Word: langsam
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...their lives, the two principal characters realize that they might be able to live together and derive solace from each other's company as each has something that the other lacks. But the pride of the cripple (played by Eric Oleson) and the dreamy quality of beggar (Harold Langsam) render this plan unworkable...
...Langsam does a splendid job as the blind man--particularly considering that the black sunglasses he wears deny him the full use of his eyes as a means of expression. Oleson portrays the cripple as an older man, with an old man's slightly confused temperament. These two work well together on stage, neither seems to want a piece of the other's limelight. The evolution of their relationship parallels that of many first meetings: they move through periods of curiosity, and then chumminess before realizing that they are fundamentally incompatible. As they move through these phases, Langsam and Oleson...
Rough for Theatre II, the most upbeat and fast-paced play of the three, also stars Langsam and Oleson. Here they don trenchcoats and nose glasses to become "assassins" pouring over documents to determine whether a man should commit suicide...
...cheery `business as usual' nature of the bantering between Langsam and Oleson as they sort through the evidence is at odds with the fundamental morbidity of the subject. The beauty of Rough II is that we become attached with the assassins as they are in the process of deciding the man's fate. Beckett wants us to realize that this is precisely what happens in the endless tedium that constitutes most of our existences. When you're busy, you haven't got time to think about being miserable...
...under investigation (played by Stefan Korpalski) is on stage throughout the sequence, frozen with his back to the audience for the entire play. With no offense intended, Korpalski is excellent in this role. Langsam and Oleson are even more impressive in Rough II than they are in Rough I, in part because this time, the polarity of their magnetism is reversed; here they are a team...