Word: comic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...range of his talents, the temptation would be to compare Keneally to Larry McMurtry, the elegiast of the American suburb and Texas history. Both can go over the top and still keep readers asking "What next?" Especially Keneally, who can play it hot or cool, tragic or comic, without forgetting the basic tricks of the trade. Never show a stick of dynamite that does not go off in a later chapter. Don't discourse on a kangaroo's boxing ability if he isn't going to kick the stuffing out of someone later...
...fornication. When his prim novitiate sister, Isabella, comes to sue for her brother's life. Angelo finds himself consumed by the very lust he condemns, and demands sexual favors for Claudio's release. Shakespeare constructs a detailed examination of judgement, hypocrisy, severity and mercy. In the best Shakespearean comic tradition, the play ends with reconciliation, merriment, and multiple marriages all round...
...Breheny is not the only one lacking conviction. The production never engages fully with the play. In the comic scens, instead of cracking Shakespeare,s jokes, the actors parody themselves by sending up the obscure language of the humor. Alfred Divenuti, as the pimp Lucio, gradually surrenders his creative characterization in favor of slapstick hamming. The prostitute Pmopey (Jessica Viertel) decides to make a joke out of her delivery, apparently because she doesn't know how to make the jokes themselves...
...dance both in their home and later in-front of the ball, and in their interplay with the Shakespearean court jester (dressed in the Lampoon's purple, red and yellow), the sisters offer an unexpected element of hilarity to romance and of mockery to ballet's conservatism. While offering comic relief, the cross-gender casting also fits into the old English tradition of en travestie, linking theater to dance. Finally, stylistically, the stage presence of two giant stepsisters dwarf the waif-like Cinderella, played by Jennifer Gelfand, enhancing the sense of her powerlessness. Between the cross-gender roles and cross...
MARK O'DONNELL'S COLLECTION OF COMIC short stories, VERTIGO PARK AND OTHER TALL TALES (Knopf; $18), is like a literary version of Saturday Night Live -- a boatload of strained laughs mixed with a few great jokes that keep the whole thing afloat. Bright spots: "She didn't realize deliberate perkiness offended, the way the smell of ammonia becomes associated with the odors it's supposed to remove," and "Necessity is the mother of affection," and "Do you not be happy with me as the translator of the books of you?" There are pieces about Samuel Beckett, obsessed fans...