Category: Theater

Carolina Comments: Novel, Play & Dinner

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In this post, I share my thoughts on Elizabeth Strout’s latest Maine novel, report on seeing a powerful and timely play, and share a tidbit about dinner at a very local eatery.

MAINE LIVES

Author Strout (spectator.co.uk)

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

Sharing individual’s stories and lives through the seasons, Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel, Tell Me Everything, returns to Crosby, Maine, and a cast of familiar characters.  Olive Kittredge is now 90 and still crochety and direct, while novelist Lucy Barton is her friend and recipient of Olive’s tales.   Lucy lives with her ex-husband, William, but meets Bob Burgess regularly for long walks and talks.  

Attorney Bob still does some legal work and is married to his second wife, Margaret, pastor at the local church.  When Matt Beach’s mother, a former teacher and the butt of her students’ cutting humor, is murdered, Matt is the primary suspect. Bob Burgess takes the case and slowly unravels that family’s history and relationships.

While Olive, Lucy, and Bob are the central figures, their spouses, families, and friends are integral to the various stories being shared.  It’s a peek into smalltown life and a depiction of regret, grief, and love that almost everyone experiences to some degree.  

“Oh” seems to be Strout’s favorite word as it’s regularly voiced, “Oh, Bob, “oh, Lucy,” anytime someone is subdued, hurting, or unsure.  Despite its overuse, I still found things to like about this novel.  It isn’t my favorite Strout book but engaging enough to keep me reading.  (~JWFarrington)

THOUGHT-PROVOKING DRAMA

What the Constitution Means to Me (Playmakers Repertory Company, Chapel Hill)

Julie Gibson as Heidi (playmakersrep.org)

Heidi Schreck’s play, What the Constitution Means to Me, is a powerful piece of drama.  One might think, given its very relevant content, that it was just created.  In fact, it was first presented on Broadway in 2019 and was nominated for two Tony Awards.  It had runs across the country and was named Best Play of the Year by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

Two characters dominate the first two-thirds of the play set in 1998, Heidi recreating her 15-year-old self and the Legionnaire who is MC of a contest about the U.S. Constitution.  What starts out as some factual questions on the specific sections of the document quickly devolves into Heidi’s reflections on the rights that are or are not granted to women, Blacks, and others.  She shifts into the present and digresses on the lives of her mother and her grandmother and their experiences of abusive men.  She then shares some of her own life choices.  

Later, both characters transition to the present, and there is a live debate between actress Julie Gibson and high school senior Amari Bullett.  The audience is encouraged to react to what’s being said, and one person is chosen to be the deciding judge. 

We found the opening 15 minutes setting up the contest to be drawn out and verging on tedious.  However, once Heidi got immersed in her family and how individuals’ rights are limited, we were fully engaged.  Playmakers is based at UNC, and performances run through November 3rd.  Well worth seeing!!

DINING OUT

Istanbul Restaurant & Cafe, Cary

Chicken shish kebab

Istanbul is literally right outside our door, and we had been meaning to try it.  We went for an early dinner and were very pleased.  I ordered the chicken shish kebab which came with bulghur and a mixed salad.  The Chief Penguin had the adana kebab (chopped lamb and beef with spices) which also was accompanied by bulghur and salad.  The portions were generous and tasty.  

We were tempted by the fried calamari but will try that appetizer on another visit.  While Istanbul does not have a liquor license, they were happy to provide glasses for wine.  Open for lunch and dinner and takeout seven days of the week.  Recommended! 

Note: All unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Capers: Watching at Home and on Stage

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TV SERIES

Sisters in Conflict

Becca & Rosaline (pbs.org)

Maryland (PBS Passport)

When British sisters Becca and Rosaline get the call that their mother has died on the Isle of Man, they are both mystified and sad.  Why was she there so far from home and what was she doing?  On a journey of discovery, these very different people, Rosaline, an independent career woman, and Becca, a put-upon wife and mother, disagree and rub each other the wrong way as they struggle to parse out the strands of their mother’s life and better understand each other.  

I found the tension between the sisters and their disparate world views convincingly captured.  The sisters were well cast.   Seeing Stockard Channing as friend Kathy, she who played stalwart First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the The West Wing, was an added treat.  I found this 3-episode series engrossing and enjoyable.    

French Justice

Bellefond (PBS Passport & Prime Video)

Bellefond flanked by his students (entertainment-focus.com)

Prosecutor Antoine Bellefond is so stunned by a courtroom incident, that he takes a leave of absence.  When his niece in Provence calls him for help, he returns to his hometown where his brother-in-law has been accused of murder.  Along with three of his star law students, he takes up the case and works to prove Christophe’s innocence.  

Bellefond is a diffident yet caring individual whose placid façade occasionally lights up with a smile.  His and his students’ methods are unusual to irregular, and likely not always within the realm of the law.   I found it a different take on crime investigation mixed in with the students’ foibles and attractions, sometimes for one another.   In French with subtitles, the first season is just 2 standalone episodes.  Season 2, also 2 episodes, is not yet available.

RALEIGH THEATER

Justice Theater Project

Cabaret

The Justice Theater Project presents dramas about individuals affected by social injustice.  Their Cabaret, which the Chief Penguin and I had previously seen at the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, was raw and intense.  Although set in Berlin during the rise of Nazism in 1929-30, it is timely viewing for today’s audiences.   

Sally Bowles & Kit Kat Klub dancers (asolorep.org)

Most of this company’s productions are presented on a small stage at the Umstead Park United Church of Christ.  The sets are minimal, and the sound system is basic, but the musicians and actors were passionate and fully engaged.  

I do think that the play itself spends too much time on introducing the Kit Kat Klub and the principals before it approaches the heart of the matter.  It was still a compelling performance, and Fraulein Schneider and Cliff Bradshaw were exceptionally well played characters.  Performances run through June 23rd.

Note: Header photo of TV screen courtesy of applicationsTV.

Tidy Tidbits: Medley of Viewing Options

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SERIES ON TELEVISION

MEDICOS IN THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service (Prime Video)

Pete & Eliza (RottenTomatoes.com)

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If you like medical shows and unusual cases in remote locations, then you might enjoy this Australian series.  The main base is in Broken Hill in southeastern New South Wales.  Much of the area is desert. In a medical emergency, the most efficient way to reach patients is usually by plane.  The Royal Flying Doctor Service is a real organization still in existence today.  

This fictional series focuses on the pilots, doctors, and nurses who work in this challenging environment.  Chief among them are Dr. Wayne Yates, nurses Pete and Matty, new arrival Dr. Eliza Harrod, and pilots Mira and Graham.  Eliza has come from London (her marriage is breaking up) with her teenage son Henry.  Wayne and Mira are pretty much of a couple; Pete is single and likes attractive women; Graham is a bit crusty, but caring; Matty embarks on a drag career in his spare time; and ops manager Leonie is super effective.  Add in devastating crashes, conflicts and romance, and the result is an engaging, sometimes heart pounding series.  There are two seasons of eight episodes each and possibly a third one in the works. Recommended!

HAUTE COUTURE UNDER THE NAZIS

The New Look (Apple TV+)

Dior & Chanel (preview.ph)

This dramatic series set in 1940’s Paris focuses on the high fashion industry while France is under Nazi occupation.  Designers must decide if they will make dresses for the Nazi wives or if they will quit working and possibly not survive.  Coco Chanel closed her studio, but she played both sides in this war and both fraternized with various Nazis and worked to get her nephew Andre released from captivity.  She then became a person of interest.  

Christian Dior was just coming into his own and designed under the aegis of Lucien Lelong along with others. They did what they did to make a living.  Dior is the principal figure in this saga of danger, dresses, and determination.  Dior’s sister Catherine was a member of the Resistance and worrying about her fate consumes Dior.  At the same time, fashion is changing and a new group of designers, Dior, Balmain, and Cardin challenge Chanel’s precedence.  

Juliette Binoche is superb as the fidgety, demanding, yet caring Coco, and Ben Mendelsohn as Christian is hauntingly broody.   There will be ten episodes in all, and they are being released weekly on Wednesdays. Highly recommended! 

MOVIES:  TEACHER & STUDENT

The Holdovers (Prime Video, etc.)

Tully & Mr. Hunham (IMDb)

The role of the very strict, no nonsense history teacher, Paul Hunham, is perfectly captured by Paul Giamatti.  Left at school during the Christmas holidays as the lone chaperone for prep schoolboys not going home with their parents, Paul is challenged, harassed, and berated by the students.  One by one, even the stragglers leave, and Paul is left with just Tully, a smart troublemaker.  Tully, Paul, and Mary, the school cook who’s mourning the death of her soldier son in Vietnam, make a for an unlikely set of compatriots.  

This is a film that is both funny at points and poignant.  The Chief Penguin enjoyed it very much.  I thought it was good and did appreciate Giamatti’s performance.  

LIVE THEATER: CORSETS AND CLASS IN NYC

Intimate Apparel (Asolo)

Mr. Marks & Esther

Lynn Nottage’s play, Intimate Apparel, encompasses a full spectrum of friendship, romance, prejudice, anger, and forgiveness.  In Lower East Side Manhattan in 1905, Black seamstress Esther has made her own way and supported herself making fine underwear for ladies of all types for eighteen years.  Strong of character, she has always lived in Mrs. Van Buren’s boarding house and yet wishes for a man of her own, a husband.  But Esther is particular and won’t settle for just anyone, so when a laborer in Panama starts writing her letters, she has hopes that become high hopes.  

Although she doesn’t really approve of her friend Mayme’s business, the two help each other out.  Esther is even an available ear for Mrs. Dickson, her married white upper-class client.  What is more challenging is the relationship between Esther and Mr. Marks, the Jewish man from whom she purchases her fabrics.  How much can be said with just a silent glance or the barest touch.  

The play moves through a series of scenes, much like tableaus, with headings over top echoing the article of clothing key to that scene. The beginning seems long, but the early scenes are essential to developing the characters and providing context for the events to come.  It gathers depth and richness as it works to its climax.  And I’m still reflecting on it 24 hours later.  Highly recommended!  It runs through April 18. 

Tidy Tidbits: Theater & Movies

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WONDERFUL THEATER!

Born with Teeth (Asolo Repertory Theatre)

Will and Kit (Sarasota Herald Tribune)

Born with Teeth is a recent play (2022) by Liz Duffy Adams.  It debuted at the Alley Theatre in Houston and is now being presented around the country.  It’s a historical play with just one setting and two actors in three scenes set in a London tavern in 1592 and 1593.  The characters are the popular successful Christopher (Kit) Marlowe and the then less well-known Will Shakespeare.  Here, they are collaborating on an historical play.  

There is some evidence that the two did collaborate and Duffy Adams has taken that likely fact and woven a drama around it.  Kit baits and taunts the more cautious, overtly timid Will in the opening scene.  Later they spar and trade barbs over the political climate, discuss the dangers lurking around them in this repressive age, and they tease and flirt.   The climax in the last scene comes with a twist.

It is not necessary to know the details of the times, other than to be aware it was a contentious time with factions railing against Queen Elizabeth and several of her courtiers, Raleigh, Cecil, and Essex warring and plotting with or against each other.  Some even believed Marlowe was a spy.

I found the first fifteen minutes a bit slow; perhaps it was getting my head wrapped around the language, but then the play took off and the next hour plus flew by.  Born with Teeth runs through March 29.  It’s yet another example of the Asolo at its finest! (~JWFarrington)

RECENT MOVIES

Black Life: Real vs. Imagined: American Fiction (Amazon Prime)

Monk flanked by his siblings (npr.com)

Another nominee for Best Picture, American Fiction is fun, witty, and satisfying.  A satirical look at fiction that sells, it features a Black writing professor and author of several books.  But Monk hasn’t published anything recently.  Somewhat incensed by all the attention given to a stereotypical, racist depiction of Blacks by another Black author, he takes a pseudonym and writes his own novel of what he thinks white folks want to read about Black people.  The results upset him but gain him far more attention than he ever bargained for.  

One of the great things about this film is its depiction of a successful upper middle class Black family.  Monk, the star is a professor, his sister is a doctor, and his brother, albeit with his own personal issues, is a plastic surgeon.  There is much to like about this film, some food for thought, and an ending with a couple of surprises.  Highly recommended!

Female Friendship & Romance: The Book Club: The Next Chapter (Amazon Prime)

Dynamic foursome (pluggedin.com)

Several years ago, I not quite dragged the Chief Penguin to the cinema in Manhattan to see The Book Club.  It was fun and a nice change of pace, but not much more.  It was redeemed largely by the marvelous cast of Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton, and Mary Steenburgen.  These four talented women, now in their 70’s and 80’s (Fonda is 86!), are together again.  

This time, they’ve convinced their friend Vivian (Fonda), recently engaged, that the women only should go to Italy for her bachelorette party.  Carol and Diane have husbands or partners, and Sharon, a retired judge, is single. 

What follows is silly, partly predictable, and just plain fun.  There’s also a message in there, “carpe diem,” but not exactly expressed that way.  This is a chic flick for sure, but some special guys might enjoy it also.   Call it a delayed Valentine!

SERIES VIEWING: DON’T BOTHER

Expats (Apple TV+)

I read the novel of the same title on which Expats is based and was looking forward to the TV series.  I think I lasted about 20 minutes into the first episode.  Weird, disjointed, and nothing like the book.  I felt somewhat justified when a friend felt similarly.

Good Apprentice (Amazon Prime)

This Italian series about a young woman interested in forensic medicine is one of Walter Presents many offerings.  I watched the first episode and part of the second one.  It’s okay, but seems light, and her frequent clumsiness is overdone.  I’m not going back to it.

Note: Header photo, Pelicans at Robinson Preserve, ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)