Superfluities Redux
On culture and theatre, by George Hunka
A new journal for theatre minima and organum posts exclusively can now be found here.
Friday, 16 November 2007
Noises Off: A Director's Process
Though members of the Writers' Guild won't want to hear it, the only two television shows I watch regularly are Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (full episodes available at the Web site if you've missed it) and Project Runway, which began its fourth season this week. They're glimpses into the difficulties of running a restaurant, becoming a clothes designer -- things we normally take for granted. Apart from the personalities involved, the appeal of the shows is two-fold. First, you develop a new appreciation, a new thoughtfulness, about the clothes you wear and the food you eat: you realise, really, that these make a difference, to other people and yourself. Second, you learn things about couture and cuisine that you didn't know before. At least, you think you do (which is television all over for you), and that's enough for some people. Me, after watching these shows (and their predecessors like Iron Chef and the BBC What Not to Wear), I started studying more about couture and cuisine myself.
All this is a roundabout way of saying that, as part of my unusual practice these days of writing for Web sites other than my own, a report of my visit to a rehearsal for Richard Foreman's next show is now up at the Ontological-Hysteric production blog -- behind the scenes, into the kitchen or the atelier, whatever. Perhaps you will learn something about Foreman, or about the directorial process itself. At any rate, it's a chance to hear about some unique theatre artists at work. I don't think we'll be seeing a show like Richard's Theatre Nightmares on the Fox network anytime soon -- there's much less yelling and bawling, and only rarely do Foreman's performers and technicians respond with a deferential "Yes, chef!" to his notes. But for those who'd like to see it, free103point9.org offers a real-time Webcast of Foreman's rehearsals every Friday from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
Foreman's not exactly a foul-mouthed ex-soccer-playing three-star Michelin chef, and Brendan Regimbal doesn't play Tim Gunn to Richard's Heidi Klum -- at least, not very often. But it's a short peek into the Ontological atelier.
Photo of Richard Foreman © Paula Court
Posted at 12.35 pm in /Miscellaneous
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Friday, 16 November 2007
The Soho Rep's next production comes from Pavol Liska's Nature Theater of Oklahoma. Opening at 66 White Street on Saturday, 8 December, No Dice is a four-hour version of a play almost three times as long, described as "an epic of the everyday blown to transcendental proportions." It was distilled from over 100 hours of taped telephone conversations with actors, friends and family about their jobs, personal problems, aspirations and dreams. The play was first performed at this year's Under-the-Radar festival at the Public Theater; I reviewed their 2006 production of Kelly Copper's Fragment for the Times. Tickets and schedule information here.
Coming up on 26 November, the Monday after Thanksgiving, are two shows: it'll be tough to decide which to attend. First, the Peculiar Works Project is producing a benefit staged reading of William M. Hoffman and Anthony Holland's Cornbury: The Queen's Governor, a play about Edward Hyde, royal governor of New York and New Jersey from 1701 through 1708, and perhaps one of the most corrupt politicians of his or any other time. (A transvestite, too, the press release suggests!) The cast includes David Greenspan and New Georges artistic director Susan Bernfield. Reservations via Theatremania here.
Art is for sale, in more ways than one, at Annie Dorsen's Democracy in America launch party, to be held at Joe's Pub on Monday, 26 November, at 9:30pm. A new project by the Foundry Theatre, Democracy in America is described as a "user-generated theatre project"; on the 26th, Dorsen and company will auction off parts of their next production to members of the audience, who can "buy anything they desire to see onstage (limited only by what is safe and legal)." The resulting play will be performed at PS122 in spring 2008. Ten dollars gets you in the door; what you spend after that is up to you. Joining Annie Dorsen will be Tony Torn, Okwui Okpokwasili and others. Culturebot's Andy Horwitz has more information here.
And one closing: the Theatre of a Two-headed Calf's Drum of the Waves of Horikawa offers its final performances tonight and tomorrow at HERE.
Posted at 8.42 am in /Openings
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