The New York Times: “Loose, baggy monsters” is how Henry James famously described the long and unruly novels of the 19th century. In Berlin this season, several new productions take on sprawling literary works, trimming them to manageable lengths while still capturing the thrill of their vast, imaginary universes.
3 comments:
I love adaptations of classic novels so so much, probably because I love classic novels. Usually I prefer more loyal adaptations of a text, but I'm really interested in this version of Anna Karenina. I love Anna Karenina, so I wasn't sure if I would like a less faithful adaptation, but this seems really cool. I really like the idea of not necessarily modernizing the story, but applying it to modern situations. This really makes the audience feel like the story applies to them. While I personally think that classics are classics because they are universal and will always be applicable, but I know that some people feel disconnected from classics and would prefer to see them done in this way, so I think it's really great that people are adapting classic texts to keep them interesting. I would love to see this brought more to the states. Every time I see information about German productions they seem really interesting and it makes me wonder why I didn't think of it!! I think this is super cool and would really like to see some of it done here; they would be especially interesting with some of our "Great American Novels." They were written in such a "golden" age and already contain so much commentary about American life, it would be easy to do something like this!
It was really interesting to see what this company had done with some classic works of literature. I always find myself stuck between wanting to stick to the way it was initially written and really just deconstructing it entirely. The historian in me harps on the importance of original text but the much stronger theatrical part of my brain knows that compelling theatre can almost never be a direct translation. I was really intrigued by the way the achieved this overlapping classical stories taking place on the same stage at the same time. It certainly makes a really compelling statement on the work itself and adds a lot to it. I also have thought a lot about the phrase “loose, baggy monsters” which is what the article itself opens with, it comes off as a bit harsh upon first seeing it but as I think about it more I think it speaks to the potential that these pieces hold and not to mention all the work it entails to get there. I really do love to see different interpretations of classical work in which new perspectives and focuses on the plots can open up a new realm of possibilities and interesting understandings of the work itself.
I love the translations fo classical works. Translating theatre and working through original text is one of the hardest parts of what we do when putting something else on stage. Introducing new perspectives and new ideas into classical work is one of the most important parts of theatre and is what makes the art form what it is in many respects. Taking stories that we all know and love in some capacity and shaping them into one image that is different from all different perspectives. One of my favorite things about theatre of course is seeing new perspectives and visions of classical work. It’s hard to always be rethinking the wheel coming up with entirely new pieces sometimes it is just more interesting to rethink the old. Theatre is a rare form of art where re-runs and re-thinking things is common and some of the most popular pieces of work.
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