Word: orton
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...Orton...
...brash new playwright shocked the British theater-going public with pieces that were violent, decadent, farcical and savagely mocking of establishment values. Together with scandalous details (well, by early '60s standards anyway) of his life, such as his murder by his gay lover, Joe Orton's particular brand of theater seemed to be revolutionary and new. In the year 2000, however, the themes of Loot, with its homosexuality, constant digs at the Catholic-Protestant rivalry and even the portrayal of a highly dysfunctional family, no longer seem as radical or as ground-breaking...
This doesn't mean, however, that the American Repertory Theatre's performance of Loot can be sedate with Orton's story being what it is. At the funeral of Mrs. McLeavy, her son Harold and his gay lover Dennis, having robbed a bank, need a place to hide the money as the police chase after them. They stuff the body in a closet, but scheming nurse Fay (Laurie Williams) discovers their plan and demands to be a part of it. Throw in a shockingly ambivalent and corrupt police inspector Truscott (Jeremy Geidt), a series of farcical cover-ups and Orton...
Fortunately though, the second half of the play saw an amazing improvement. This was due largely to the efforts of Geidt, whose Truscott really brings out the flavor of Orton's sardonic lines. Dismissing the corruption of the British police and his own ineptitude with the same casual deadpan manner, Geidt successfully conveys the amorality of Orton's society. And that really is the true genius of Loot: that devil-may-care attitude to any sense of right and wrong or to any constancy at all. None of the characters try too hard to hide their crimes, and they very...
Parts of this album evoke aspects of other acts: the clear, warm vocals of Sarah McLachlan, the techno-folk of Beth Orton. Dido even looks a bit like Jewel. Dido's strong, throaty singing, however, distills her influences and makes her sound singular. Her lyrics could be a bit more pointed: "I just want to feel safe in my own skin/ I just want to be happy again" go the rather bland words to Honestly OK. But the real energy in Dido's songs is in the rhythm, in the smooth collision of genres and in the emotional details that...