Has anyone here seen the play?
"Acting is deft across the board, and the quicksilver pacing, along with gorgeous technical theater, keeps the play afloat—even the facile last scene Dardai added that makes a vapid reference to terrorism (not to mention completely compromises Chesterton’s message) remains buoyant in the hands of director and cast."(Emphasis added by Ed.)
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what's the added scene at the end?
ReplyDeleteHey there! I'm with New Leaf Theatre, the producing company of Bilal Dardai's adaptation of The Man Who Was Thursday that is - as you've noted before - running through Nov. 21 in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteWe're definitely interested in hearing from more of the Chestertonian set about the choices Bilal has made in bringing Thursday to our audience. There are a number of other local reviews (listed in the sidebar at http://newleaftheatre.org/current.php) that show a pretty interesting split on how Bilal has (we think) respectfully adapted the novel into the theatrical form. Many critics walked into our theater with some kind of preconceived notion of Chesterton, and that has in most cases influenced their reaction to the adaptation in interesting ways. Each adaptive choice is a tough one, and like any adaptation it's going to create controversy - but, the script is also technically still in development, so it's a unique time to join the conversation.
We're really committed at New Leaf to having open and in depth dialogue with our audience, and it has been wonderful to see how both die-hard Chesterton fans and folks not yet exposed to Chesterton have enjoyed the show and both loved and hated the way that we've brought Chesterton's characters alive. And ultimately that unique conceptual approach to the work may be the reason to adapting any literary work to film or stage - the goal is to find that creative way to open the door to an audience with various levels of exposure to the source material and various abilities to understand and operate within the specific cultural contexts of 1908.
Anyway, it's been a fascinating process for us. We're so excited to hear how you respond!