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It seems like certain theatregoers may be more dazzled by starpower than by actual theatre. Fans who got to see a sneak preview of Mother Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theater starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline didn’t seem to be very impressed.
One person on their way out said, “Meryl is brilliant, but the play itself is boring, tortuous - it needs judicious cutting. A number of people left after 20 minutes. Many didn’t return after intermission and then, three hours in, during a long song by Kevin Kline, they were pouring out.”
Have any of these people ever heard of Bertold Brecht? Did they think it was going to be a light-hearted romantic comedy? Pretty much everyone’s beef with the show wasn’t the acting it was that the play was too long. Then the ultimate suggestion of “judicious cutting”.
Composed of 12 scenes, the work is a chronicle play of the Thirty Years’ War and is based on the picaresque novel Simplicissimus (1669) by Hans Jakob Grimmelshausen. In 1949 Brecht staged Mother Courage, with music by Paul Dessau, in the Soviet sector of Berlin. The plot revolves around a woman who depends on war for her personal survival and who is nicknamed Mother Courage for her coolness in safeguarding her merchandise under enemy fire. One by one her three children die, yet she continues her profiteering.
Yeah, if we could only chop that down to a bunch of 30 minute episodes, make it funny and air it on Fox we’d have a huge hit.
—admin
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2 Comments
1. HughE2030
2. James
Want a neat little picture by your comments? Get one here.I saw it Friday night. I thought it was great and the story is somewhat relevant about a war and how the leader of the country wants every available child to enlist for a war without a cause. Meryl was amazing, and it was fascinating to hear her say motherfucker, cocksucker and shit - LOL
Posted Monday, August 14, 2006 at 11:19 am | Permalink
That’s what blew me away about so much bad feedback. The story is very relevant to the times. Thanks for the update and letting us know that it wasn’t the show, it was a select few of the audience.
Posted Monday, August 14, 2006 at 11:26 am | Permalink
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