Word: brecht
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Written by modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht and an allegory for the rise of Nazism in Weimar Germany, this work marks not only the resistible rise of Arturo Ui but also the rise of a direction/production trio. The three have done several other productions together in the past, including last year's hit The 5th of July, are good friends and they even live in the same entry way of Leverett House. But all agree that the sheer logistics of a mainstage production require a different approach...
...three's odyssey to the mainstage began last spring when Hainsworth suggested to his friends that they produce the Brecht play, which he saw performed at Canada's Stratford Festival the previous year. Noonan and Cibula read the script and agreed. They ther submitted a proposal to the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatics Club (HRDC...
...WHAT IF Brecht's entire Threepenny Opera were crammed into a single time and setting...
...coupled with a lyric ability to lift those observations to the level of metaphor. It is not enough for an artist to be right-minded on even the most potent political issues of his day. To earn a lasting place in literature, to rank with Ibsen or Shaw or Brecht, he must also demonstrate subtlety of craft, power of language and insight into character -- and probably must reach beyond his immediate context into other realms of the real world or imagination. Significantly, after the autobiographical catharsis of 'Master Harold' . . . and the Boys (1982), which reflected his formative bond...
...other hand, there are limits. Andreassi goes over the top and out the door playing the caddish pilot Yang Sun. When Brecht spoke of emotionally "distancing" the audience from the actors, he was thinking in terms of yards, not light-years. Though Shipley's male alter-ego Shui Ta is an outstanding piece of physical acting (her face is concealed by a mask), she never quite makes you believe that Shen Te was either a prostitute or someone who Did It All For Love. Joseph Costa is fine as an unemployed hobo, but in the important supporting role...