Word: pompously
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Joan Didion's fourth novel carries a few unnecessary burdens. There is the silly pink book jacket, the pompous flap copy ("a precise and pitiless exploration of lives lived in the harsh glare of public scrutiny") and, worst of all, the title, which is as ostentatious as that of the author's last novel, A Book of Common Prayer. Nor is the reader reassured when this most confident of stylists lodges herself as an extraneous character in the book, discussing narrative ploys that she has considered and rejected and alerting the reader to real or imagined difficulties ahead...
...exercise in ridiculousness, need not worry. Artaud wrote occasionally about the similarity between all strong emotional reactions, and he would certainly understand the thin line between dark laughter and somber rapture. The Mather House production spans the line with ease. At the very least, The Cenci is not pompous or boring, and as we approach Reading Period, what other company of speakers can talk to you for an hour and make that claim...
...individual performances, display particularly well the company's adept balancing of fidelity to the script and score with innovative and animated staging. The male chorus of peers, for example, staggers the audience in its wonderful first number, thundering the line "bow, bow, you lower middle classes," complete with characteristic pompous gesturing...
Despite the prop impediments, the cast, filled with Boston professional actors, veteran Harvard actors, and several novices to the Harvard stage, has no trouble delving into its characters. Freshman Michael Albion gives a sensitive portrayal of King Leontes, using his monologues to reveal his characters' insecurity, blind rage, and pompous narcissicism. Maryann Bergonzi as Paulina and Pamela Knickrehm as Hermione, two local actresses, give superb performances. Bergonzi stands out with her exquisite enuncition and her somber, melancholy, yet determined facial expressions. Two more freshmen--Tucker McCrady as Florizel, King Polixenes' son, and Laurence Bouvard as Leontes's long-lost daughter...
...Kennedy delighted in meeting Charles de Gaulle, whom he found pompous but awesome, and Khrushchev, who he concluded was a man of physical dexterity, bad tailoring and a stone heart. Twice Kennedy talked about Asia with General Douglas MacArthur, and each time he came away hushed and thoughtful from what he considered an audience with greatness. MacArthur told Kennedy both times to stay out of a land war on mainland Asia. That is one of the reasons I believe Kennedy would have done differently in Viet Nam and that our history would have been far happier if he had lived...