From boethius-owner Fri Feb 16 22:29:23 1996 Received: (from root@localhost) by ccat.sas.upenn.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) id WAA63076 for boethius-outgoing; Fri, 16 Feb 1996 22:28:45 GMT Received: (from jod@localhost) by ccat.sas.upenn.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) id RAA11588 for boethius@ccat.sas.upenn.edu; Fri, 16 Feb 1996 17:28:33 -0500 From: "James O'Donnell" Message-Id: <199602162228.RAA11588@ccat.sas.upenn.edu> Subject: Re: Boethius on Stage (fwd) To: boethius@ccat.sas.upenn.edu Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 17:28:32 -0500 (EST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23-upenn3.1] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 3423 Sender: owner-boethius@ccat.sas.upenn.edu Precedence: bulk Horrescens refero: R. W. Burgess wrote: From owner-lt-antiq@UNIVSCVM.CSD.SCAROLINA.EDU Fri Feb 16 16:08:51 1996 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Message-ID: Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 09:25:32 -0500 Reply-To: LT-ANTIQ -- Late Antiquity Discussion Forum Sender: LT-ANTIQ -- Late Antiquity Discussion Forum From: "R. W. Burgess" Subject: Re: Boethius on Stage To: Multiple recipients of list LT-ANTIQ STOP PRESS!!!! Here are a few choice quotations from *The Ottawa Citizen*'s review of Alan William's *The Consolation of Philosophy*. It begins: Acclaimed U.S. playwright Terrence McNally, at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre recently to accept admittance to the Theatre Hall of Fame, recalled the critical reception accorded his first play. One critical review, he said, began with the line, "The American theatre would be healthier if Terrence McNally's parents had smoothered him in his cradle." So I can't use it. Paraphrasing shamelessly, however, I can note that the current Great Canadian Theatre Company season would be much brighter indeed if Alan William's parents had considered exercising the same drastic action. William's *The Consolation of Philosophy*, a premiere billed as "a free-wheeling musical adaptation of the sixth-century spiritual classic by Boethius", opened at the GCTC Wednesday night. And a more self-indulgent, undisciplined, pretentious two hours of relieved long-windedness would be difficult to imagine... (The plot is that the daughter of the lead character runs away to Las Vegas and leaves Dad at the bus stop to be consoled by Philosophy [who in the photograph appears to be quite attractive as one might expect]) After that, Philosophy and the downcast Ian trade concepts in a dialogue that bases itself on the Boethius original and that diverts itself with bits of sixth-0century text set to Marc Desormeaux's original music--most of it pleasant, if not particularly memorable...(the sets, costumes, and musicians are good) It's the rambling script that leaves so much to be desired...and it's the appalling acting, in two out of three cases...Worst of all Williams...eschews judicious shaping and literate pruning to let his characters go on. And on. Think of a university sophomore who has just discovered the weightiness of a philosophical text and is determined to share it with you, line by excruciating line, page after page after page...occasionally broken up with lighter bits such as Philosophy's "I can see you're worn out by the prolixity of the reasoning and probably need a song." Daughter Diane is given history text to spout, endless passages about ancient pharaohs... Williams (writer and actor), on the other hand, should simply have been bound and gagged, both as a singer, who would make Dylan sound like Pavarotti, and as an actor. One hesitates to point out...that this is the sort of play that gives arts funding a bad name...(Williams) hadn't fixed on a subject when he was commissioned and ...only finished the script relatively recently. You get the picture. Not worth the trip to Ottawa. ALW has nothing to worry about on this front. Richard Burgess University of Ottawa