Word: texts
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...also a genuinely comic opera by Britten, one of the 20th century’s greatest composers who is best known for his expansive and probing works. Librettist Eric Cozier’s English-language text is “highly conversational” and “very funny,” Kramer adds...
...parts at the A.R.T. through February 7, ERS attempts to capture the resonant power of “Gatsby.” The company takes a curious approach: “Gatz” is a performance that consists almost entirely of dialogue, comprised only of the text of the novel. Though the production uses design elements effectively to bring Fitzgerald’s work to life, most of the actors’ performances are unconvincing and flat, a regretful detail that hinders an otherwise brilliant concept...
...reader (Scott Shepherd), who transforms from an everyman office drone into “Gatsby” narrator Nick Carraway, casually begins reading the book on the pretext of waiting for his ancient, uncooperative computer to start up. Despite receiving odd looks from fellow employees, he continues reciting the text aloud. Soon, the play subtly shifts, and each one of the nobody office workers is cast in a role, drafted into the reader’s imaginary Fitzgeraldian world, where the romance, humor, and brutality of “Gatsby” are all poignantly real...
What is most remarkable about Shepherd, however, is not his memory, but his ability to evoke such complex emotion—he never forgets his performance in the mass of complicated text he must deliver. Even when his personality flashes from Nick to office worker, his seemingly inconsequential gestures are nuanced and deliberate. Shepherd looks continuously at a clock throughout the play, a tic that reveals its portentous significance when Nick recounts the timeline of Gatsby’s death. Shepherd’s skillful handling of his role is an accomplishment that dwarfs the rest of the company...
While attention is focused primarily on the text and performers, these are frequently undermined by the seemingly constant soundscape of city traffic and chirping birds—an obvious attempt at technical verisimilitude. Even the onstage presence of sound designer and operator Ben Williams, who also plays several small roles throughout the production, is less distracting than the unnecessary and incongruous noise with which the performers must compete. The sound design is thankfully more subdued and sparingly used—to greater effect—in the stronger second half of the production...