Word: playing
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Unfortunately, the play does not allow her to establish any defined relationship with Dr. Schon, her benefactor (David Reiffel). The scenes involving the two of them, with the exception of Lulu's declaration of love, lack any sense of tension or attraction. Here Reiffel might improve his otherwise effectively sardonic characterization by displaying more passion. He is so ironic and biting that his later capitulation does not ring true...
...parts. Christian Clemenson is delightfully boorish as the crude Dr. Goll. His braying inanities lighten the otherwise disjointed first act. Brian McCue's portrayal of Scwarz, however, is uneven, improving considerably from the first act to the second. When he first meets Lulu in the opening of the play, McCue relies too much on a series of mannerisms--rising on his toes, rubbing his hands, pacing around briskly--that distract attention from his passionate words. Japes Emerson turns in a sporadic performance, though he is cursed with the worst, most heavily edited part of the play. The cuts render...
GRACE SHOHET portrays the play's most interesting and controversial character, the lesbian Countess Geschwitz, who sacrifices everything for Lulu. Wedekind created the only fully rounded human portrait in the role of Countees Geschwitz, and Shohet infuses it with pathos. Her despairing speech in the last act strikes one of the few sincere notes in an otherwise emotionally detached production...
Despite the high quality of the acting and the consistently clever staging, the play itself somehow remains insubstantial. By failing to people his sinister world with real human beings, Wedekind never touches emotion. It's like waking up from a nightmare, only to find nothing there to worry about...
About $1600 in ticket revenue from the currently running play "Lulu" was stolen from the Loeb Theater Publicity Office some time on Sunday...