R&J

R&J by Nature Theater of Oklahoma. I thoroughly enjoyed this show. Really fun, great performers. Like their other shows, I didn't totally need or buy into the self-referential bits, but who cares. That guy Robert is awesome.

The show reminded me of this video.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

leary

Left baby at home and went to Soho Rep to see YJL's Lear.
Great cast, amazing design (!!), amusing bits of dialogue in some scenes, touching monologue near end. A ridiculously heightened doublet & hose (& ruff) Shakespeare universe disintegrates over the course of the meandering play until artifice is left crumpled on the ground. But not sold on the Lear (Shakespeare's) aspect of it. Felt a bit talked down to. The familial themes were not a sensational or controversial as those in her other plays which meant it had to have more substance or structure to support it.

there is no end

Last year (2009) I got married and had a baby. So I didn't much get to the theater. I just stopped wanting to be in the theater. In fact i stopped wanting to do anything that had to do with culture or literature. I could barely read a book. I read one book in 2009 and it was Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris which was pretty darned entertaining. It got a bit mushy towards the end for my taste, but I guess the world needs things to tie themselves up into a nice package. Dan R gave me the book for Christmas 2008. Although I guess he doesn't celebrate Christmas (Jew) so it was really just a friendly holiday gift. Such a sweet guy.


Anyway I did see another show after the baby popped out. It has been hard to find a way to get out of the house by myself to go to the theater -- it seems like such a luxury now. It forces me to find value even in the lousiest shows. Jeremy Wade's there is no end to more, however, was not at all a lousy show. I think I appreciated it more, now that a month has gone by since I saw it. Starring Jared Gradinger, who I saw in Constanza Macras' piece(s), this children's TV show on acid x poop + manga had some really amazing chunks of text in it -- scatological in tone which I love. The movement was nuanced and precisely executed, but I didn't really "get" into it. It was a really well made show -- like the show that the Big Arts Gourp wanted to be but couldn't.