Word: absurd
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...flirts with prejudice, daring it out of its cave. He is the only presidential candidate who can say ain't without being considered ignorant except by the ignorant: "We makin' what ain't nobody buyin'." More than most politicians, he has a sense of the absurd in a campaign, and cannot resist making jokes as well as history (as he proved during his surreal day with Silo Sam). Though he has resolved not to criticize other Democrats, an occasional mocking touch comes through. At last year's Congressional Black Caucus, the master of ceremonies did an elaborate dance to slip...
...cool on Venus." Will we blow ourselves up? Probably not: "We shall abolish nuclear weapons, not by a sudden outburst of peace and goodwill but by a slow process of erosion. The weapons will be abolished as the missions for which they were designed come to seem unnecessary or absurd." And what of tinkering around with life in test tubes? Dyson issues a warning: "Genetic engineering must stop short of monkeying around irresponsibly with the species Homo sapiens." Beyond that restriction, beneficent marvels proliferate: "There are no laws of physics and chemistry which say that potatoes cannot grow on trees...
House is a flawlessly comic tragedy. Director Adam Schwartz achieves a delicate balance between the absurd and horrific that keeps you laughing throughout the play but leaves you floored by its disturbing conclusion. By keeping the characters aware of the audience through asides, Schwartz draws you in, allowing you to share the intimacy of the scene...
THERE are two sides to the work of Nikolai Gogol, one lighthearted and delightfully absurd, the other darker, crueler and obsessive to the point of madness. Director Christopher Duff manages to display through two short pieces, The Nose and From a Madman's Diary, both sides of Gogol's talent with out losing the peculiar, manic sensibility that unites the whole of his canon...
...costuming and the musical selections are equally unsuccessful. Apparently Spraggins intends to resolve the disparities he has created in moving the setting of the play from 1700 to the present by turning World into theater of the absurd. Thus, the actors dress according to the personality of their characters, which might have been a helpful and amusing device, had the execution been less haphazard. Most of the costumes either add nothing in the way of characterization or worse, create an image that is incongruous with the characters. The musical interludes, which range from Billie Holiday to George Michael, are meaningless...