Word: jonson
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Prologue to Ben Jonson's Volpone promises to "rub your cheeks on, red with laughter. They shall look fresh a week after." The opening of Volpone at Brandeis University's new theatre has produced a curious combination not open admiration, long-lasting laughter, and problems which will last considerably longer than one week...
...this performance of Volpone is worthy of its theatre; the cast does an outstanding job with a rather difficult play, Stefan Zweig's adaptation of Ben Jonson's sixteenth century original. Jonson's version shows a man who tricks others eventually being tricked himself: the avaricious Volpone collects expensive gifts by pretending that he is dying and will leave his fortune to whoever materially proves his friendship. After an extraordinarily complex set of misunderstandings, misdeeds, and mistrials. Volpone is condemned to lie in prison until he becomes as sick as he pretended to be. Following the tradition of "animal fables...
Zweig's version retains the basic plot and much of the humor of the original as well as adding a delightfully cynical prostitute and some anti-clerical wit. Most important, where Jonson's play mocks many types of human affectation and plays for power, Zweig concentrates on the corruption engendered by money...
Even with a full house, however, Anthony Graham-White's direction would make heavy demands on the cast. He has pared down this Jonson-Chapmen-Marston comedy of London city life, but the dialogue still includes numerous now-unintelligible jokes and allusions. And he has introduced remarkably little stage business to maintain the pace where the wit is lost. In short, Graham-White relies on the charm of his actors to make the production live...
Tasty Contract. Elizabethan literature roils with legalisms-Jonson's plays are filled with far more legalese than Shakespeare's-but the Bard's characters have as effective counsel as any. Henry IVs plotters do not just plan to split their loot (the realm); like law clerks, they aver that "our indentures tripartite are drawn" and "sealed interchangeably." In Sonnet 35, the poet acts against himself as a friend's defender: "Thy adverse party is thy advocate." In Sonnet 46, a fair lady is partitioned-her lover's heart the plaintiff, his eye the defendant...