Word: shen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Brecht's story is simple. A trio of God's in search of good people are introduced by a water seller (Steve Kaplan) to Shen Te (Trish Archer) a prostitute who is a good people. The Gods pay her for their night's lodging with enough money to start a small tobacco shop. Screaming freeloaders move in; she falls in love with a worthless unemployed flyer; her every good deed brings ruin. To save herself, she invents a businesslike, ruthless alter ego, Shui Ta, who is successful and dastardly. How to reconcile goodness and survival? Shen Te can't manage...
...stage movement works best in small, humorous scenes like the early one of the itching, scratching, sneezing, retching freeloaders in Shen Te's tobacco store, and in the finale when a congregation of riffraff salutes the gods with raised mop as the "illustrious ones" fly away on a winch-raised cloud...
...actors can't control their movement, the effect is alternately annoying and absurd. Dan Deitch as Yang Sun, the unemployed flyer, just tries to do too much with his body. He contorts across the stage, face grimacing and body tensed. Everyone knows that Yang is a bastard, so Shen Te's love for him can only be based on sheer sex appeal. Deitch, by equating gruffness and stiff limbs with masculinity makes his appeal to Shen Te incomprehensible...
LEROY MILLER MARC SHELL DAVID C. T. SHEN Stanford, Calif...
...LIANG-SHEN LEE Pittsburg, Calif...