tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post1844450210615963638..comments2024-02-18T19:36:43.844+11:00Comments on theatre notes: Review: The End, The Dream Life of ButterfliesAlison Croggonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-51751839088698695972011-04-05T08:50:52.344+10:002011-04-05T08:50:52.344+10:00Hi Cameron - perhaps a different kind of productio...Hi Cameron - perhaps a different kind of production might have helped, although I can't see how it would have got around the essentially static script. Yes, I hope Cortese starts exploring different approaches and forms.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-7359078568015077402011-04-04T21:42:15.683+10:002011-04-04T21:42:15.683+10:00Largely agree, although I imagine the play might h...Largely agree, although I imagine the play might have been a different beast had Bolton not directed it so slavishly (and inappropriately) in Ranters style. It'd be a great shame if Cortese's work continues to be pigeon-holed in this way. His earlier stuff, especially Features of Blown Youth, wasn't like this at all.Cameron Woodheadhttp://cameronwoodhead.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-51265367213865643712011-03-28T19:46:53.820+11:002011-03-28T19:46:53.820+11:00I essentially agree with what you mentioned and sa...I essentially agree with what you mentioned and said about Dream Life of Butterflies. I also attempted to puzzle out how it might have worked better, and thought the premise would have suited a shorter form.<br /><br />http://theatre-of-words.blogspot.com/2011/03/dream-life-of-butterflies-review.html<br /><br />Sometimes it is really difficult to review things you really don't like.Onomatopoeiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05308239288261673937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-62640960612453831872011-03-26T22:18:56.112+11:002011-03-26T22:18:56.112+11:00I just returned home from seeing Cortese's wor...I just returned home from seeing Cortese's work (the dream life of the butterflies). I was really bored and by the end of it i thought what a waste of time. I think that the rest of the audience felt the same way - everyone was very quiet when the play ended and there was a sense of "what was that about?". the play has no climax, no peak, it is just a flat dialogue - I am sure I Bettinanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-63057299805139999852011-03-16T17:56:08.139+11:002011-03-16T17:56:08.139+11:00Couldn't agree more about the dullness and ban...Couldn't agree more about the dullness and banality of this play.<br />Why, why, WHY? I say to myself. And the contrast with Beckett is apposite. Perhaps Cortese thinks he is doing a Pinter? The notes on the programme suggest there might be something of this, but instead of plumbing the depths of what's unspoken this play crashed on its nose an inch below the surface.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-26556666118841213112011-03-10T11:34:46.686+11:002011-03-10T11:34:46.686+11:00Responses to me 2.0:
"The MTC probably reali...Responses to me 2.0:<br /><br />"The MTC probably realised they could get some cash to have readings"<br /><br />I don't think there's much money in public readings, possibly some corporate and/or philanthropic money out there, but only enough to pay or the activity itself. It can be a worthwhile activity, so it's worth finding some money for.<br /><br />"If the play isChris Kohnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-13002974490640556382011-03-09T23:04:32.340+11:002011-03-09T23:04:32.340+11:00...and thanks for the other comments, all. Keith, ......and thanks for the other comments, all. Keith, I so agree with what you say about "the wordless inquiry into the work’s privacies". One of those most interesting tensions in theatre.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-21541269804539587302011-03-09T23:02:17.731+11:002011-03-09T23:02:17.731+11:00It seems worth pointing out that the MTC did, in f...It seems worth pointing out that the MTC did, in fact, put the play on after the public reading. Personally, I think it's a fine complement to a company's work to do play readings, and they can be great events in themselves. I seriously doubt that they turn a profit. It's so easy to call bad faith. <br /><br />And maybe there are playwrights who don't find readings incredibly Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-88636904068481449002011-03-09T21:40:55.240+11:002011-03-09T21:40:55.240+11:00The MTC probably realised they could get some cash...The MTC probably realised they could get some cash to have readings, plus they could get cash coming from the door money for these readings, plus they get to commit to putting the play on (without actually doing so), and any other number of reasons.<br /><br />If the play is about the relationship between the audience and the play, this doesn't mean that the playwright has to hear what they me 2.0noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-41145506666850979012011-03-09T20:31:26.936+11:002011-03-09T20:31:26.936+11:00There are many technical advantages to having an o...There are many technical advantages to having an open reading, but all with a mind to ignoring these advantages at the last possible moment. For me, in the delivery of the writing the audience must be an other audience, the technique an other technique, and the language an other language. The elisions of the theatre’s temporality demand a wilderness of sounds so a wilderness of ears may catch Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-20455207043958017442011-03-09T19:01:46.492+11:002011-03-09T19:01:46.492+11:00Then I guess the question is, Why have readings in...Then I guess the question is, Why have readings in front of a paying audience if writer/director/whoever isn't interested in audience response? I wouldn't expect a writer to wholly re-write their play on the basis of a few comments from the audience, anymore than I'd expect a writer to wholly re-write their play on the basis of the responses of a critic. But, at the same time, DSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-92179441943863783252011-03-09T16:10:34.677+11:002011-03-09T16:10:34.677+11:00Personally I find open feedback sessions no help a...Personally I find open feedback sessions no help at all, in fact quite the opposite. How is a bank of opinion helpful in any meaningful way? Far better for specific questions and specific people being asked those questions. This isn't choose your own theatre adventure and lets face it, if you want to have feedback for a writer, perhaps you could write the play you would like them to write?menoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-70849301870148374122011-03-08T16:12:00.012+11:002011-03-08T16:12:00.012+11:00Hi DS - you sound like the best sort of theatre pa...Hi DS - you sound like the best sort of theatre patron. You might find something there that I didn't. <br /><br />Interesting point you raise about the reading: I suspect the most important part of a reading is the chance for a writer to hear his/her words in an actor's mouth. I'm not sure about audience response, although I'm not saying it can't be useful; it also can be so Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-4958748498248008772011-03-08T13:42:54.608+11:002011-03-08T13:42:54.608+11:00Interesting to read your review of The Dream Life ...Interesting to read your review of The Dream Life of Butterflies. I went to the reading MTC put on last year as part of the Cybec readings, and my response was exactly the same as yours. It felt like a very, very long night, largely because everything was pitched at the same emotional level the whole way through. I thought that maybe it was a factor of it merely being a reading rather than a DShttp://d.stubbings@bigpond.comnoreply@blogger.com