Thursday, March 29, 2007

Vincible ignorance ...

... Maxine also links to this: Crude, Gruesome, and Hateful–The Politics of Theatre Review . I don't find The Cherry Orchard as uninteresting as Maxine does Michael Cacoyannis's recent film version is worth seeing), but I prefer The Seagull. I do, however, think this review is, to put it charitably, unfortunate. It is hard to imagine that the reviewer was not suffering from some sort of historical amnesia, since it difficult to believe she could be that ignorant. I think she needs to have a chat with Martin Amis.

3 comments:

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  2. Anonymous1:24 PM

    I like the Seagull, too. It is one of those plays where I sympathised with the young woman (Nina) when young and the older woman (whose name I forget) when older.

    I did enjoy reading the C. O. in playscript form (though not as much as some of the other plays): it was this particular production that dragged so.

    I also love Checkhov's short stories.

    My point in my post, though, was that whether or not one agrees with Lyn's point (I can't imagine she meant it entirely seriously), I don't think it justified the vitriol of Dalrymple's "response". I could not imagine you, for example, Frank, expressing your disagreement in such a vein (as indeed you haven't in this post).

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  3. I saw Lyn today and asked her about this review. She confirmed, as I thought to be the case when I read it, that she is discussing the interpretation of the play in her review, not her own personal opinion of the fate of the characters. This is what TD has failed to understand.

    Lyn, however, did not wish to comment on his attack. (Which she knew about when I saw her because the Britannica Blog, on which it was published, sent her a copy).

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