| McNally;s charming AWAY WE GO: 2 errors ... | |
| Posted by: | NewtonUK 10:38 pm EST 11/30/13 |
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| Terrence McNally has written a charming occasion play about theatre, time traveling from the Greeks, to the Globe, to the Moscow Art Theatre, to Waiting Godot at the Coconut Grove (with a tacked on 'dying of AIDS' scene near the end). McNally knows his theatre and his opera. The Pearl has been in the business of producing the classics for many decades. So how could the play get to the stage, past opening, with two theatre history howlers. At one point an actor mentions 'Mystery Plays', and describes them as New Testament stories acted out in front of Churches. Not quite. The Mystery Plays were cycles of plays all of which, as far as I know, begin with the Old Testament and work their way thru the OT to the NT. Some of the most famous Mystery plays are Old Testament plays, which are sometimes bawdy and funny. And the they refer to a production of Oliver Goldsmith's 'She Stoops to Conquer' (1773) as a Restoration Play. People who failed Theatre History 101 might make this error. A few seasons back Lincoln Center referred to their production of Sheridan's THE RIVALS (1775) as a great Restoration Comedy. Of course, nothing could be further than the truth. Restoration comedy, which returned women to the stage, is a term referring to plays written more or less between 1660 & 1710. Sheridan and Goldsmith wrote 'Comedies of Manners' and/or 'Sentimental Comedies'. Many miles from the Restoration comedies of Wycherley and Congreve. These are not small errors, but ones that, in a play about the history of the theatre and actors, produced by a company known for the classics, someone should have corrected. | |
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| Previous: | Stacy Keach's favorite death scenes - kieran 11:43 pm EST 11/30/13 |
| Next: | re: McNally;s charming AWAY WE GO: 2 errors ... - allineedisthegirl 03:21 pm EST 12/02/13 |
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