Theatre Development Fund – TDF: Most wouldn't see a link between stone-cold killer Chris Partlow from HBO's The Wire, flashy pimp-turned-porn-star Larry Brown on HBO's The Deuce and Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman in Broadway's To Kill a Mockingbird. But Gbenga Akinnagbe, the actor who has brought all three to life, notices a strong connection.
2 comments:
I always struggle with changing classics like this. On one hand I believe it is important to make things relevant and up to date, but on the other, it is also important to respect the piece as the work of art it is and give it as much credit as it is due. For a show or story to be truly powerful, should it not be relevant regardless of time and place of its performance? If To Kill a Mockingbird has to be changed in order for it to be relevant today, does that mean that it has passed its expiration date? Why change an older play to make it more prescient instead of looking for a more modern one that could serve the purpose just as well while maintaining the integrity of the original script? I do not think it is a good thing to completely stop producing show like To Kill a Mockingbird, but if it cannot be done in its entirety, is it worth doing? Maybe it should be updated to fit the times, but without Harper Lee here to weigh in, I think it might be a greater injustice overall.
I have to disagree with the previous comment, I think that what makes To Kill A Mockingbird so important is the fact that it is incredibly relevant today as is, and the show is only highlighting the aspects of the book that Harper Lee probably didn't realize as being so resonant with audiences today in the 21st century. In all fairness, most of To Kill a Mockingbird is highly white centric while is talks about issues that pertain to Black people, but I think that Aaron Sorkin took this play as an opportunity to correct and refine those mistakes so audiences realize that Tom Robinson is integral to the framework of the story and should be treated as such. Overall, I really do believe in updating classics to fit into our society because I don't think this show is necessarily for people that are fans of the book, its for audiences that have something to learn from the themes and allusions in the story itself.
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