Pittsburgh City Paper: Like Van Gogh, Poe or original Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett, science-fiction author Philip K. Dick is linked to a legend about his own madness that is as famous as anything he produced as an artist.
"There are so many labels on this man: visionary, drug fiend, recluse," says John Gresh, who stars as Dick in Caravan Theatre Company's local-premiere production of 800 Words: The Transmigration of Philip K. Dick. "To get into his mind space was a challenge, to say the least."
3 comments:
The play sounds quite strange and very interesting. As a large sci fi fan my self it would be intruiging to see the path of life one of today's great sci fi writers went down. Seems like the man was truly in his own little world and I could imagine recreating that world could be very difficult. Expecially since most of it probably seemed very real to him. Overall I think this is a great example of one the chore reason to do theatre, to tell a story. Sounds like this man has a story worth telling.
I plan on seeing this production this weekend and am very excited about it because, judging by the article, it sounds like a main theme will be finding the line between insanity and genius. This is always an interesting topic because it challenges the audience to form an opinion about what they find to be intrinsically or intellectually moving and and at which point whatever they find to be moving starts to come from a source unfamiliar or even questionable. It will be interesting to see how the actor portraying Dick handles the transitions between his mental states and actual time and how far he chooses to push the line of insanity and genius.
I saw this production with a friend and it was one of the most experimental pieces of theatre I have ever seen. The play was not as straight forewords as a traditional play, as the character Philip K. Dick struggled to find his sense of reality you were also struggling as well. In addition to the unreliable setting, the play writer had moments where she broke the fourth wall and even a moment where she placed herself in the action. This confused me the most over because it took a step outside the tradition story line of a biographical show and left we unsure if I could trust any of the characters in the play. It was a very interesting experience and is worth the time to go.
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