler. I probably shouldn’t admit that in public. I know the play, I mean who doesn’t in this business, but I’ve never read it. Sure it was on class reading lists and there were about 5 other productions in New York last year that I should have seen, but I didn’t. That I aside I know what happens at the end, but not really how they get there (I suppose Brecht would approve).
I have been told that Heddatron, a new adaptation of the play performed with robots was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, I didn’t see it – this is starting to sound repetitive. So, Hedda done with robots – GOOD. Hedda done with the actors impersonating robots –BAD.
Maybe I’m being harsh. It was the first preview, and I probably shouldn’t even be reviewing it, but none-the-less. Parker’s deadpan delivery of every single line got a little monotonous, after it stopped being drôle somewhere in the first act. And maybe its my modern day prejudice but I felt like Hedda was trapped because she put herself there, it wasn’t anyone else’s fault, which made her suicide seem overly melodramatic. And everyone’s reactions to it were rather mundane, ‘oh, there goes Hedda again, trying to be the center of attention’.
I have seen both Lois Markle (Berte, the maid) and Ana Reeder (Mrs. Thea Elvsted, Hedda’s competition/companion) before in other plays. I enjoyed Markle’s performance in The American Dream and The Sandbox at the Cherry Lane. There’s something about Ana Reeder that makes me feel like she was the wrong choice for everything I’ve seen her do. Except for No Country for Old Men, she worked for that role. I wish I could explain how I feel about her as an actress, but I lack the words, or thought process.
I hope that the production improves. I know the TV stars put not-regular-theater-goer-butts-in-seats, but I’d like the plays to still be worth seeing for people who know what they’re looking at.
4 Jan 2009
The Cripple of Inishmaan
By Martin McDonagh
Atlantic Theater Company
I have never seen a Martin McDonagh play before due to numerous unfortunate circumstances that I will not elaborate here. I also didn’t see this one. But the gods of theatre relented and I got a last minute ticket. It was completely worth the wait.
McDonagh is hysterical. Although he is know for his scary plays The Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, this one is really funny, but doesn’t lack its own unexpected twists and seat gripping tension.
The cast was stellar. They hit every beat and sang every note. Kerry Condon was a delight as the rough talking women of desire of the lead. Condon brought an earthy rawness to the character that made her hard not to love.
No one likes to read good reviews, so I’ll stop. Just go see it.
3 Jan 2009
EQUUS
With Richard Griffiths, Daniel Radcliff
Broadhurst Theatre
I’m still not sure how I feel about this play and I’ve had a lot of time to think about it between watching and writing. I think Radcliff made the right choice in doing this play. He has been able to show the entertainment business (and fans) that he’s not just Harry Potter, which will be an invaluable career move.
However, I felt like Griffiths was about 3centimeters off from the rest of the play. My date to the performance said, “he was just phoning it in”, but I’m not sure I completely agree with that. I know it’s nit-picky, but I also didn’t really like the color of the costumes of the men playing the horses. It reminded me of bad 70’s velour sweat suits (like the modern Juicy incarnation, but in a color they would never make). I think it was supposed to be chestnut. And looking at the writer’s note about the horses’ costumes I think they got it right, but that doesn’t mean I liked it.
As for the play itself, well, I had problems. And I have more to say but cannot articulate it at this time in a constructive way. Maybe later.
30 Dec 2008
SPEED-THE-PLOW
By David Mamet
With Raúl Esparza, Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Moss
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
The scandal around this production is that it originally opened with Jeremy Piven (who received generally mixed reviews from my friends who saw him) and he dropped about due to rather dubious medical reasons. The rumor circling through New York theatre people is that we was bored doing the same thing over and over, and sitting around backstage. Although I can’t image he did more backstage-sitting during this show than he does behind-camera sitting on his TV show. The rest of the rumor is that because of his bored he became a stage managers nightmare, but all of this is unconfirmed.
Not that I saw Piven on stage, but all I can say is ‘Thank goodness he dropped out’. Norbert Leo Butz is amazing. I saw him after he was off book (he performed the first evening, at least, on book due to the miniscule rehearsal period). Butz brought a sarcastic vitality to the role of newly made TV mogul Bobby Gould, you would have thought Butz had grown up in Hollywood.
The vibrancy of the relationships between Butz and Raúl Esparza, and Butz and Elizabeth Moss was outstanding. A good play show by like a good game of tennis. You keep hitting the ball back and forth for as long as possible, slowly pushing your opponent to the limits of their ability, but not going any further, and they are teasing you in just the same way. Slowly drawing them out, enjoying the cat-and-mouse game of it. You could see that in the three relationships between Butz, Esparza and Moss.
Unfortunately Butz is only standing in until William H. Macy (a veritable Mamet scholar) is fully rehearsed and ready to join the cast, which is unfortunate. Butz is superb, I fear Macy might be too old to properly meld with Esparza and Moss and that poor understudy who thought he got his big break when Piven left. To him my heart goes out (Jordon Lage, for anyone who is interested). It will be interesting to hear from someone who sees all three of the actors, if nothing else this is definitely a lesson in how an actor shapes a play.
Hedda Gabler
By Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Christopher Shinn
With Mary Louise Parker, Michael Cerveris, Paul Sparks, Peter Stormare, Lois Markle, Ana Reeder and Helen Carey
Roundabout Theatre Company
Despite the fact that I’m a playwright I’ve never read Hedda Gabler. I probably shouldn’t admit that in public. I know the play, I mean who doesn’t in this business, but I’ve never read it. Sure it was on class reading lists and there were about 5 other productions in New York last year that I should have seen, but I didn’t. That I aside I know what happens at the end, but not really how they get there (I suppose Brecht would approve).
I have been told that Heddatron, a new adaptation of the play performed with robots was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, I didn’t see it – this is starting to sound repetitive. So, Hedda done with robots – GOOD. Hedda done with the actors impersonating robots –BAD.
Maybe I’m being harsh. It was the first preview, and I probably shouldn’t even be reviewing it, but none-the-less. Parker’s deadpan delivery of every single line got a little monotonous, after it stopped being drôle somewhere in the first act. And maybe its my modern day prejudice but I felt like Hedda was trapped because she put herself there, it wasn’t anyone else’s fault, which made her suicide seem overly melodramatic. And everyone’s reactions to it were rather mundane, ‘oh, there goes Hedda again, trying to be the center of attention’.
I have seen both Lois Markle (Berte, the maid) and Ana Reeder (Mrs. Thea Elvsted, Hedda’s competition/companion) before in other plays. I enjoyed Markle’s performance in The American Dream and The Sandbox at the Cherry Lane. There’s something about Ana Reeder that makes me feel like she was the wrong choice for everything I’ve seen her do. Except for No Country for Old Men, she worked for that role. I wish I could explain how I feel about her as an actress, but I lack the words, or thought process.
I hope that the production improves. I know the TV stars put not-regular-theater-goer-butts-in-seats, but I’d like the plays to still be worth seeing for people who know what they’re looking at.
4 Jan 2009
The Cripple of Inishmaan
By Martin McDonagh
Atlantic Theater Company
I have never seen a Martin McDonagh play before due to numerous unfortunate circumstances that I will not elaborate here. I also didn’t see this one. But the gods of theatre relented and I got a last minute ticket. It was completely worth the wait.
McDonagh is hysterical. Although he is know for his scary plays The Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, this one is really funny, but doesn’t lack its own unexpected twists and seat gripping tension.
The cast was stellar. They hit every beat and sang every note. Kerry Condon was a delight as the rough talking women of desire of the lead. Condon brought an earthy rawness to the character that made her hard not to love.
No one likes to read good reviews, so I’ll stop. Just go see it.
3 Jan 2009
EQUUS
With Richard Griffiths, Daniel Radcliff
Broadhurst Theatre
I’m still not sure how I feel about this play and I’ve had a lot of time to think about it between watching and writing. I think Radcliff made the right choice in doing this play. He has been able to show the entertainment business (and fans) that he’s not just Harry Potter, which will be an invaluable career move.
However, I felt like Griffiths was about 3centimeters off from the rest of the play. My date to the performance said, “he was just phoning it in”, but I’m not sure I completely agree with that. I know it’s nit-picky, but I also didn’t really like the color of the costumes of the men playing the horses. It reminded me of bad 70’s velour sweat suits (like the modern Juicy incarnation, but in a color they would never make). I think it was supposed to be chestnut. And looking at the writer’s note about the horses’ costumes I think they got it right, but that doesn’t mean I liked it.
As for the play itself, well, I had problems. And I have more to say but cannot articulate it at this time in a constructive way. Maybe later.
30 Dec 2008
SPEED-THE-PLOW
By David Mamet
With Raúl Esparza, Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Moss
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
The scandal around this production is that it originally opened with Jeremy Piven (who received generally mixed reviews from my friends who saw him) and he dropped about due to rather dubious medical reasons. The rumor circling through New York theatre people is that we was bored doing the same thing over and over, and sitting around backstage. Although I can’t image he did more backstage-sitting during this show than he does behind-camera sitting on his TV show. The rest of the rumor is that because of his bored he became a stage managers nightmare, but all of this is unconfirmed.
Not that I saw Piven on stage, but all I can say is ‘Thank goodness he dropped out’. Norbert Leo Butz is amazing. I saw him after he was off book (he performed the first evening, at least, on book due to the miniscule rehearsal period). Butz brought a sarcastic vitality to the role of newly made TV mogul Bobby Gould, you would have thought Butz had grown up in Hollywood.
The vibrancy of the relationships between Butz and Raúl Esparza, and Butz and Elizabeth Moss was outstanding. A good play show by like a good game of tennis. You keep hitting the ball back and forth for as long as possible, slowly pushing your opponent to the limits of their ability, but not going any further, and they are teasing you in just the same way. Slowly drawing them out, enjoying the cat-and-mouse game of it. You could see that in the three relationships between Butz, Esparza and Moss.
Unfortunately Butz is only standing in until William H. Macy (a veritable Mamet scholar) is fully rehearsed and ready to join the cast, which is unfortunate. Butz is superb, I fear Macy might be too old to properly meld with Esparza and Moss and that poor understudy who thought he got his big break when Piven left. To him my heart goes out (Jordon Lage, for anyone who is interested). It will be interesting to hear from someone who sees all three of the actors, if nothing else this is definitely a lesson in how an actor shapes a play.
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