From today’s S.B. News-Press:
‘Fourth Wall’ is entertaining and troubling
By TED MILLS
NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Following on the heels of Genesis West’s production of Caryl Churchill’s deconstructionist “Blue Heart” last month, Ensemble Theatre Company’s presentation of A. R. Gurney’s “The Fourth Wall” adds to the boundary-breaking this theater season.
The play’s title alone suggests something meta-theatrical will be up. The invisible fourth wall that separates performer from audience — can it really be torn down? And does this mean an evening of mortifying audience participation?
Thankfully not, but Mr. Gurney’s play is an odd duck. Not too radical to upset the general public, it hints at subversion but hedges its bets in the second half. I can imagine many being entertained and pleased by Mr. Gurney’s work, but I can’t imagine many being deeply satisfied with it.
But there’s lots to like. We open on a suburban living room, radiant in warm, rosy colors. Two characters enter: Roger (Robert Lesser), a “successful businessman,” and Julia (Gillian Doyle), an old friend from New York. The dialogue is overwritten; the performances wooden.
Month: December 2005
Grow Cube–Puzzle Game as Art
It’s a simple idea really. Use logic to figure out the order of 10 disconnected objects. But game creator “ON” (that’s his name, not his position) has made this puzzle a beautiful animated work of art. GrowCube is the sequel to the (harder) Grow, but the solution is very much worth it.
Thanks to Robot Action Boy for the link.
The Man Who Invented the Album Cover
For without Steinweiss, there would be no Abbey Road.
Big Town Songbook: Make ’em sing
Most people who have bought any musical recordings over the past 60 years might have assumed they always came in covers, or sleeves, or jackets, that featured a colorful graphic designed to enhance the lure of the music.
They didn’t. Album covers had to be invented. This was a task that largely fell to a Brooklyn kid named Alex Steinweiss.
Just Say No to The Drugs!
Photos from a “Moscow Wax Figure Exhibition Highlighting the Graphic Dangers of Drugs”. Something wonderfully arty about this house of drugginess. Girl with dolly looks down with devilish disinterest. Mother too strung out to notice Twyla Tharp-ish statement by suicidal roommate in a sweater usually only worn by British TV weathermen in 1986. Stunning. As was that last sentence.
By way of The Cartoonist.