| PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | NeoAdamite 10:52 am EST 11/17/14 |
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| The cast of Simon Stephens' PUNK ROCK, presented by MCC at the Lortel, has an exceptionally strong cast of young players, people you're going to be seeing a lot of in years to come. It's tightly written and has some sparks of real life in it. The warnings [NO SPOILERS]: The scene-change music is VERY LOUD. I expected that, to some extent, and even warned my companion in advance; but this was beyond my imagining, really concert-level volume. There are large helpings of brutality and humiliation shared amongst these seventeen-year-olds. They're not huge exaggerations of reality, at least in my experience, but some are very hard to watch. (Nobody gets raped.) [POSSIBLE SPOILER, FROM THE MCC WEBSITE] "Punk Rock is inspired by the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, which Stephens believes 'left its scar over the beginning of the 21st century.'" | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | lowwriter 10:58 am EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - NeoAdamite 10:52 am EST 11/17/14 |
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| I somehow missed the warning that the show was inspired by the shooting. I wished I had known because I wouldn't have gone. I must have gone too early in the run because the actors did not have a grasp on their accents when I saw the show and I found it distracting. I did not find this play all that original in terms of the writing or themes (other British plays and films have dealt with the subject of bullying and mean behavior in school settings). The violence, though, was something I hadn't seen much on stage and I wish I hadn't. I was expecting more from the play having read the UK reviews. I didn't like the show, really. | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | writerkev 12:22 pm EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - lowwriter 10:58 am EST 11/17/14 |
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| YOu read the UK reviews, and you were still surprised by the violence? You didn't know it was about a school massacre? Did the London reviewers do that good a job keeping the plot a surprise? | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | NeoAdamite 03:15 pm EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - writerkev 12:22 pm EST 11/17/14 |
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| You read the UK reviews, and you were still surprised by the violence? You didn't know it was about a school massacre? Did the London reviewers do that good a job keeping the plot a surprise? I just checked the Guardian, The Telegraph and Variety, and none gave that away, or even mentioned Columbine. The Independent does, but offhandedly. | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | lowwriter 01:06 pm EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - writerkev 12:22 pm EST 11/17/14 |
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| The reviews I read of the UK production mentioned violence -- not shootings. | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - Spoiler | |
| Posted by: | lowwriter 01:07 pm EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - lowwriter 01:06 pm EST 11/17/14 |
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| And not bloody shootings on stage! | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | davei2000 11:12 am EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - lowwriter 10:58 am EST 11/17/14 |
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| Do I understand? The play is inspired by Columbine but takes place in England? I wonder since school shootings aren't such a phenomenon in England. | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | lowwriter 11:15 am EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - davei2000 11:12 am EST 11/17/14 |
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| I was wondering about that as well. I thought the play might have been inspired by an isolated school shooting somewhere in the UK. | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | davei2000 11:20 am EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - lowwriter 11:15 am EST 11/17/14 |
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| I haven't found reference to one in the UK since 1996, in which an adult was the shooter. Handguns were banned in the UK in 1997. | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | NeoAdamite 03:21 pm EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - davei2000 11:20 am EST 11/17/14 |
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| Handguns were banned in the UK in 1997. Yes, the play had me wondering about that, too; but not the UK reviewers. | |
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| re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings | |
| Posted by: | ukpaul 01:33 pm EST 11/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: PUNK ROCK recommendation + warnings - davei2000 11:20 am EST 11/17/14 |
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| Yes, the Dunblane shooting from aabout twenty years ago is the only one I can recall. Guns aren't freely available so people don't get shot, there's been the occasional knifing but it's difficult to create a massacre with that method. The most shocking was recently in a classroom where a student stabbed a teacher in the back and killed her. | |
| Link | BBC Article (warning - may be upsetting) |
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