January 2012
3 posts
All The World Is One Big Chelm
In Isaac Bashevis Singer’s famous story, “When Shlemiel Went To Warsaw,” a man from Chelm - an idiot, a shlemiel named, appropriately enough, “Shlemiel” - goes on a journey to see far off Warsaw. He doesn’t get far before he tires and lies down for a nap, leaving his boots pointing in the direction he was going so he would know where to go when he waked. A...
Send In The Clowns
Speaking of Beckett, two other theatrical highlights of December for me were a pair of productions of his short works: Krapp’s Last Tape, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, starring John Hurt and directed by Michael Colgan, and a collection of really short works assembled by directors Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne into an evening called Fragments, presented by Theatre For a New...
A Chekhov Experiment
Finally catching up with the remaining shows from 2011, and I’ll start with one of the best of the year: Classic Stage’s production of The Cherry Orchard, which, if you can believe it, is actually still running; you could see it this weekend if you could only score a ticket.
The Cherry Orchard is the most experimental of Chekhov’s major plays. Indeed, it feels to me like the...
