Word: brecht
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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PLAYED AT ITS BEST, Bertolt Brecht's work has the beauty and finesse of a perfectly constructed essay. Its proclaimed intention to be an entertainment of ideas emphasizes its immediacy and relevance; its values cannot be dismissed as belonging to a dramatized world unto itself. The current production of Brecht's A Man's A Man comes off as a fine set of paragraphs missing their conclusion, and Brecht's moral purpose is lost in the disunity. A sardonic comedy deeply involved with modern man's anonymity, it loses its own identity. Much is lively and comic in this production...
...especially strong ones, and eventually triggers Five's disgrace. Bloody Five's bravura balances Galy's passive foolishness. As surely as the latter metamorphoses into the army beast, the former weakens and falls. It's grim stuff of which to make laughter, and the comedy does become pretty sinister. Brecht mines the parallel veins of humor and despair, and the production succeeds in emulating him--almost...
...opening night audience seemed a bit hesitant starting up its curtain call applause, as if it had expected more--with good reason. The last scene of A Man had been cut out. By ending with Bloody Five's self-inflicted castration the production itself is emasculated. Brecht intended to show the interchangeability of the human war machine's parts, the disquieting ease with which Galy Gay is dissolved and re-assembled. Galy Gay's conversion into the assertive war machine. Jeratah Jip, is hinted at by Galy's request for more rice--but, at curtain fall that hasn't even...
...BLAMI MUST LIE with director Don Bacon. His deterion a questionable practice in most cases and disastrous in this one, cuts the core out of Brecht's thesis. His decision is doubly unfortunate since all along the performance promises so much. With the Brecht he has used, Bacon has built a solid well paced show. The acting is more than competent and the blocking works unobtrusively and well. The elaborately eccentric set makes funny noises and spouts smoke on cue what more could you want. As well as reflecting the characters the costumes are comic statements in themselves. The show...
...student actors all give serviceable portrayals and even better they seem to understand what Brecht has them saying. Mace Rosenstein turns out a suitably naive and accepting Galy but has no chance to show his evolution. As Bloody Five, Tim Manna struts and bellows, though in his efforts to growl, his lines occasionally garble. Marty Shofner, Richard Bertelson, and Steve Craddock make a good Three Stooges team, and their casual violence fits their uniforms. By avoiding Widow Begbick's slattern stereotype, Claudia Carter does Brecht's characterization one better. Parkman Howe, as a monk cum con artist, skitters away with...