Word: dourness
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Baerwald is assured and savvy enough to mock his own obsessions (notably in AIDS & Armageddon: "I dream assassination/ I hallucinate cash") and to give even his most dour lyric excursions a solid foundation of rhythm throughout. You might not be able to party down to Triage, but you sure can dance to it -- right over the edge...
...shining supporting character is Berman's jester, who remains consistently dour throughout the play. He's a child star gone bad, and he has stooped to spying for Prettiface with all the bitterness of Danny Bonnaducci on "Oprah...
...Glenda Jackson Strange Interlude, Desire Under the Elms with Colin Firth and Carmen Du Sautoy, A Touch of the Poet with Timothy Dalton and Vanessa Redgrave. Actors love digging to the core of a role, no matter how long it takes; and O'Neill's plays, which idle in dour exposition before revving into revelation, let them reproduce that effort every night. For playgoers, the appeal is simpler. Once O'Neill warms up his characters -- lets them loose after a few hours of hemming and thawing -- he can dish out terrific soap opera...
Fortunately the Village is small, and its weightless ambience is surrounded by dour poverty. Yet the phantoms are threatening an epidemic, and even the essential cuddliness of Harvard could fall prey. For the moment we occupy in Cambridge a University of beguiling loveliness and reassuring warmth: on cold winter nights as you age and your skin starts to pucker and flop on your body, the landmarks of benighted Harvard will return. Think of the steps of Sever, London broil, Au Bon Pain, and crappy newspapers: how our decrepitude will look back on these with affection...
...directors do not go it alone, relying heavily on the talent of a host of other artists. Hilary Hansen's impressive set establishes itself as a force for the entire production, using colors that accentuate the nihilistic themes of Hamletmaschine: blood-red and the Ex's standard, black. The dour colors of the set are unexpectedly highlighted by a backdrop of humanoid figures dressed in vibrant shades of yellow, blue, green and white. The set's centerpiece: an obtrusive, enigmatic coffin/stage entrance for the cast...