Word: stiff
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...soon-to-be-ex-wife of Bobby, she is the most unrealistic of all the characters. She rants about gardens and masochistic mutilation, but her lines are written in such a convoluted and start-and-stop manner that she is the hardest to understand. Add to that Pidgeon's stiff and formal delivery style reminiscent of Carol in Oleanna. But ultimately she could be nothing but a direct projection of Bobby's warped view of her as the ex-wife...
...play begins when David (Marshall Lewy '99), Ozzie and Harriet's oldest son, returns home from the Vietnam War and is dropped off by a stiff military soldier (Greg David '99). David is now blind: this unexpected circumstance throws a damper on the joy of the family. Each character changes in some way: success-driven yet lonely Ozzie recalls his youth and maliciously derides his own children; Harriet can no longer fix each situation simply by offering snacks to everyone or calling her priest, Father Donald (Rich Amberg '00); and Ricky (Joshua Cohen '97) simply avoids unpleasant situations by leaving...
Within the cycle of a single season, from winter pruning to fall harvest, Barich constructs a coherent world whose natural beauty can be coldly indifferent. Disease, obsolescence and bad timing threaten both man and grape. Arthur, the working stiff, confronts that fate with inconspicuous stoicism. Intellectual Anna is more expressive: "Everything on earth was frail and fleeting, destined to crumble," she reflects. "All you could cling to in the end were those loving particulars." Among them are Atwater's favorite lopping shears, which he uses to clear deadwood to make way for new growth. They are the unmistakable metaphor...
...Tories were not amused. Cell phones were already banned in the chamber because of their disruptive rings, but use of a silent pager presented a whole new issue. And the notion of stiff-lipped British pols beeping and winking their way through the Commons made more than one Conservative M.P. queasy. After mulling the matter over for an evening, Speaker Betty Boothroyd ruled that using the gadgets as an aide-memoire was "totally unacceptable," handing the Tories a victory in battle. But with the general election fast approaching, Labour's rapid response showed its determination...
...enough foresight to do this well. Ilana Kurshan '00 was terrific as Tasha, Janie's mother, keeping a balance between pushy and pathetic in her interaction with her daughter. This combination of emotions was touching if predictable. On the other hand, Lillian (Aviva Preminger '00), Harriet's mother, was stiff in giving advice to her daughter. Lines seemed forced, as when she called Harriet "baby" in nearly every scene...