Dr. Szlyk's Blog for ENGL 190

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Reviews of M. Butterfly

Somewhere there are audiotapes of B.D. Wong and John Lithgow's performances of M. Butterfly. (The picture above is from Amazon.)

Here are some reviews of that version from 1988:

http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?html_title=&tols_title=M%20BUTTERFLY%20(PLAY)&pdate=19880321&byline=By%20FRANK%20RICH&id=1077011430660

http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=940DE7DA1039F933A25757C0A96E948260

You may also find this video about the making of this production to be interesting:

http://americantheatrewing.org/wit/detail/m_butterfly_04_88

For more reviews of the film that we saw, see these links:

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DE7DD1E3AF932A35753C1A965958260

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19931008/REVIEWS/310080302/1023

Sean Axmaker's review dates from 2009, so he is reconsidering the film:

http://parallax-view.org/2009/05/26/m-butterfly-dvds-for-the-week/

How has M. Butterfly been revived over the years?

The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis staged this play in 2010.

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/04/24/guthrie-nails-m-butterfly

Chicago's Bohemian Theater Ensemble staged this play in 2008:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-04-11/entertainment/0804090243_1_gallimard-dr-jekyll-mr-hyde

http://www.windycitytimes.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=17898

The University of California at Irvine's version dates from 1994:

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-01-27/entertainment/ca-15743_1_m-butterfly

Our Arena Stage's version appeared in 2004:

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/dc/dc153.html

This is around the same time that LA's East West Players staged this play. Their director was Chay Yew:

http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=12242

If you are interested in learning about David Henry Hwang's more recent work, here is a link to a 2007 interview with him:

http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=71564

Someday I will watch Farewell My Concubine, a Chinese film on a related topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC-_SLiRnJE

Reviews of Angels in America (film & play)

I've wanted to do a blog with links to reviews of Angels for a while. I think that it will help you answer question #2 on the subjective midterm.

First, let's start with reviews of the HBO production that we saw.

This review focuses on the second half of Angels:

http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/tv/reviews/n_9578/

How might an author at an LBTQ site view this production?

http://cinemaqueer.com/review%20pages/angels.html

Frank Rich of the NY Times reviews the production here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/arts/angels-reagan-and-aids-in-america.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Queer critic and novelist Dale Peck is more critical:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2003/12/the_lector_effect.html

Let's look at some reviews of theatrical productions:

We'll start with the Broadway revival from 2010:

http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/theater/reviews/29angels.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.vulture.com/2010/10/theater_review_1.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/10/theater-review-angels-in-america-at-the-signature-theatre-company.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/theater/25angels.html?pagewanted=all

What was it like to view the original productions?

http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?html_title=&tols_title=ANGELS%20IN%20AMERICA:%20MILLENIUM%20APPROACHES%20(PLAY)&pdate=19930505&byline=By%20FRANK%20RICH&id=1077011429136

http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/orderandchaos/Angels,%20Part%20II-%20Perestroika%20Times%20review.pdf

What is it like to view other productions in the US?

http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/theatre-review-boston-angels-in-america/

http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/10712-angels-in-america-part-one-millenium-approaches/

http://a-great-day-in-peoria.blogspot.com/2011/02/theater-review-angels-in-america.html

http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/10/07/angels-in-america-part-i-millennium-approaches/

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2011/12/angels_in_america_review.html

This blog from Chicago is too interesting to pass up:

http://www.courttheatre.org/blog/

Is this play performed outside the US?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/jun/28/theatre

http://www.scotsman.com/news/angels-in-america-1-1418893

http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/sydney/angels-in-america--new-theatre-1452.html

http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=2425

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Midterm Prompts -- EN 230 -- Spring 2012

Above is a picture of a 2004 production of M. Butterfly. It was staged at the David Henry Hwang Theater!

Below are the prompts for your take home part of the midterm. Please choose one prompt and use the questions to create an essay with an introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs, and conclusion. This essay may be from two to five pages.

Question #1:

Consider the plays that we've read and seen so far this semester (including "Soul Gone Home" and A Streetcar Named Desire). What do they tell us about modern and contemporary drama? (Modern drama includes "Soul Gone Home," Death of a Salesman, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Contemporary drama includes Fences, Angels in America, and M. Butterfly.) What do these plays have in common? How are they distinct from other, earlier plays such as Oedipus Rex, Shakespeare's plays, or Ibsen's plays? (Note that Ibsen *is* modern. Also, the modern era ends in 1970.) Consider performance as well as the text of plays.

BTW, here are some scenes from a 1970s production of The Country Wife, a comedy of the Restoration era (after Shakespeare and before Ibsen):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI8z9eiQ1Y8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hah-HprxzPA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROI9FhR6URI&feature=related

Question #2:

What does performance add to the plays that we've read? How does performance limit these plays? How have watching the various clips helped you understand our plays? Discuss the differences between film/TV and stage versions, and feel free to consider versions we did not see in class. Can a play still be worth reading if it is never performed? Why? Why not? Consider the argument made in the following 2007 essay from the City Paper:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/34341/test-case-scenarios

Consider the differences between drama (play text) and theater (performance).

Question #3:

Discuss the family dynamics that you see in two to three of the plays that you've read and seen. All of the playwrights we have read so far are men. How might a female playwright view these families that we see on stage? How might a director of today reinterpret these families?

Feel free to bring in the insights Justin Emeka and Avery Brooks give us in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqXkNA3vQDY

Question #4:

In the first part of the semester we are examining American drama, both modern and contemporary. Which trends seem to be emerging? What appears to be distinctly American about our plays? Consider that some plays depict what one might call the ethnic American experience. Also, M. Butterfly is *not* set in the US although its author is (Asian-)American. Feel free to discuss differences between regions, classes, and time periods. You may also want to refer to Justin Emeka and Avery Brooks' discussion of their production of Death of a Salesman at Oberlin College.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC4UUhUZRX8&feature=related

Here is a trailer from their production:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPnEFZJafjE&feature=related

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Local Theater -- Red

My husband and I have also been attending performances of contemporary drama. Last weekend we saw Red at Arena Stage, another impressive venue. This venue, however, is quite 21st century.

Red's subject matter is also quite modern and fits into our course nicely. The play is about modern artist Mark Rothko.

You may prefer to see his distinctive paintings in color.

The play is set in the late 1950s when Rothko was completing a commission to paint murals for The Four Seasons, a very expensive restaurant in NYC. Rothko's style of painting was also being challenged by the work of artists such as Andy Warhol. In the play itself, Rothko and his assistant, Ken, a young artist, battle over art and its meaning. I wonder how this play would work as drama read in a class like EN 230. However, visual and aural elements that may be difficult to convey on the page are so important to this play in particular. (It is set in Rothko's studio, a capacious loft with much equipment and many paintings in progress.) Also, as my brother-in-law pointed out to me, this play would be difficult to stage in many settings and requires a venue and company like Arena Stage or its equivalent. For more information, see this article from The NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/theater/30red.html

The scene below is from Arena Stage.

Even the paint that Rothko and Ken throw around the stage requires technical know-how. After all, oil paint is very permanent. Yet, in one scene, Ken cleans it up very quickly.

For reviews of Red at Arena Stage, see the following links:

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/22609.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-hues-blend-evocatively-in-arena-stages-red/2012/01/29/gIQAvA52aQ_story.html

Links to reviews of other productions are below:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/boston/southend/articles/2012/01/29/in_two_plays_art_and_red_one_question_how_much_do_we_believe_in_abstract_art/

http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/132294-red-explores-rothkos-emotional-palette/

http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/theater/reviews/02red.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/stage/7790335-421/red-uses-the-stage-as-a-canvas-in-painting-a-volcanic-mark-rothko.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/6767740/Red-at-the-Donmar-Warehouse-review.html

For information about Rothko, see the links below:

http://www.hollistaggart.com/artists/biography/mark_rothko/

http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/dec/12/mark-rothko-red-william-boyd

And what did happen to the murals that Rothko was supposed to paint for the Four Seasons:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2002/dec/07/artsfeatures

To finish, here are links to videos and articles about what it is like to perform in Red.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2010/04/from-one-artist-to-another-alfred-molina-plays-painter-rothko-on-broadway.html

http://video.pbs.org/video/2194097529/

http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=&sc2=features&sc3=&id=128678

The scene below is from Boston's Speakeasy Theater:

Local Theater -- The Gaming Table

Although Susanna Centlivre wrote The Basset Table...I mean...The Gaming Table long before our era begins in EN 230, I'd like to post a quick review of the performance my husband and I saw today at the Folger Theater in DC.

One of the advantages of living near DC is the ability to see performances of plays that are no longer performed as often. The Folger Theater is a particularly suitable venue. The two-story stage with its sweeping, wooden staircase represented an eighteenth-century London mansion in a way that a more typical stage might not.

This performance reminded me that Restoration comedy is fun to read--and watch. The performance was fun and funny without being condescending or condescended to. Neither did it creak. The actors were skillful, and parts of the play were discreetly updated here and there. Since we associate basset with dogs rather than with cards, the play's title became The Gaming Table. After all, the play is about women who gamble on cards, love, and men. The prologue and epilogue included references to Congress and women's roles today.

Like many Restoration comedies, The Gaming Table brings together several couples in a merry round of romance. Centlivre gives us four to be exact. First is Lady Reveller, a spunky widow, and her beau Worthy, who wants her to give up gambling. Next is her cousin Lady Lucy, a serious young lady who prefers the playhouse to the gaming table, and Sir James Courtly, a not-so-serious man. Another cousin, Valeria, would seem to prefer science to love...except that she is in love with the charming Ensign Lovely. And then there are Mr. and Mrs. Sago, Pud and Kiki...except that she appears to love gaming and Sir James more than she loves her husband. Other characters throw in complications. Valeria's father intends for her to marry Captain Hearty who would rather not marry her. And then there are Buckle and Alpiew, the servants of Worthy and Lady Reveller respectively.

But all's well in the end.

Here are links to a few reviews of The Gaming Table:

http://dctheatrescene.com/2012/02/02/the-gaming-table/

http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/articles/play-dc-the-gaming-table-the-folger-theatre.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/performing-arts/the-gaming-table,1213012/critic-review.html

http://ellenandjim.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/susanna-centlivres-the-gaming-basset-table-at-the-folger/

For more information about the play itself, see The Folger Theater's website:

http://www.folger.edu/woSummary.cfm?woid=677

For more information about Susanna Centlivre who wrote The Basset Table in 1705, see these links:

http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4035

http://www.juggernaut-theatre.org/first100years/centlivrebio.html

See these links for a review of an earlier revival of The Basset Table:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=108015&sectioncode=26

UMBC has a podcast of a performance:

http://www.umbc.edu/theatre/z_bassettable.html

Chicago's Alcyone Festival in 2008 included a performance of another of Centlivre's plays:

http://halcyontheatre.org/boldstroke

The Busy Body was staged in NYC in 2010:

http://who-will-kiss-the-pig.blogspot.com/2010/08/saturday-evening-in-washington-heights.html

The blog entry above has many pictures!

The Wonder was also staged in NYC. This appears to be a more modern version.

Langston Hughes, The Playwright

You may know Langston Hughes (1902-1967) as a poet, the author of "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "I, Too, Sing of America," and "Theme for English B." These poems are quite famous. (Below is a link to Hughes reading "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," a poem that he wrote when he was seventeen!)

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15722

You may also know Hughes from your freshman composition class. Many teachers assign Hughes' "Salvation," a piece from his autobiography, The Big Sea.

http://www.courses.vcu.edu/ENG200-dwc/hughes.htm

However, Hughes was also a playwright, and "Soul Gone Home" (1937) was one of his many efforts in this genre. Here is a link to an article about a recent performance of this play:

http://www.campusecho.com/hughes-spirit-lives-1.2679964

I'm surprised that there haven't been other revivals, but here is a review of an opera based on Hughes' play.

http://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=12

Ah, here is a review of a performance of the play at Purdue's Black Cultural Center:

http://archive.purdueexponent.org/interface/bebop/showstory.php?date=2002/11/1&section=features&storyid=BCCReview

A picture of this 2002 performance is below:

Hughes wrote a number of other plays and librettos for operas, and during the later part of his career, he became increasingly successful. Staging his plays could be frustrating, and he often had to fight for them. In 1930, he collaborated with Zora Neale Hurston on a play, Mule Bone, but their partnership fell apart. Ultimately, she claimed that the finished play was hers and hers alone. As a result, the theater company that had been planning on performing the play decided not to do so, and the play would not be staged until 1991, long after its authors' deaths.