For nine years, New York and other cities around the world have played host to a scrappy DIY bacchanalia dedicated to drinking up, as the official website puts it, “Art in every aspect of Life.” Still young and independent enough to be considered underground, unlike other DIY-fests that have since sold out, the Drop Dead Festival (DDF) has become an international showcase of iconoclastic musicians and artists from a scene that might loosely fit under the umbrella of goth/death rock/punk if its members didn’t often achieve a more singular, category-defying individuality. Enter This Is Drop Dead, a documentary that presents a snapshot of the 2006 DDF in New York, by cinematographer Jessica Gallant and Theatre of Ice co-founder Brent Johnson. From the DVD cover: “Sixty-six bands. Three days. One Festival.”
13.5.11
Not Your Ordinary Music Fest: ‘This Is Drop Dead’ : THE FRONT PAGE ONLINE
2.5.11
Bin Laden is Dead, Bin Laden Lives On : THE FRONT PAGE ONLINE
The death of Osama Bin Laden prompted me to revive The Recreational Nihilist, beginning with thoughts of a long dead, but still famous, Greek king and general.
"King of the Greek Molossian tribe during the Hellenistic era that spanned from 323 B.C. to 146 B.C., Pyrrhus of Epirus was considered by Hannibal himself to be the time’s greatest military commander, perhaps second only to Alexander the Great. He was a staunch and able opponent to the Romans, as demonstrated in encounters such as the Battle of Asculum that pitted roughly equal forces against each other. After two days of fighting, Pyrrhus achieved victory through a strategy of using light infantry to draw Roman forces out into the open and pit them against war elephants and special troops. Eight thousand Roman soldiers were killed. Among the Greeks, the losses amounted to 3,000, including officers. Pyrrhus is reported to have said, “One more such victory and we shall be undone.” Today, of course, the general lends his name to the term Pyrrhic victory — a victory achieved at a very high cost, enough to make the success rather pointless."
15.4.11
The Magic of Indian Dance in a Tribute to Tagore : THE FRONT PAGE ONLINE
"On Sunday, April 10, mother and daughter called upon their art to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore, a notable and prolific Bengalese artist whose work encompassed writing, music and painting, and whose accomplishments were recognized with the first Nobel Prize for literature awarded, in 1913, to a non-European. The tribute consisted of an adaptation of Tagore’s Chandalika, about an outcast girl from the “untouchable” class whose encounter with a disciple of Buddha, Ananda, begins as a transcendental experience only to become corrupted by worldly desire."
12.4.11
The Actor’s Gang Triumphs with ‘Tartuffe’ : THE FRONT PAGE ONLINE
"Despite what it might sound like, “Tartuffe” is not the name of a French custard-filled pastry and the Ivy Substation has not been remade as a Parisian café. Yet what we have here is nevertheless a wicked confection as one of France’s greatest playwrights, Molière, gets the Actor’s Gang treatment in a revival of their hugely successful 2005 production."
8.4.11
‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’: Laughter Hides a Hollow Heart : THE FRONT PAGE ONLINE
"Although Tadhg Murphy offers as fine a performance as one could ask for, it’s telling that the titular character in The Cripple of Inishmaan is played by an able-bodied performer. The lazy interpretation of this would invoke political correctness, but it would be more nuanced to contextualize it within the play’s general movement to keep disability at a distance. Hence, Irish playwright Martin McDonagh gives us the elements of a sitcom; a rural Irish island, a cast of idiosyncratic characters, and in the middle of it all, a deformed lad named Billy who is constantly referred to as “Cripple” Billy just in case his disability isn’t obvious enough to him. The nicknaming, even from what passes as family for Billy, is the sort of casual, reflexive cruelty that highlights a pervasive lack of empathy towards that which, in any context, constitutes “the other.” But there is outright hostility and contempt towards Billy’s condition as well, most obviously from Claire Dunne’s masterfully violent and spiteful Slippy Helen, although her venom is just as easily dispensed towards everyone around her."
“The Cripple of Inishmaan,” by Martin McDonagh. A Druid and Atlantic Theater Production. Directed by Garry Hynes. Starring Dearbhla Molloy, Ingrid Craigie, Dermot Crowley, Tadhg Murphy, Laurence Kinlan, Clare Dunne, Liam Carney, Paul Vincent O’Connor and Nancy E. Carroll. On stage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre through Sunday, May 1. For tickets and information, visit www.centertheatregroup.org
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