Performers by Irvine Welsh and Dave Cavanagh
Posted: October 18, 2021 Filed under: Theater / Drama | Tags: Books, Dave Cavanagh, English, Irvine Welsh Leave a commentA tiny play about a couple of neighborhood hard-men inadvertently auditioning for Don Cammell and Nick Roeg’s Performance movie in 1968. Welsh, as usual, is the master of lowlife poorly educated street folk dialogue, and it is exactly this, a chit-chat with a twist and a bit of blackmail and nudity. Funny, eh
The Wild Party by Joseph Moncure March and Art Spiegelman
Posted: June 12, 2020 Filed under: Theater / Drama | Tags: Art Spiegelman, Books, English, Joseph Moncure March, Poetry Leave a commentWow, such a wholesome, rhythmic, totally jazzed-up poem from the roaring twenties, a true gem by Joseph Moncure March, then managing editor of the recently established The New Yorker magazine, spiced up with Art Spiegelman’s black and white drawings of 1994.
First published in 1926, two years before Bertolt Brecht’s similarly tuned Three-Penny Opera hit the stage, in those careless final years of laugher and prosperity before the Great Depression and War, this short barely a hundred-page long smashed up, sexed up, and cocked up narrative drama of a lovers’ fight, seduction, jealousy and vengeance in a bubbling new New York apartment, propped against a totally Gatsbian wild party atmosphere, is definitely the best piece of frivolous poetry I’ve read in a while.
Queenie was a blonde, and her age stood still,
And she danced twice a day in a vaudeville.
Lip-smacking, invigorating, well ahead of its time, and quite contemporary today.
House of Games by David Mamet
Posted: June 18, 2017 Filed under: Books, Theater / Drama | Tags: David Mamet, English, Screenplay Leave a commentReading the original script of David Mamet's debut 1987 movie is a delight. A brilliant playwright and a brilliant filmmaker, Mamet's con men story keeps you glued to the pages, on the tip of your toes, anxious to move forward. A short 60+ page masterpiece.
A perfect read on a bench in the park. I need to watch this movie again – and soon.
China Doll by David Mamet
Posted: May 7, 2017 Filed under: Books, Theater / Drama | Tags: Al Pacino, Books, David Mamet, English, Theater Leave a commentNow, man, what are the chances? After a long biography of Marc Rich which I had finished just yesterday, when I picked up China Doll, David Mamet's last play, to read it queitly in the park this Saturday morning, I had absolutely no clue that it was a book about a local governor using the vast power of US federal government to strike a crushing sledgehammer-strong and disproportionate blow against a retired billionaire/adversary of his over a tax saving scheme that turned sour.
Not David Mamet's best play, but I would interested to see it on stage, Al Pacino playing Mickey. The Premiere was in November 2015, it got a lot of poor press – but is it still on? I'll check it out.
Black Watch by Gregory Burke
Posted: August 13, 2016 Filed under: Books, Theater / Drama | Tags: Books, English, Gregory Burke, Theater Leave a commentA short play about Scotland's royal infantry coming to Iraq in 2004 to support Uncle Sam's pet invasion of the House of Saddam.
A modern play, it would probably be perfect and quite entertaining if I attended a theater performance – off a kindle page, however, words, stories, scoffs and swearing from the retired Black Watch vets touched me a lot less.
Nonetheless, it has a good balance between “support our boys” and “what in the world are we fighting for”.
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Well, we'll need to get fucking used tay it. Bullying's the fucking job. That's what you have a fucking army for.
The Anarchist by David Mamet
Posted: December 28, 2014 Filed under: Books, Theater / Drama | Tags: Books, David Mamet, English, Theater Leave a commentSomehow, it's been a while since I last read a new Mamet's play. And it's always been a treat, with very few exceptions.
This time, the book caught me a bit off guard. Set up entirely as a dialogue between two women, one a prisoner, and the another, a warden of sorts, it was a bit difficult to plow through it at the beginning.
A third or so in, this Raskolnikov-like story caught up with me, and I did enjoy it. Not Oleanna, but still, quite nice. Sad no Mamet available in Moscow theaters – and I'm not sure he translates well.
David Mamet Shorts
Posted: March 12, 2014 Filed under: Audiobook, Books, Theater / Drama | Tags: Audiobook, Books, David Mamet, Theater Leave a commentA nice collection of three Mamet's shorts by L.A. Theatre. Less profound than his typical long works for the stage and cinema, however these 2 hours were worth it.
I would say that Bobby Gould in Hell is extremely funny, like classic Mamet funny. I would love to see that on stage.
The Reunion was nothing too great – or maybe just not my kinda thing.
And The Shawl was, umm, unexpected. Enjoy!
P.S. I realized L.A. Theatre is available on Russian iTunes at 1/2 of audible price, huh. As much as I love having all on the same platform, greed rules.
The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
Posted: February 24, 2014 Filed under: Audiobook, Books, Theater / Drama | Tags: Audiobook, Books, English, Theater, Tom Stoppard Leave a commentI mean, if Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at twenty-two, the history of music would have been very different. As would the history of aviation, of course.