Word: roulleau
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Stine (Christian Roulleau '01) is a hack writer who churns out detective pulp to feed the studios, living vicariously through his fictional hero and alter ego, the hardboiled gumshoe Stone (Dan Berwick '01). As Stine and his artistic integrity wrestle ineffectually with Buddy Fidler (Kevin Meyers '02), the big cheese at the studio, to produce a ratings safe screenplay, the hapless writer fantasizes by typewriter Stone's life of adventure. The fiction parallels the reality, and the reality is finally defined by the fiction, all in a convoluted but highly enjoyable way. Throughout, a bristling stable of beautiful, gutsy women...
...with Ryan McGee '98 and Sara D. Newbold '00, authors of So Many Shades of Blue, a new production which will be running through October 24 at the Kronauer Space in Adams House. The play focuses on the episodic memories of a relationship between characters played by Christian P. Roulleau '01 and Karin J. Alexander '02. McGee, Newbold and Alexander were on hand to discuss specifics of the writing process--replete with revisions and re-revisions--as well as the general state of student-written theatre in the greater college community...
...Yeah, I think it's been very interesting for Christian [Roulleau] and I to see how what we have done affects Sara and Ryan. It's quite wonderful at the end of an evening to have them come and say to us, "That was well done," because it's their work. And yet, we've brought a different dimension to it. It's nice to feel that we've added to it....and it's been beautiful to take it and bring it to life in a way that reflects what they wanted...
Groundlings' onlymajor weakness is its tendency to hammer its point too insistently into the audience's minds. After the first few scenes, Roulleau's and Clamence's back-and-forth arguments grow repetitive, leaving the audience with the feeling that not much new ground is being covered. Similarly, the condensed performance of Hamlet that the players provide seems at times unnecessary: though elegantly presented (with notable performances by Ahana Kalappa '01 as Gertrude and Jay Chaffin '00 as Laertes), it perhaps presumes too much ignorance of the plot on the audience's part. But whether seen by a Shakespearean novice...
...acting is competent, with Young Lee giving a particularly hilarious performance as the Bailiff, who marches up and down the aisles harassing audience members, occasionally pausing to whack Roulleau with his baton. His presence, at once menacing and amusing, keeps the audience on its toes. As the theatergoer who must suffer for our sins, Roulleau at first nonchalantly flouts the court's authority, making the audience wonder whether he really has been chosen as a random victim. Farley brings a slightly over-the-top vehemence to the role of Clamence...