tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7464910903607341813..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Goldoni's smash hit play - I'm only one man but I got two guvnorsAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66094918412222085472015-01-23T14:41:16.791-06:002015-01-23T14:41:16.791-06:00At the Comédie Italienne, that's almost as goo...At the Comédie Italienne, that's almost as good as seeing Goldoni in Venice.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-91080662421086408292015-01-23T13:59:27.929-06:002015-01-23T13:59:27.929-06:00I have to read some Goldoni. My only exposure to h...I have to read some Goldoni. My only exposure to him was at the Comédie Italienne in Paris at least 10 years ago, and I could not remember which play until you wrote about this one: the waiter running back and forth to both masters is, as comic scenes go, fairly unforgettable. That Richard Bean adaptation sounds like a riot. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-80476477848423673262015-01-22T11:35:19.527-06:002015-01-22T11:35:19.527-06:00That is a good distinction. "More drama"...That is a good distinction. "More drama" would quickly become a punishment, kitsch. But comedy is expandable to some large degree. <br /><br />What a wonderful thing to see in Haiti. Comic violence is universal.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-24333327123655835742015-01-22T10:39:28.402-06:002015-01-22T10:39:28.402-06:00It is indeed possible to make a Goldoni comedy fun...It is indeed possible to make a Goldoni comedy funnier by adding more jokes; I don't think a Shakespeare tragedy can be made sadder by adding more drama to it. Or can anyone claim to have LOL'd at Much Ado About Nothing or the Aulularia or Don Gil of the Green Breeches? On the other hand, The Doctor In Spite Of Himself and La Locandiera are still hilarious. I was visiting Haiti when I saw this community theater group from a poor beach neighborhood performing some scenes from Le Medecin Malgre Lui, and I watched as little children burst into laughter as the protagonist was turned into a competent doctor by the expedient procedure of being hit hard with wooden sticks. You may remember this joke as the time Homer Simpson instantly became a very good Jazz pianist by the expedient procedure of being hit hard with a whip.<br /><br />What Moliere and Goldoni have bequeathed us is pretty much the basic structure of modern comedy and sitcoms. I have seen scene XIII of the first act of La Locandiera redone so many, many times, from, cough, prurient, cough Japanese movies to Latin American sitcoms and it's always funny.<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-53791918585911448002015-01-22T09:45:14.919-06:002015-01-22T09:45:14.919-06:00Theater stories - that's a good idea.Theater stories - that's a good idea.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3025550454625071732015-01-22T09:30:24.907-06:002015-01-22T09:30:24.907-06:00Well, I could tell you tales about when it goes ho...Well, I could tell you tales about when it goes horribly wrong -- especially in productions in which I was involved. Perhaps I should post those tales at Beyond Eastrod.R.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13220814349193561823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48227753686737701632015-01-22T09:24:15.642-06:002015-01-22T09:24:15.642-06:00I took Michael Frayn's Noises Off as a documen...I took Michael Frayn's <i>Noises Off</i> as a documentary about how theater works. It is a series of disasters until suddenly it all goes right.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-5331911417403450432015-01-22T09:10:30.985-06:002015-01-22T09:10:30.985-06:00I fondly (if only partially) remember the play: I ...I fondly (if only partially) remember the play: I was performed in the play in 1970. With my memory problems, I remember very little about it except one awful rehearsal when I had not learned my lines and I had stopped off at the local tavern for too long before the rehearsal -- the director when nuclear and I was caught in the fallout. That was an ugly evening. (Moral of the Story: a pitcher of Iron City beer and Goldoni do not mix well.)R.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13220814349193561823noreply@blogger.com