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June 02, 2006
Upon seeing a another production
of "The Lady's Not For Burning"...
The premise:
A disillusioned soldier decides
to commit altruistic suicide by My high school drama
confessing to a crime a woman teacher was very
has been accused of commiting impressed with this
by witchcraft. one sentence summary.
I hope you appreciate it.
A 1948 play by
Christopher Fry. It's possible I was
Essentially an plagiarizing the
Elizabethan "TV Guide" though,
pastiche. at least with the
phrase "disillusioned
The best Shakespearian soldier".
Comedy ever not written
by Shakespeare.
The program for this
I liked this production name drops
play a lot Marlowe harder than
when I was a the big S, but I think Oh, Shakespeare?
teenager, and I've seen that quirk That's so
watched it before and don't trust it. middle class.
multiple times If you're
on PBS... really hip,
That was a version you dig Marlowe.
Last year I with Richard Chamberlin
saw a free playing the lead
performance; character, Thomas Mendip.
and this year
a friend was
appearing in
yet another
production.
One of the "Great
(Melanie Nelson, Performances" series,
who, looking very which in those days
Prince Valiant. presented some truly
appeared as great performances of KNUCKLE
Richard, the some truly great plays.
young clerk.)
Some pretty complex
language and humor,
pegging it as in the
Elizabethian style,
but there's a tendency
Dangerbaby wondered toward anarchronism
what I liked about that pegs it as more
this particular play modern:
so much.
At one point,
Nicholas calls his
What do I older brother
(or did I) Humphery a
like about "dismal coprolite".
it so much?
But then,
Shakespeare's
historical
veracity was
not exactly
perfect either.
It's admittedly a
very talky play
under any circum-
stances...
E.g. some
And in the lines only
productions we've really make
seen there were sense only
some problems in as asides to
the staging that another
might've been character.
fixable in other
settings... ("Nice noose!
Pretty noose!)
If there's no way
to get the characters
near each other, then
you have to force it.
Okay, so what?
The style of the Mendip
character appeals to me
of course: loud ranting,
alternating with sardonic
jokes, critical of the The first time Dangerbaby
the corruption of the and I saw this, the moment
age. Mendip launched into his
angry ranting she turned
to me and gave me a look
like "No wonder you like
The central issue this play."
is accommodating
yourself to living
in a grossly
imperfect world.
The general progression
of the story is a plot
that has always appealed
to me...
A suicidal disgust
with humanity;
gradually brought More "Cassablanca"
back to engagement than "Maltese Falcon".
with the world.
Yes, it is romantic love that
overcomes this romantic suicidal What might you
impulse; which might be trite, press into
but ties in well with the traditional service otherwise?
form of the Shakespearian commedy.
I would suggest
something very
small.
Humanity
redeemed by
the evidence
of one person's
small act
of consideration.
Mendip's monologue, pondering
the moonlit garden.
Why is this particular
conflagration of physical
sensations perceived as
beauty:
The interminable tumbling of the great grey
Main of moonlight, washing over
The little oyster-shell of this month of April;
Among the raven-quills of the shadows
And on the white pillows of men asleep;
The night's a pale pasture land of peace,
And something condones the world incorrigibly.
But what, in fact, is this vaporus charm?
We're softened by a nice conglomeration
Of the world's uneven surface, refraction of light,
Obstruction of light, condensation, distance,
And that sappy upshot of self-centered vegetabalism,
The trees of the garden. How is it we come
To see this as a heaven in the eye?
Why should we hawk, and spit out ecstasy
As though we were nightingales, and call these quite
Casual degrees and differences
Beauty? What guile recommends the world
And gives our eyes a special sense to be
Deluded above all animals? ...
-- Act III,
p. 88, Dramatists Play Services ed.
In general the dialog is immensely
clever, witty... no detail is ever
thrown away, it's always returned to,
built upon:
The live productions I've
seen have been inferior on
"I shall chalk your moment of most grounds with the
hesitation across the walls of broadcast one I was
hell." familiar with as a
teenager, but there's one
Or "purgatory" in point that's an obvious
this production, and exception: the performance
I would guess in the of the character "Skip".
original text.
In the PBS version,
skip is such a broad
parody of a drunk that
his lines are drowned
out by the roaring
drawling schtick of
the actor.
I had to read the
script to understand:
"Peace on earth,
and good tall women!"
All you need to do is
enunciate that one
clearly to get a laugh,
and that much they got
right...
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