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DEAR ELIZABETH question

Posted by: seeseveryshow 01:04 pm EDT 10/27/15

The new Sarah Ruhl play, though based on actual correspondence, sounds so much like Gurney's LOVE LETTERS. Also, it has rotating casts reading on stage.

What's the catch here?


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re: DEAR ELIZABETH question

Posted by: AC126748 01:26 pm EDT 10/27/15
In reply to: DEAR ELIZABETH question - seeseveryshow 01:04 pm EDT 10/27/15

Not sure what you mean by "catch." There are similarities to the Gurney, insofar as it's a two-character, male-female play told through correspondence. There is more physical interaction between the actors than in Love Letters -- at least there was in the Yale Rep production, which I saw. And the writing is generally better, in my opinion.


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re: DEAR ELIZABETH question

Posted by: Singapore/Fling 05:44 pm EDT 10/28/15
In reply to: re: DEAR ELIZABETH question - AC126748 01:26 pm EDT 10/27/15

Ruhl wanted a more stripped-down production of the play to come to New York, something that would focus more on the words and the emotions between the characters, rather than physicality and stagecraft.

I am not involved with the WP production, but considering this rotating cast of actors, it's fair to presume that the production will be very much the two performers seated and reading letters to each other, perhaps with some moments of movement/stagecraft, but nothing to approach Les Waters' production.

The writing of "Dear Elizabeth" is better than "Love Letters" in that the words come from two great writers with a phenomenal gift for language; I'm not sure, though, that the piece is better written from a dramatic standpoint, in that Gurney's piece is written to tell a story, while Ruhl's assemblage of the letters suggests the story rather than dramatizing the story.


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