Word: plot
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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Despite its paper-thin plot, implausible coincidences, and unbelievable ending, The Importance of Being Earnest remains one of the most original and razor sharp plays ever written. Located firmly in the Victorian era, the story revolves around the caddish Algernon Moncrieff (Kent French) and his friend John Worthing (G. Zachariah White). As both men independently undertake a harmless deception, their "bunburying" turns into a major misunderstanding and leads to a first-rate satire of the English class structure. However, as valiantly as the performers try to do Wilde's words justice, the overall acting can often best be described...
...almost welcome the benign and believable sense of normalcy they add in counterpoint to the wild posturing that takes place in nearly every other nook and cranny of the stage area, as designed by Kevin Lair. Lair's ambitious but simple set adds an attractive visual component to the plot. The play itself seems to cry out for the overstuffed trappings of the period and Lair precisely captures the sense of place essential to recreate the mood of the period with his spare settings...
...Wall is down, but westernization is not restitution enough, leaving more wanderers than homesteaders. Indeed, Schulze's world is more bazaar than bizarre. But this is hardly to say that it's bargain basement Kafka. Rummaging through the apparently artless language leads the reader to discover a finely crafted plot, a great conversation piece for years to come. But admittedly, some of the stories are more worthy of chit-chat than legend...
...hurts the book as a whole. It would take a particularly patient reader to digest the 29 stories in one sitting but an even more intent reader to manage to surmise the complex connections between the vignettes, which are often too based on moniker relations rather than convergence of plot or metaphor. Often one finds the need for a family tree, a flow chart to keep straight the characters...
...essence, Rules of Engagement was certainly conceived with the intention of combining action with thought provoking plot complications. But only one part of this plan is executed-the action scenes are flawless, the cinematography fits the mood. But where is the complexity? The only deep question that we can possibly ask? "What on earth was Freidkin thinking...