Controversial Egg?
Thu, 30 Apr 2009, 10:07 amclass act theatre20 posts in thread
Controversial Egg?
Thu, 30 Apr 2009, 10:07 amClass Act is in the middle of rehearsing "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" by Peter Nichols.
This play was listed as being one of the recommended texts for WA high schools.
So far, they are staying away in droves.
Is this 1967 play too controversial for our modern audiences??
We have already had a school ring up and say they were disgusted by our flyer - which quoted a review from The Observer which was on the BACK of the actual text along with a review written in 1993 (we put both on the flyer thinking they were "safe" as they were published with the text!)
The offending review was by Ronald Bryden in 1967 - " This remarkable play is about a nightmare all women must have dreamed at some time, and most men: living with a child born so hopelessly crippled as to be, as the father says in it brutally, "a human parsnip". For all that, it has to be described as a comedy, one of the funniest and most touching I've ever seen."
I must admit that during rehearsals, I am cringing at some of the 1967 references - but because the play is not pc enough for today's standards - should we not perform it??
Should we be changing some of the offensive references? What do you think?
Angelique Malcolm
Tea for two...
Thu, 7 May 2009, 03:06 pmYeah, I know what you meant ;) Was just teasing you.
I guess my point of view is that sometimes theatre needs to be shocking; that audiences sometimes need to confront their discomforts. I believe a play such as this, in the same vein as To Kill A Mocking Bird, is a play that should not apologise in advance for what it is, nor the attitudes expressed by the characters. Admittedly, I have not seen or read the play, but the subject matter is very close to my heart (for reasons I won't necessarily go into on this forum).
Needless to say, I do have a vested interest in seeing how this play is performed and whether or not it rings true, no matter which era it's set in, nor how confronting the issues.
Let them come, let them be shocked, let them walk away reflecting, say I.
freddie
the rocking jedi badger
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