Word: harper
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Louis' is not the only weak will in the play. In sort of parallel plot, a legal clerk named Joe (Geof Oxnard '99) exists in a permanent conflict of ideas and realities. He insists he loves his wife Harper (Jessica Shapiro '01), a fragile agoraphobe with a Valium dependency, but he seems to find plenty of reason not come home on time. He is careerist enough consider a move to Washington, D.C., despite his wife's objections, but also has enough belief in his Mormon ideals as to request that his boss refrain from taking the Lord's name...
...William Harper opts for a kind of thorough-composition in his score, which is at its best in moments of great rhythmical complexity (in the choruses) and less successful when merely and synthesizedly evocative (birdcalls, roars, moans...
...Harper computerizes Walker's voice as she reads the choral odes, and the effect (an intense metallic breathiness) is reinforced by a tandem live recitation from two hypostylized eastern figures (Alice B., who gets to sport that big trippy mask, and Daniel Sussner '00, whose turn here doesn't compare to his work in Baal last year). The three-part slam definitely commands attention (and the poetry is gorgeous), but too often has to compete with the dancing Maenads for our attention...
...supposed not to be aware of where you are historically," Harper explains...
...Bacchant chorus is praising the sweetness of vengeance. The scene is creepier than mere Halloween fantasy. The immediacy of Williams' language, its claim on the play's disturbing juxtaposition of beauty and inclemency (the chorus as, perhaps, "Les Belles Dames Sans Merci"?) must be what attracted Walker, Harper and the rest of the staff...