The author combines dirty, low-to-the-ground, gritty language with flowery metaphors and far-reaching similes. And if the play has you early on, you go along when it has lines like, “A good murder, a true murder, a beautiful murder, so beautiful as one can only ask to do, we’ve had none for so long.” But Pony doesn’t quite manage to do that.
This presents an interesting dichotomy with the music: the Baroque orchestration is so refined and meticulously structured, following strict guidelines; yet the action on stage is immense, tragic, emotional. There is an incredible marriage here between the Apollonian music and the Dionysian story.
German playwright Manfred Karge’s 1986 dark comedy The Conquest of the South Pole, written in East Germany before the wall fell, vividly demonstrates the ill effects of long-term unemployment on a group of adult men. The translation by Calvin McLean, Caron Cadle and Ralf Remshardt aptly yields Karge’s penchant for poetic language as the first scenes contain verse-like dialogue. The work is quite in the Brechtian tradition of theatre which Karge respects dearly
Are they really dead? After a doctor certifies that each of the six are in fact dead so the General berates they to let the Army bury them. They silently refuse. A priest tries exorcism, their Captain engages them in a philosophical discussion – to no avail.
Director Julie Ritchey loves the play as a director loves a play. She has burrowed deep and nestled in its earthy, root-filled warmth. She has eaten this play, drunk this play, dreamt and woken this play. And not without advantages. The moments she creates – crafts, more like – are heartfelt and complex.
The blending of forms (theatre, dance, concert, club, Commedia, circus . . .) is done as if by a person who’s never seen a play – or rather like this: by a person who has not been told what he can and cannot do, what is and is not theatre, what must and must not be so, according to the establishment. And what he has created is not only a compelling and innovative piece of theatre, but a show that would feel right at home in London’s Fringe scene or a cabaret in East Berlin.
The play opens with King George III, who only recently lost The Colonies, fighting Parliament to reassert his slightly flagging power. The Whigs are attempting to curtail the King’s powers, and implement their agenda, including the abolition of the West Indian slave trade. The Tories, led by George’s right-hand man, William Pitt the Younger, are looking for ways to bolster the King’s power.
The Verge – is now showing the 1956 drama Look Back In Anger by John Osborne. This four person play is the story of an angry and frustrated young man, Jimmy Porter (Nathan Burger) who is over educated and underemployed. He is filled with rage that he takes out on his wife Alison (Claire Alden) and his only friend, Cliff Lewis (Nicholas Harazin)
There’s and old adage, “It’s all in the presentation.”, and the MCA could not have done a better job taking that to heart. Nutt’s figure paintings by themselves would end up growing somewhat tedious and repetitive, but with a strategic installation of Nutt’s earlier works, sketches, and a complimentary exhibit you’ll end up thanking the last MCA employee you see before walking out the door.
The play deals with many topics: censorship, teenage pregnancy, abortion, homosexuality, divorce, violence, religion, fundamentalism, the place of art in society . . . . And yet, with this long laundry list of issues, the piece never gets bogged down by any of it.