tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post113432390431327066..comments2024-01-07T06:59:04.212-05:00Comments on The Playgoer: REVIEW: A Touch of the PoetPlaygoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-63075388984133587602008-12-05T12:50:00.000-05:002008-12-05T12:50:00.000-05:00for those who want a second look,there is a produc...for those who want a second look,<BR/>there is a production of "Poet" running at the 14th St. Theater through Dec. 20, 2008 starring Daniel J. Travanti...<BR/><BR/>http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/shows/a-touch-of-the-poet_149173/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1134417484421921422005-12-12T14:58:00.000-05:002005-12-12T14:58:00.000-05:00I saw an amazing production of this play done at I...I saw an amazing production of this play done at Illiois State University. In this case, the designer <I>did</I> take advantage of the opportunity to recreate 19th century Massachusetts, and the set was glorious. The high point, strangely enough, was the speech where Con's wife takes her daughter down a peg by telling her what makes her father special. It was so deeply felt by the actress playing the role, and you suddenly saw Con in an entirely different light -- not unlike Linda's speech in <I>Death of a Salesman</I> when she flattens her two sons about their behavior.<BR/><BR/>I think this is a difficult play, but no more difficult than other O'Neill's. And while O'Neill may not be a nimble playwright, he writes with great, lumbering power -- an American Aeschylus. In 2005, we tend to want a playwright who is lighter on his feet than O'Neill, but I think once one adjusts to his pace, he rewards the audience greatly.Scott Waltershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04177922467901223790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1134360134313821492005-12-11T23:02:00.000-05:002005-12-11T23:02:00.000-05:00Dear Anonymous Correction,I'm very grateful for yo...Dear Anonymous Correction,<BR/><BR/>I'm very grateful for you pointing out my error in O'Neill's title for the cycle. Funny, the right one makes more sense! I have now corrected it in the post.<BR/>I do love the freedom of blogging. But this is why editors are good!<BR/><BR/>Dear Anonymous O'Neill Defender,<BR/>As we can all see from the few comments so far even, opinion is split on this play. I am totally willing to concede O'Neill's genius, though. Even in this play. I somewhat regret resorting to the pat judgement of "not top-drawer" to fill in for a more reasoned argument. (Again, Blogging sometimes comes best in the rush of thought.) But I'm letting it stand. However--I have emended some of the wording around it to moderate my dissatisfactions with the play, since I don't want to give the impression I'm dumping on it.<BR/>But hey--just because I'm not talented enough to carry O'Neill's jock doesn't mean I must automatically genuflect does it? I think I'm still paying him the respect he deserves if I consider "Poet" something of a flawed masterpiece.<BR/>I do agree, though, that critics all too easily dismiss something as "flawed" and walk away from the responsibility of spelling out what those flaws are. (Like the teacher who gives you a B and just says "not developed," or something.)...Perhaps I will revisit the problems of "Poet" in a later post--or others can weigh in, too! I'll start by saying what's most fascinating in it is the character of Con himself, naturally, and particularly his messed up relationship with his daughter. But his wife, Nora, is the worst, most thinly drawn, of O'Neill's suffering women.<BR/>Perhaps what keeps it from reaching the plateau of "Iceman" for me is the lack of the multiple perspectives of that play. Even "Long Day's Journey" gives us four equally compelling points of view.<BR/>"Poet" is basically "the Con show" (no, he's hardly the only one on stage, I know). A monumentally complex central character with a simple world surrounding it? That's my best stab at a critique without further study of the play.<BR/>And, by all means, let's further study the play. But no need, I think, to just shut up until we do. (After all, how else would we blog!)Playgoerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1134354219696348402005-12-11T21:23:00.000-05:002005-12-11T21:23:00.000-05:00Kushner on O'Neill (cached from google because the...Kushner on O'Neill (cached from google because the original has been taken down) -- all the defense America's greatest playwright needs:<BR/><BR/>http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:5phcElPcA3AJ:www.the-tls.co.uk/this_week/story.aspx%3Fwindow_type%3Dprint%26story_id%3D2105516+%22Tony+Kushner%22+%22Times+Literary%22&hl=en&client=safariAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1134353810832111232005-12-11T21:16:00.000-05:002005-12-11T21:16:00.000-05:00Although I have not read or seen "Touch Of The Poe...Although I have not read or seen "Touch Of The Poet"... is it horrible for me to say that I do not consider O'Neill to be a great artist? A man posessed of all the subtleties of a bowling ball, his scritps tend to, when not instructing the audience in how to react to his message, instruct the performers on exactly how to perform them. He was, simply put, a control freak, and that control freakiness strangles the life out of most his works. The didacticism of "Great God Brown", "The Hairy Ape" and "Emperor Jones" can be seen in his so-called great works such as "Iceman Cometh" (I get it, it's about Pipe Dreams, thanks, Gene, I guess I'll just let you do all the work). "Long Days Journey" is worth it, I suppose, but one great work and several overrated so-called "masterpieces" does not a great writer make.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1134339788430316072005-12-11T17:23:00.000-05:002005-12-11T17:23:00.000-05:00The grand title of the 11-play cycle was actually ...The grand title of the 11-play cycle was actually "A Tale of Possessors Self-Dispossessed"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1134329043784667382005-12-11T14:24:00.000-05:002005-12-11T14:24:00.000-05:00You know what? I'm tired of critics maligning thi...You know what? I'm tired of critics maligning this play. Why the fuck is it not "top drawer" O'Neill? And if you beleive it isn't, why don't you fucking explain why it is not "top drawer," just what it is about this extrarodinary play that does not meet your high critical standards. How about for once people accept that great artists represent their complex consciousness in a way that is not always aesthetically pleasing and neat, and that the proper relationship to this is one of reverence, awe, and humility. Note that I did not say a suspension of one's critical faculties -- just a stance that does not presume to know and tower over extraordinary artistic minds.<BR/><BR/>This is a marvelous production of an impossibly rich play and once again, New York shrugs its shoulders. How the fuck is one to expect serious drama in a city that wags its Broadway tails for Avenue Q and sticks its nose up in the air when given our greatest playwright's fraught, difficult, demanding play.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com