All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Feeling Good
Today, I seemed to be moving in slow-motion while the rest of the world seemed to be stuck on fast-forward. I missed my morning train (ergh) but as I waited for the next train on the open air platform, I had a moment. The morning sun was shining on my face and the cold, brisk air smelled of early spring and my heart felt wide open. For a moment, I was glad that I was alive and breathing. Being in the present moment.
In light of that moment, Nina Simone’s song, Feeling Good came to mind. Now I went on YouTube to see if I could find a live performance from Nina Simone and could only find re-mixes. The best I could do was Buble’s version: Voilà. I think the Script’s song, Breakeven (that has had a strangle hold on me for the past couple of weeks) has finally started to loosen up. Thank goodness...who can breathe with that much angst? The melancholy comes in waves and today it's receded enough to enjoy the sun on my face. Enjoy!
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Look Back in Anger
On Saturday, I went to see the play, Look Back in Anger by John Osbourne at the Roundabout Theater. Sam Gold directs Adam Driver as Cliff, Charlotte Parry as Helena, Sarah Goldberg as Alison Porter and Matthew Rhys as Jimmy Porter.
Matthew Rhys as Jimmy rages across the stage, sounding off his working class frustrations on his temperate upper-crust wife Alison, who does not fight back, who plays games to make him forget his anger. The relationship is volatile and can hardly be sustained and when Alison’s friend Helena comes to visit, Alison quickly finds a way out. This crucial point is never fully realized for me. Alison just goes along and leaves but the moment when she makes up her mind is never properly shaped. It felt like Helena took away that choice from her.
Gold made a choice to pull some passages from Jimmy’s speeches regarding the socio-economics of the time (post-war London). I think he wanted to create the love relationship as the central figure. Without those themes it does lack some of the reasoning behind Jimmy’s caustic speeches. Matthew Rhys as Jimmy was scathing and I couldn’t look away as he pushed and pulled every other character within his sphere. Jimmy was unfulfilled at the dead-end-ness of his life and there was nothing to shake him out of his anger. And as much as he loved Alison, he raged against her most of all because he knew down to his bones that he would lose her eventually. No one could love another with so much cruelty and not expect a departure. I loved his performance. I read the NY Times review about how he didn’t go far enough and I have to disagree. To make it bigger would have hardly given the audience a chance to sympathize with Jimmy when Alison finally leaves..
When Alison returns and Jimmy and Alison have their moment together, it crushed the air out of my lungs from the raw impact of that scene between them. Sarah Goldberg was genius in that scene with Rhys, as she played a nuanced, vulnerable performance.
It’s a tough play but at the end of it…I was reminded why I love theater so much.
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
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Photo by Joan Marcus |
Matthew Rhys as Jimmy rages across the stage, sounding off his working class frustrations on his temperate upper-crust wife Alison, who does not fight back, who plays games to make him forget his anger. The relationship is volatile and can hardly be sustained and when Alison’s friend Helena comes to visit, Alison quickly finds a way out. This crucial point is never fully realized for me. Alison just goes along and leaves but the moment when she makes up her mind is never properly shaped. It felt like Helena took away that choice from her.
Gold made a choice to pull some passages from Jimmy’s speeches regarding the socio-economics of the time (post-war London). I think he wanted to create the love relationship as the central figure. Without those themes it does lack some of the reasoning behind Jimmy’s caustic speeches. Matthew Rhys as Jimmy was scathing and I couldn’t look away as he pushed and pulled every other character within his sphere. Jimmy was unfulfilled at the dead-end-ness of his life and there was nothing to shake him out of his anger. And as much as he loved Alison, he raged against her most of all because he knew down to his bones that he would lose her eventually. No one could love another with so much cruelty and not expect a departure. I loved his performance. I read the NY Times review about how he didn’t go far enough and I have to disagree. To make it bigger would have hardly given the audience a chance to sympathize with Jimmy when Alison finally leaves..
When Alison returns and Jimmy and Alison have their moment together, it crushed the air out of my lungs from the raw impact of that scene between them. Sarah Goldberg was genius in that scene with Rhys, as she played a nuanced, vulnerable performance.
It’s a tough play but at the end of it…I was reminded why I love theater so much.
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
Friday, February 3, 2012
It’s a cold, bright day in NYC and the last couple of weeks have been hectic. Hence, the lack of updates on this blog about the novel. Working on it, little bit at a time but not making substantial headway at the moment. Ergh. But I’m not freaking out (yet!) Operative word being yet.
I have a list of excuses starting from my kitty being sick last week (and getting very little sleep), to a rebounding migraine that lasted days and ending with taking on a project helping out friends with writing copy. So I’ve been a bit scattered and have had a hard time sitting down and being quiet long enough to hear what comes next in my story. So there it is.
It’s Friday and it’s a good night to go to the gym for a swim.
Saturday, I’m going to go see the play, Look Back in Anger.
Sunday, SuperBowl game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
I’ll have time to work on my novel and go to the gym. Now let’s see if I can stick with that plan. As soon as I wrote that last line…this line popped into my head, “We plan, God laughs.”
Go Giants!!
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
I have a list of excuses starting from my kitty being sick last week (and getting very little sleep), to a rebounding migraine that lasted days and ending with taking on a project helping out friends with writing copy. So I’ve been a bit scattered and have had a hard time sitting down and being quiet long enough to hear what comes next in my story. So there it is.
It’s Friday and it’s a good night to go to the gym for a swim.
Saturday, I’m going to go see the play, Look Back in Anger.
Sunday, SuperBowl game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
I’ll have time to work on my novel and go to the gym. Now let’s see if I can stick with that plan. As soon as I wrote that last line…this line popped into my head, “We plan, God laughs.”
Go Giants!!
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
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