Word: bloomingly
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Silenced Women, a tribute to Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) and Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) at Sanders Theatre last Wednesday, treated the work of these two great Russian poets with complexity and power. Acclaimed English and Russian actresses Claire Bloom and Alla Demidova and soprano Anna Steiger all gave decidedly different interpretations of the poems, and for once, the contrast between East and West was constructive and original, highlighting the differences in dramatic interpretation between the two culture rather than forcing them to conform to one another...
...evening was divided into two acts, the first featuring works by Tsvetaeva and the second featuring works by Akhmatova. The otherwise random selections of the poems related to periods in the poet's lives, rather than to periods in their literary development. Before each reading, Bloom would provide some historical context, explaining connections between events in the poet's lives and the poems. This information gave a certain degree of coherence to the evening. More importantly, it added a personal dimension to the words of the poets, tying the emotions evoked to the physical reality behind them. The specific events...
After the brief contextualization, Bloom would read the poems in translation. Not trying to play the role of a Russian poet, she interpreted the poems in a uniquely English manner. Her crisp, not exceptionally emotional delivery avoided the heavy tragedy of a Russian interpretation; her tone seemed more melancholic than anything else. She even added humor and irony to her reading of Tsvetaeva's "An Attempt at Jealousy." By offering an Anglicized version of the poems, she gave an American audience the opportunity to relate to the poetry on its own cultural terms, not simply as outsiders to the literary...
...nineteenth-century South share frivolous aristocrats and a conservative marriage ethic, but this is not enough to justify the change of scene. Perhaps there is an obscure reference to the Southern psyche--but to the uninitiated the production seems to revolve around the one minor actor, Joshua Bloom, who speaks with a Southern accent. A riverboat does not lend itself to the action: the gulling scenes are harder to stage, and the space confuses the audience. What is outside and what is inside? Shilling's adaptation causes these confusions. And for all her pains, there are no startling revelations...
...Shilling clearly intends to make her presence felt as a director. For example, when Claudio and Don Pedro fool the eavesdropping Benedick with a fake conversation, she has the messenger (Bloom) fishing in the background. By snaring the innocent fish with his bait, he parallels the action unfolding in front of him. But what is the point? Does he really add to the scene? Or is the director just tossing in a self-conscious conceit...