Word: soldiering
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Murakami moves effortlessly between surreal comedy and tragedy. In one of his most striking and sparsely rendered passages, aging veteran Tokutaro Mamiya comes to visits Okada and describes in graphic detail how he watched a friend get skinned alive by a Mongolian soldier. This encounter is followed by one of the funniest episodes of the book, in which Okada and his Lolita-esque neighbor travel to Tokyo to take inventory of its bald inhabitants...
Yeah, but not in Sam's case--unless you thought of him as a sort of Charles Ives, drawing on the vernacular only to subvert it with a big, blatting off-key note. Like the brave soldier who spreads his battlefield picnic on a fallen foe's body; the beautiful blond whose wig falls off in a fight to reveal a perfectly bald pate; the western hero who coolly plugs his lover when the bad guy tries to use her as a shield in a gun fight. Sam didn't strain for these bold, indelible moments. They just came naturally...
...passionate rage with an Italian accent, but little else. Kathleen Conroy plays Nurse Duckett with plenty of attitude; unfortunately, her quiet voice prevents most of the audience from enjoying her quips. Dana Scardigli, with another Italian accent, is decent as the contrary Luciana, and hilarious as a weeping soldier's mother...
Consider, for example, Scene IV.ii, in which we meet Macduff's wife and son for the first time, watch them engage in a tender family scene--and then are forced to watch in horror as they are murdered by Macbeth's soldiers. In this production, the pantomime of a soldier stabbing the child (played by Aaron Goldberg '01), his cry of "He has killed me, mother!" and his immediate collapse into lifelessness was greeted by the audience with a burst of laughter...
...truly unfortunate that the question of Colapinto's performance hangs over the play, because its acting and production values are otherwise quite strong. The rest of the cast ranges from competent to excellent: Christina Voros '99 is a standout as the doomed Banquo, combining the dignity of a soldier and officer with a serious, perceptive humanity that makes one mourn her character's death. Emily Bishop '99 holds her own in the linchpin role of Lady Macbeth. While this particular production subordinates Lady Macbeth to Macbeth himself, Bishop does a good job of showing us the ambition and the ruthlessness...