Word: contrasts
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...south remains relatively more prosperous. Women there still wear the brightly colored ao dai, in contrast to the unisex black pants and white shirt commonly worn in the north. Food is somewhat more available but less affordable, since the inflation rate exceeds 100% a year. In general, the economy of the south has suffered from Hanoi's abolition last year of "bourgeois trade" and the introduction of a uniform currency throughout the country. Southern industry is currently running at 40% of capacity. About one-fifth of the 3 million residents of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) are unemployed. Conceding...
Listening In, by contrast, has a very clear feminist outlook. The Newbury Street Theater proclaims that its new show is a "celebration of another joyful but unmarked victory for labor women." The women in question are Boston telephone operators in the year 1919, who in an effort to win recognition of their struggle with the director of the nationalized phone system, shut down the Beantown exchanges. Although the strike spread throughout New England, history has tended to give the event only a brief note in comparison to the more notorious Boston Police Strike of the same year. This original production...
...play isn't completely grim. The celebrated Simon wit constantly bubbles forth, especially during a sub-plot that involves the hero's brother and the heroine's best girlfriend. In contrast to the hasty marriage of the principals, this couple never quite gets around to having an affair, despite persistent efforts. But even this comic relief contains solemn undertones; both would-be adulterers carry wounds that neither can successfully hide from the other...
...quality that mars some of his earlier plays, which made his characters sound like professional stand-up comedians, not believable human beings. Instead, the humor approaches the way people actually talk or joke, and even helps to crystallize one's impression of the characters. For example, the introductory scenes contrast her automatic efficiency with his numbed disorganization through jokes about the conditions of their respective apartments (her refrigerator is well-stocked, his contains "white bread turning into pumpernickel...
...play isn't completely grim. Much of the characteristic Simon with bubbles forth, mostly during a sub-plot that involves the hero's brother and the heroine's girlfriend. In contrast to the hasty marriage of the protagonists, this couple never quite gets around to having an affair, despite persistent efforts. But even this comic-relief interlude contains its solemn overtones; both supporting characters carry wounds that neither can successfully hide from the other...