Word: stanleyã
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...little else of the evening’s events can be discerned. To add to the confusion, most of the characters fail to remember the evening’s alcohol-fueled mayhem the next morning. All that remains is Lulu’s indignant sense of violation and Stanley??s chilling descent into madness...
...unsettling sense that something is not quite right permeates the play from the very beginning, lurking in the background like the greenish ocean-wave-printed walls on an otherwise unremarkable set. Even ordinary, everyday conversations about breakfast and the weather are disrupted by uncomfortably long pauses. Stanley??s connection to Goldberg and McCann is never explained; neither is Meg’s arbitrary fear of wheelbarrows...
...playwright himself believes that this lack of clarity is essential to the play’s purpose, so much so that he refused the original director’s request to add several lines to clarify Stanley??s situation. According to the program, the ART’s artistic directors feel that this ambiguity makes the play more accessible, leaving it open to a variety of psychological, political or even religious interpretations. While this may be true once the audience leaves the theater, it makes the experience of watching The Birthday Party frustrating as one tries to make...
Despite the disconcerting plot and ambiguous dialogue, the production is carried by the sheer talent of the actors. Karen MacDonald slips into the role of a cheerfully dotty old woman as if it were her own personality. Thomas Derrah overacts at times, making Stanley??s conversational lines sound like a speech or sermon. His physical acting, however, is simply magnetic, especially in the second act as Stanley??s nervous breakdown becomes complete. Terence Rigby is the play’s “straight man,” whose dry wit and easygoing manner evolves into...
...birthday party itself is an ominous affair, consisting of several toasts to Stanley, for which Goldberg insists on turning out the lights and shining a flashlight in Stanley??s face, as if each toast was a criminal interrogation. After a few drinks, all other characters promptly ignore Stanley...