Word: almost
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There was almost no direct confrontation between candidates at the debate, as they articulated their own platforms but never commented on their opponents...
...scenes in the first act follow with an almost anticipated sense of fatality. Agresta, now as Helen's mother, manages to exploit the tension of the production; she must emote, yet her dialogue must appear to be a sardonic condemnation of maternal care. A genuine frustration at the play's emotional detachment resonates with the audience as the mother forces her daughter to eat a potato. However, the play becomes too rapidly melodramatic too early, as the sense that the characters are mocking themselves undermines the growing emotional tension in the play...
...scenes shift as Helen's life proceeds; the intensity of chaotic readings of two poems at once in between scenes marking time and the growing intensity of Helen's eventual departure into insanity. The maternity scene is almost too experimental and strange; while the doctors are supposed to reflect robots, again, emotion creeps into the scene and destroys the rhythm between the dialogue and actors machine-like movements. Similarly, Helen's descent into the underworld, replete with an affair, does not reflect a change of emotional intensity but continues the linear progression of a dissatisfied woman. No new miseries...
...second act is more convincingly mechanical, especially the final scenes of the play. Helen eventually kills her husband, as the audience anticipates, and the court scene that ensues is fabulously orchestrated. Gunn demonstrates considerable talent in controlling his body. As robot-husband, he is eerily mechanical and almost reminiscent of an Edward Scissorhands figure. Parris and Agresta, both lawyers, reflect the insensitivity and detachment that the law has for human emotion. The bright lighting illustrates a sense of barrenness, and the media, Montoya and Gomes, again engage in their convincing double dialogue and contribute to the scene's mechanical intention...
...punk-dominatrix suits, and Gunn, the priest, wears a silver robe. The sense that all dialogue is a voice-over creates the impression that the actors are merely odd configurations of marionettes. In this scene, people have fully transformed into machines. Helen's appeals for mercy seem to be almost rays of light bouncing off the darkened stage, for she is the only lit figure. Suddenly, strobe lights destroy the darkness, and the execution is complete...