Word: latent
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
What makes Macdonald original, perhaps irreplaceable as a pan-critic (in both senses of "pan") is in fact a latent romanticism. More than his victims can appreciate, he is a genial curmudgeon, teetering on the very edge of hope. He growls partly to keep from being played for a sucker. Macdonald might even be called an American Bernard Shaw, if Shaw had written only prefaces or if Macdonald had written plays. Besides, that is to say, these marvelous little one-act monologues, featuring the persona he made of himself. ·Melvin Maddocks...
...drab, dense gray. It seems an inert formula but it is not, largely because of what Marden learned from Jasper Johns-how to spread a skin of oil and wax over the surface of a canvas with such subtlety that, though monochrome, it is full of half-suppressed or latent incidents. The paintings do become objects of contemplation, like landscapes; but their austerity is so low-keyed as to risk blandness...
Articulating this dynamic interplay between spoken words and latent tensions, and maintaining the superfine balance between the three characters, present a formidable challenge to the director and his cast. If John Greenwood's production does not always succeed in this, the attempt reveals intelligence and sensitivity. Greenwood has rightly kept movement and gesture to a minimum, letting the drama unfold through the words themselves. Unavoidably, the burden of interpretation rests squarely on nuances of intonation and expression. Occasionally, these nuances go awry...
More Guts. A year later, Brown found his short cut to the top. Still helped mightily by his name, Brown was elected California's Secretary of State, traditionally a sleepy sinecure for men content to shuffle documents. But Brown, using the latent powers of the office, began acting more and more like the state's Attorney General. He sued three oil companies for making illegal campaign contributions. Today Brown runs against Exxon nearly as vigorously as he does against Richard Nixon; he has accepted no contribution from a major oil company-not that many have been offered. Says...
...with Dreyfus in Rehearsal is that the first two acts are not as tightly constructed as the final one. The basic ironies of the situation are apparent as soon as one knows that the Dreyfus play is being acted out by Jews in pre-war Poland. But this tension, latent throughout the play, develops no further until the final act. It is difficult to balance tragedy and comedy, and the play often lapses into a no-man's land somewhere in between. Kanin might do well to cut a scene or two. A scene with a visiting Zionist lecturer...