Word: plot
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Doto, her feeble-witted and man-hungry servant who has decided to die from physical and sexual starvation with her mistress; and Tegeus, or as he is called by Dynamane, Cromus, a steedly Hoplite who blunders into the whole affair and falls in love with Dynamane. Using this simple plot and character framework, Fry works much mischief on the classical tragic genre with overblown and thoroughly ludicrous speeches on honor, fate, love and life. His parodies of Greek tragic conventions sometimes tend to be either too subtle or too overdone but in general the play keeps up a lively pace...
Fiction has always made use of monumental festive gorgings to patch over any gaps in the plot. Chaucer sneaks them in in his prologue to the Canterbury Tales writing of a house where it "seemed to snow food and drink and every kind of delicacy one can think of." And in Dickens' Christmas Carol, the crusty Scrooge's transformation begins when he supplies a complete spread, including goose, for his new friend Tiny...
...avoid aiding and abetting the elves of Hollywood and New York in their nefarious plot to squeeze more of our hardearned money out of us, let me just say that if you like one of these groups or performers you'll probably like his greatest hits, and if you don't, you won't. After all, you already know what the whole record is gonna sound like-you've heard it all before. Save your money for better things...
There are, of course, bright spots. Enter Tom Prewitt, making like Andy Hardy in pursuit of any young creature in a chastity belt. As Nicholas, one of two ne'er-do-well brothers intent on complicating the plot, Prewitt cuts through the lethargy of the first scenes with an energetic and mischievious performance. Michael Bierer as the blustering, bureaucratic mayor Hebble Tyson leans toward exaggeration in comparison with other characters, but his haughty huffing and sorrowful snorting lend a badly needed comic touch to scenes which would otherwise fall flat...
...soldier of fortune, Harper's ability to simultaneously remember his lines and deliver them with conviction is limited indeed. When he is inspired, the impact of his existential query is startling, but more often than not he appears to concentrate exclusively on maintaining his accent. While much of the plot revolves around him, he never suitably explains or justifies his involvement in the whole business--or his determination to be hanged. Harper's characterization is too indifferent to convince observers that he cares about his fate or that of anyone else. He registers all emotion by waving his arms...