Word: sparest
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Second City rests on the sparest of theatrical trappings: a few bentwood chairs, a bit of lighting, a piano and six performers. At the start of one recent show, four of them are onstage as Soviet agents trained to imitate the people of Chicago. ("I am a full professor, so I only talk to graduate students." "I don't do anything; I work for the city.") The props are simple and the costuming sparse. Ski hats and overcoats are enough to dress all six as victims of Reagan-era policies. "We wear our characters lightly and dress them lightly," says...
...Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. In London in 1980 and a year later on Broadway, David Edgar's 8½hour adaptation of the Dickens novel met with a rapturous reception. In a time when many serious playwrights are hell-bent on reducing life's dilemmas to their sparest parts, panhandling for quiddity, Edgar and Directors Trevor Nunn and John Caird served up a copious celebration of life in all its wickedness and wonder. Led by Roger Rees as the callow, rigorous hero, 39 R.S.C. actors played 150 parts; they set the scene and moved the scenery; they patrolled...