PPP Philippe Ménard - Non Nova, France Montessori School Theater 28 March 2010
The name of this show means Position Parallel to the Floor (for the acronym in French Position Parallèle au Plancher). It describes itself as “circus.” I wonder if this is a new theater genre, the Circus of Pain.
Philippe Ménard has impressive dexterity at handling balls of ice that range in size from baseballs to bowling balls. Suspended balls of ice also plummet menacingly from the ceiling and smash on the floor at apparently random intervals, although I suspect that heated wires determine exactly when certain balls will drop. Ménard juggles the balls, rolling them along the body, but there is only so much contact with ice that the body can stand. At other times Ménard lies across a pile of snow in just a bra and panties, or sits on a block of ice. I wanted to shout, “Get off your block of ice!” The performance is very uncomfortable to watch. It is impossible to witness without cringing in discomfort.
Ménard uses ice as the medium for expressing that we are constantly changing. We have some control over this process, but in the end the physical elements that are our makeup will eventually defeat our will. Right down to the transformation he himself underwent in real life to change his sex from that of a man to a woman. At the end of the performance, Ménard steps out of the dress and bra, and removes the silicon stick-ons from his chest revealing that, despite his best efforts, the material of which he was made did not cooperate with his concept of himself. It is in intensely vulnerable moment.
I acknowledge the art and the message in this performance, but I can’t say that I enjoyed it.
PPP Philippe Ménard - Non Nova, Francia Teatro Montessori 28 de marzo 2010
El nombre de este espectáculo significa Posición Paralela al Piso. Se promociona como espectáculo de “circo”. Me pregunto si esto es un nuevo de género teatro, el Circo del Dolor.
Philippe Ménard tiene una destreza impresionante en su manejo de las bolas de hielo que varían en tamaño desde pelotas de béisbol hasta bolas de boliche. Otras bolas de hielo suspendidas precariamente caen del techo y se estallan contra el piso a intervalos aparentemente aleatorios, aunque sospecho que cables con un elemento de calefacción determinan con exactitud cuando determinadas bolas caerán. Ménard hace malabares con las bolas, las ruedan a lo largo del cuerpo, pero sólo su puede aguantar el contacto con el hielo hasta cierto punto. En otros momentos, se acuesta en una pila de nieve, vestido únicamente de un sostén y un panty, o se sienta en un bloque de hielo. Quise gritarle, "Levántate del bloque de hielo!" El espectáculo es muy incómodo de presenciar.
Ménard utiliza el hielo como medio para expresar que estamos en un proceso de cambio constante. Tenemos algún control sobre este proceso, pero al final los elementos físicos que nos componen eventualmente vencen a nuestra voluntad. Incluso en cuanto a la transformación que él mismo se hizo en la vida real, de cambiar su sexo de un hombre a una mujer. Al final del espectáculo, Ménard quita su vestido, el sostén, y los aplicables de silicona de su pecho y revela que, a pesar de sus esfuerzos, el material que le compone no concordó con su concepto de sí mismo. Es en el momento de intensa vulnerabilidad.
Reconozco el arte y el mensaje en esta espectáculo, pero no puedo decir que le disfruté.
Neva Teatro en el blanco, Chile Teatro Arlequín 29 March 2010
Playwrights like plays about the theater, just like authors like books about literature. Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderón brings us a play in which three actors, one of them portraying Anton Chekov’s widow Olga Knipper, rehearse, performs scenes, and provide a glimpse into the human relations backstage, as the St. Petersburg massacre of 1905 is unfolding outside. Contrast and crisis are inevitable. We live our little lives, have our little passions, perform our little parts, as larger forces shape the world around us. Is theater a bourgeois pastime? Is each little life insignificant? Maybe, but it is ours and it is the only one we have.
Calderón’s play is cunningly written and beautifully performed. Paula Zúñiga, Trinidad González, and Jorge Bécker show great versatility as they slip back and forth between formal rehearsal, scenes they are improvising for each other, and interacting as performers and individuals as opposed to characters. Often the transition is so seamless that the audience needs to take a beat to realize that the portrayal has shifted. Theater for theater-goers.
Neva Teatro en el blanco, Chile Teatro Arlequín 29 de marzo 2010
Los dramaturgos les gustan las obras de teatro sobre el teatro, al igual como los autores les gustan los libros sobre la literatura. Dramaturgo chileno Guillermo Calderón nos trae una obra en el cual tres actores, una quien representa la viuda de Anton Chejov, Olga Knipper, ensayan, realizan escenas, y ofrecen una vista de las relaciones entre actores tras escena, mientras que la masacre de San Petersburgo de 1905 se desenvuelva afuera. El contraste y la crisis son inevitables. Vivimos nuestras pequeñas vidas, tenemos nuestras pequeñas pasiones, realizamos nuestros pequeños papeles, mientras que fuerzas más grandes moldean el mundo que nos rodea? El teatro es un pasatiempo burgués? Cada vida es insignificante? Tal vez, pero es la nuestra, y es la única que tenemos.
El texto de Calderón es hábilmente escrito y eficazmente realizada. Paula Zúñiga, Trinidad González y Jorge Becker muestran una gran versatilidad mientras que cambian de papel entre el ensayo formal, las escenas que improvisan el uno para el otro, y su forma de interactuar como actores e individuos, dejando al lado sus papeles profesionales. A menudo la transición es tan perfecta que el público necesita un momento para darse cuenta que el papel ha cambiado. Es teatro para los amantes del teatro.
Odysseus Chaoticus Ish Theater, Israel Compensar Auditorium 26 March 2010
A universal story told in a universal language: gibberish
Noam Rubinstein (Ody), Yolana Zimmerman (Penny/Penita), and Fyodor Makarov (Papa) portray an Italian man, his wife, and his elderly father in a high energy show that flips back and forth between the drudgery of everyday home life, and the adventures of Ulysses in Homer’s Odyssey, all done with a manic comic twist. Zimmerman as the Cyclops’ goat and Calypso was hilarious. Makarov tends to steal every scene, and was particularly good as Poseidon. Rubinstein brings us along on the journey with huge versatility. The performances were wonderful. Toward the end, a number of the adventures are compressed together and these don’t make much sense unless you are familiar with the Odyssey. These scenes could be cut without doing any harm to the play
The play uses universal gibberish “Italian” for the dialogue, intelligible to all speakers of Romance languages, although all of the songs are in English. The language convention reminded me of the skit “Una munda” from the show All in the Timing, performed at the 2006 Iberoamerican theater festival by Peepolykus Theatre of the UK. Like that performance, the Ish Theater production depends on timing to make the comedy work, and Rubinstein, Zimmerman, and Makarov carry the day with aplomb.
This was a funny little show that did not depend on special effects to make it succeed, just great performances, snappy timing, and funny quirky imagery. I laughed out loud.
Odisea caótica Teatro Ish, Israel Auditorio Compensar 26 de marzo 2010
Una historia universal contada en un lenguaje universal: galimatías
Noam Rubinstein (Ody), Yolana Zimmerman (Penny /Penita), Fyodor Makarov (Papa) representan un hombre italiano, su esposa, y su padre anciano en un espectáculo de alta energía que mueve entre la monotonía de la vida familiar cotidiana, y las aventuras de Ulises de La Odisea de Homero, con un toque cómico maníaco. Zimmerman, en los papeles de la cabra del cíclope y Calypso fue muy graciosa. Makarov roba cada escena, y fue particularmente divertido como Poseidón. Rubinstein nos lleva por el viaje con gran versatilidad. Las actuaciones fueron maravillosas. Hacia el final de la obra, una serie de aventuras están comprimidas y éstas no tienen mucho sentido a menos que uno conoce la Odisea. Estas escenas podrían ser recortadas sin perjudicar a la obra
El espectáculo utiliza un “italiano” de galimatías como lenguaje universal, inteligible para todos los parlantes de lenguas latinas, aunque las canciones están en inglés. Esta técnica me acordó de la escena “Una munda” de la obra Todos a su tiempo, que Peepolykus Teatro del Reino Unido presentó en el Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro en 2006. Al igual que este espectáculo, la producción de Ish Teatro depende del ritmo para realizar el efecto cómico, y Rubinstein, Zimmerman y Makarov logran este propósito con aplomo.
Es un espectáculo gracioso que no depende de efectos especiales para que tenga éxito, sino de sus grandes actuaciones, un ritmo ágil, y las imágenes singulares y graciosas. Me reí en voz alta.
Haberos quedado en casa capullos! (You Should Have Stayed Home Little Buds) Asociación LODHE, Colombia 27 March 2010 In this play the audience is taken to the different settings where the play unfolds.
On one of the terraces of Rogelio Salmona’s graceful Torres del Parque buildings, Jimena Durán gives a speech in which she tells a little girl not to think with anyone else’s head. As an example of living by other people’s ideas, she graphically describes a violent scene in which everyone’s head has been removed from their bodies at school and people are trying to find their heads. The images she paints are horrifying, referring to blood, sex and violence, but the little girl to whom she is speaking is nonplussed. Admittedly no one ever really listens to anyone else (a theme that is repeated in the following scenes). The scene falls a bit flat.
The second scene takes place in a bar in La Macarena, a neighborhood that has gone much more upscale than when I lived there in 1991. A drunken woman (Patricia Tamayo) stirs at the bar and then begins her dialogue, reflecting on the “uselessness” of life, and her non-relationship with her parents. My critique of this scene is mainly the performance: Anyone so drunk as to be splashing her liquor all over the place should be having more difficulty getting the words out of her mouth. Her reflections are painful and these should have been much more difficult to voice. The scene would also have been more effective if there had been actual clients present at the bar.
The third scene was brilliantly done. The audience is taken to the living room of an apartment with windows looking out over the street. Outside a “street person” launches into a crazy diatribe about how each beating one gives or receives in life is a lesson. Carlos Gutiérrez was brilliant in the role, following passersby down the street as he continued with his discourse, and vaguely wandering around in the road getting in the way of the traffic. Having a city bus come down the road was a particularly nice touch by the director. Of course if it had been a real bus, the driver would have been leaning on the horn and hurling as much invective as the performer!
The man eventually wanders off and as we turn back from the window we find that a boy is seated in the living room reading a book (completely coincidentally, the boy Martín Fernández is one of my son’s classmates from school). The bathrobe clad father (Mario Duarte) comes down stairs and tells the boy (12) that tomorrow he will not go to school but that he will go out and work to get money so that he can have what he wants in life. The father continues with a violent, yet funny, story about a pony in the park where his parents would take him when he was a child.
Each of the four scenes makes references back to the others, picking up the common themes of violence, disappointment, futility, and the inability to communicate. The writing is dark and funny, but only the third and fourth scenes are really strong enough to stand alone.
It is an interesting conceit: Life is theater, and we are part of it and it is happening around us all the time. I am glad that I saw this performance, but I feel that the show needs to be tightened up a bit more.
Haberos quedado en casa capullos! Asociación LODHE, Colombia 27 de marzo 2010
En esta obra el público es llevado a los diferentes lugares donde las escenas de la obra se desenvuelvan.
En una de las terrazas del conjunto de edificios Torres del Parque de Rogelio Salmona, Jimena Durán pronuncia un discurso en el cual instruye a una niña no pensar con la cabeza ajena. Como un ejemplo de vivir según las ideas de otras personas, ella describe gráficamente una escena violenta en la cual las cabezas de todo el mundo están desprendidas de sus cuerpos en la escuela, y la gente está tratando de encontrar la cabeza. Las imágenes que pinta son horribles, con referencias a la sangre, el sexo y la violencia, pero la niña no la pone mucha atención. Es cierto que nadie realmente escucha (un tema que se repite en las otras escenas). La escena queda un poco plana.
La segunda escena tiene lugar en un bar en La Macarena, un barrio que se ha vuelto mucho más de cachet que cuando yo vivía allí en 1991. Una mujer ebria (Patricia Tamayo) se levanta de su estupor sobre la barra y comienza su diálogo, una reflexión sobre la “futilidad” de la vida, y su falta de relación con sus padres. Mi crítica de esta escena es principalmente la actuación: alguien quien es tan borracha como para salpicar su trago por todo lado debería tener más dificultades para sacar las palabras de la boca. Sus reflexiones son dolorosas y estos deberían haber sido mucho más difíciles de expresar. La escena también hubiera sido más eficaz con la presencia de clientes reales en el bar.
La tercera escena fue excelente. El público entra en la sala de un apartamento con ventanas que dan a la calle. Afuera un “indigente” se lanza una diatriba sobre las lecciones de “las palizas” que uno da o recibe en la vida. Carlos Gutiérrez fue brillante en el papel, siguiendo a los transeúntes por la calle mientras que daba su discurso, y vagando en la vía, estorbando el tránsito. Su encuentro con un bus de transporte público fue un toque brillante del director. Por supuesto, si hubiera sido un bus real, el conductor habría pitado a la lata mientras lanzaba invectivas igual como el actor!
El hombre eventualmente divaga. Volteando la mirada hacia la sala, encontramos un niño sentado en un sillón leyendo un libro (por casualidad, el niño Martín Fernández es un compañero de curso de mi hijo). El padre (Mario Duarte), vestido de bata, baja las escaleras y le dice al niño (12) que mañana no irá al colegio, sino que saldrá a trabajar a ganar dinero para así hacer lo que quiere en la vida. Continúa con una historia divertida pero violenta de un caballo en el parque donde sus padres lo llevaba cuando era un niño.
Cada una de las cuatro escenas hace referencia a las otras, recogiendo los temas comunes de la violencia, la desilusión, la futilidad, y la incapacidad de comunicarse. El guión es de humor muy negro, pero sólo la tercera y la cuarta escena funcionan realmente bien.
La obra parte de una idea interesante: La vida es teatro, y nosotros hacemos parte de la obra que está sucediendo a nuestro alrededor todo el tiempo. Estoy contenta que vi a esta obra, pero creo que la dirección necesita unos ajustes.
Condición Aérea (Air Condition) Brenda Angiel Aerial Dance Company, Argentina Coliseo El Campín 24 March 2010
Maybe an awareness that they live "upside down" on the lower part of the globe, is part of the Argentinean sensitivity. What if we were no longer consigned to the ground by gravity? My children have often been seen going around the house, stuck to the walls because they are playing that gravity has shifted. It is that same spirit of playfulness that infuses Condición Aérea.
Perspective shifts constantly in Condition Aérea. Suspended from above, the dancers perform with their feet on the back wall of the stage. This means that the audience is viewing them "from above." Equally, the dancers might be facing the audience straight on, or else upside down. Suddenly orientation is very relative. Freed from the constraints of gravity, the dancers perform a soaring tango. Fly on the wall: a single dancer moves along the wall, as an image of herself is projected in close up and at a different angle. The most compelling performances had some dancers on the floor, interacting with dancers who were suspended. The final dance had four performers moving together in the air, while the choreography was projected around them, turning the four into eight and sixteen in a kaleidoscope image. It was a very effective use of multimedia in dance.
Aerial performance seems to be part of the Argentinean theater tradition. In 2006 I saw Villa Villa by De La Guarda Theater (part theater, part circus, part rave), and in 2007 I saw the show Fuerza Bruta , also from Argentina. Both of these groups make extensive use of aerial dance. I would go see either of these groups again in a flash. In contrast, Condición Aérea is a good show but not a great show. It is interesting but the performance was a bit jerky and it is somewhat limited in what is proposes. If you go, buy the cheaper seats in the first balcony because the stage is very high and you won't see properly if you have the expensive front row seats.
Condición Aérea Compañía de Danza Aérea Brenda Angiel, Argentina Coliseo El Campín 24 de march 2010
Tal vez la conciencia de que viven "al revés", en la parte inferior del globo, hace parte de la sensibilidad argentina. ¿Qué pasará si ya no fuéramos pegados a la tierra por la gravedad? A veces mis hijos andan por la casa, pegados a las paredes porque están jugando que la gravedad se ha desplazado. Es ese mismo espíritu juguetón que infunde Condición Aérea.
La perspectiva cambia constantemente en Condición Aérea. Suspendidos desde arriba, los bailarines muevan con los pies sobre la pared trasera del escenario. Esto significa que el público está viendo el espectáculo "desde arriba". Igualmente, los bailarines pueden estar de cara frente al público o colgados al revés. La orientación es muy relativa. Liberados de las limitaciones de la gravedad, los bailarines interpretan un tango que vuela. Como un mosca en la pared: una bailarina se mueve sola en la pared, mientas una imagen de ella se proyecta en primer plano y desde un ángulo diferente. Las coreografías más interesantes tuvieron algunos bailarines en el piso, interactuando con bailarines suspendidos. La danza final era cuatro bailarines moviendo en el aire, mientras que una imagen de la coreografía fue proyectada en torno a ellos, convirtiendo los cuatro en ocho y dieciséis, en una imagen de caleidoscopio. Fue un uso muy eficaz del elemento multimedio en la danza.
Danza aérea parece ser parte de la tradición teatral argentina. En 2006 vi Villa Villa de De La Guarda Teatro (en parte teatro, en parte circo, en parte rave), y en 2007 vi el espectáculo Fuerza Bruta, también de Argentina. Ambos grupos hacen uso extensivo de la danza aérea. Volvería a ver cualquier de estos grupos sin vacilar. En contraste, Condición Aérea es bueno, pero no es un gran espectáculo. Es interesante, pero falta pulir un poco la ejecución y es algo limitado en lo que se propone. Si vas a ver la obra, compre los puestos económicos en el primer balcón, en lugar de la platea porque el escenario es muy alto y no se alcanza ver bien desde los puestos costosos delanteros.
The Aluminum Show Dollbeat Productions, Israel Palacio de los Deportes 25 March 2010
The first major influence that is obvious in this show is the Swiss group Mummenschanz: performers inside folding Mylar tubes interact as beings that look like industrial air ducts. The show also has nods to Stomp Out Loud, Mayumana (also from Israel, saw them in Bogota in 2007), militaristic overtones suggest the influence of the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (Dollbeat Productions director Ilan Azriel has worked with KCDC; their show Ekodoom, at the last theater festival, was also excellent), singing baby aluminum slugs (a little bit of Flushed Away), and a funny futuristic aluminum fashion show.
The Aluminum Show is cool, space age, high energy, fun entertainment. There is no message, it is just superb performance making creative use of unusual materials. Highly recommended for all ages. I would go see it again, it's that good. Hurry to see this show; it only runs until 28 March. For this show it is worth it to pay the extra money and buy the more expensive ground level seats.
The Aluminum Show Dollbeat Productions, Israel Palacio de los Deportes 25 de marzo 2010
La primera influencia evidente en este espectáculo es del grupo suizo Mummenschanz: los artistas dentro de tubos plegables de Mylar interactúan como seres que parecen a conductos industriales de aire. El espectáculo también hace guiños a Stomp Out Loud, Mayumana (también de Israel, que vi en Bogotá en 2007), aspectos militaristas que sugieren la influencia de la Compañía de Danza Contemporánea del Kibutz (Ilan Azriel , director de Dollbeat Productions, ha trabajado con el grupo Kibutz; cuyo espectáculo Ekodoom en el festival de teatro pasado también fue excelente), babosas bebé de aluminio cantando (un poco de Lo que el agua se llevó), y un divertido desfile de moda futurista de aluminio.
El Show de Aluminio es chévere, futurista, de alta energía, y es entretenimiento divertido. No hay ningún mensaje, es sólo un espectáculo excelente que hace uso creativo de materiales inusuales. Altamente recomendado para todas las edades. Me gustaría ir a verlo de nuevo, así es de bueno. Date prisa para verlo, está en cartelera únicamente hasta el 28 de marzo. Para este espectáculo vale la pena pagar un poco de dinero extra y comprar puestos en la platea.
Véase la versión en español en la parte inferior de la página. Brickland Constanza Macras / Dorky Park, Germany León de Greiff Auditorium 22 March
With dark humor and high energy Brickland is an in-your-face critique of the gated community. Locked into their artificial environment, every issue takes on exaggerated importance, and the performers dance and vocalize their desires, disgust, lust, loathing, and affection with exuberant abandon.
Garbage collection, wedding list (menu and gift registry), aliens and Ron Hubbard, racial and class discrimination, and Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of language as pillar of identity (in a discourse delivered in rapid fire German that goes on and on until it loses all meaning), violence and crime, are some of the issues that the play addresses.
Despite the chaos, this is not a random or haphazard product. Each element was tested and refined in rehearsal. The choreographies run like clockwork with each performer exactly where he or she needs to be in relations to the others. The show is hugely physical and demanding. Occasionally the pace dragged a bit. Some of the scenes ran on a little too long. But overall the show reflected clear vision, tight directing, and excellent casting.
I laughed throughout the play, at moments that were funny, absurd, and sometimes horrifying. I was seduced and drawn into the humor. But the post-performance impression is unsettling. The overall vision is dark. The beautifully choreographed and tender love scene is… wait a minute, a father with his daughter? No wonder the second scene of the play is the girl, moving disjointed and frenetically, like a demented being. And the playful scene involving the tents? Looking back, everything is colored differently. There is no element of hope or deliverance. Macras suggests that you can’t lock out corruption; it comes from within.
Constance Macras, on the right Conference with Constanza Macras, choreographer and director of Brickland Gabriel García Marquez Cultural Center 23 March
I had high hopes for the conference because the performance was so interesting. Constanza Macras had not prepared a presentation but was there to answer questions. Most of the audience had not seen the play (there were a lot of young people from a theater workshop that had been cancelled). Mainly the questions addressed the artistic creation process (lots of improvisation and experimentation). Surprisingly, Macras was not involved in the stage design.
I asked whether her intention was to suggest that living in a gated community as an artificial construct, with all its regulations and rigidity, was the cause of discord, or whether human nature implies that we will always, inevitably, having conflicts over life in society. Macras answered that it is a bit of both, but that she used the example of the gated community because it has the effect of exacerbating and heightening the tensions. Macras, who is Argentine, said that this play works very well with Latin American audiences (more so than in Europe), because of the huge social discrepancies in Latin America. After all, she noted, the play is about paranoia, and the fear of the “other.”
Brickland Constanza Macras / Dorky Park, Germany Auditorio León de Greiff , UNAL 22 de marzo Con humor negro y mucha energía Brickland es una crítica contundente a los conjuntos cerrados (barrios cerrados). Encerrados en su entorno artificial, cada asunto de la comunidad cobra una importancia exagerada. A través de la danza, canto, y un ambiente sonoro, y los artistas expresan de sus deseos, el asco, la lujuria, el odio y el afecto con un abandono exuberante.
La recolección de basuras, una lista de boda (menú y lista de regalos), los extraterrestres y Ron Hubbard, la discriminación racial y de clase, Jacques Derrida y la filosofía del lenguaje como pilar de la identidad (en un discurso echado en alemán a toda velocidad, que sigue y sigue hasta que carece de sentido), la violencia y la delincuencia, son algunos de los temas abordados en la obra.
A pesar del caos, el resultado final no es improvisado o al azar. Cada elemento fue probado y refinado en los ensayos. Las coreografías se desenvuelvan dentro de una visón global en la cual cada intérprete sabe exactamente donde tiene que estar en la relación con los demás. El espectáculo es tremendamente físico y exigente. A veces el ritmo faltaba un poco de impulso; algunas de las escenas están demasiado largas. Pero en general la obra refleja una visión clara, dirección adecuada, y un elenco talentoso.
Me reí durante toda la obra; tenía momentos cómicos, absurdos, ya veces horripilantes. Me deje seducir por el humor. Sin embargo, la impresión posterior es inquietante. La visión de la obra es oscura. La escena tierna y hermosa de amor es... espera un minuto, un padre con su hija? Con razón que la segunda escena de la obra es la niña, moviéndose frenéticamente como un ser demente. Y la escena lúdica con las carpas? Con el espejo retrovisor, todo se ve diferente. La obra no ofrece esperanza ni superación. Macras sugiere que no se puede encerrarse del peligro, porque la corrupción irrumpe desde adentro.
Conferencia con Constanza Macras, coreógrafa y directora de Brickland Centro Cultural Gabriel García Márquez 23 de marzo
Tenía grandes expectativas por la conferencia, debido a que la obra fue tan interesante. Constanza Macras no había preparado una presentación, pero estaba allí para responder a preguntas del público. Desafortunadamente la mayoría del público no había visto la obra (hubo una gran cantidad de jóvenes de un taller de teatro que fue cancelada). Principalmente se preguntaron por el proceso de creación artística (mucha improvisación y experimentación). Me sorprendió descubrir que Macras no participó en el diseño de la escenografía.
La pregunté si su intención era sugerir que vivir en un conjunto cerrado, siendo una construcción artificial con todos sus reglamentos y rigidez, fue la causa de la discordia, o si la naturaleza humana implica que siempre tendremos, inevitablemente, conflictos por la vida en sociedad. Macras respondió que es un poco de ambos, y explicó que usó el ejemplo del conjunto cerrada porque tiene el efecto de exacerbar y acentuando las tensiones. Macras, quien es de Argentina, dijo que la obra funciona muy bien con el público latinoamericano (más que en Europa), debido a las enormes desigualdades sociales en América Latina. En fin, señaló que la obra trata de la paranoia y el miedo a lo “ajeno.”
Cuttlas anatomía de un pistolero Producciones Essencials y Acetato Teatro, Cataluña 22 March Compensar Véase la versión el español en la parte inferior de la página.
Nowadays the audience for children’s theater is demanding and sophisticated. Having two children, I’ve attended my fair share of children’s theater and I resent it when it fails to deliver an intelligent, thoughtful performance. Plus children’s audiences have become accustomed to the world of Pixar, Wallace and Gromit, even Disney, and we expect some subtle elements that speak to the adults who have accompanied the children. Don’t get me wrong, children’s humor can be great. For example, I love the work of Argentine writer-performer Luis Pescetti, and the Bogota theater companies La Gata and La Libélula Dorada. I have plenty of tolerance for experimental theater that is visually or musically interesting. The technical elements don’t need to be impressive if the play tells a good story. But the series of vignettes that make up Cuttlas anatomía de un pistolero does not add up to any sort of narrative, and the overall effect is simply a letdown.
The children in the audience were not held captivated; there was a lot of shuffling and commenting in the audience, and they were not interacting with the characters onstage. The parents did not laugh at the jokes, which is not a good sign.
There is beauty in the simple outline figures used for the characters. They immediately suggest animation, or Pablo Picasso’s line drawings. The live music, including a honky-tonk western piano man, and an intimate ukulele moment, was good, but it was not enough to recommend the play.
Director Sergi Pons and his theater company work in the field of object theater (bringing inanimate objects to life), probably the best example of which is the Swiss group Mummenschanz that I have seen in two previous theater festivals. Save your money and your time and go see Mummenschanz if they come again, rather than this group.
Cuttlas anatomía de un pistolero Producciones Essencials y Acetato Teatro, Cataluña 22 marzo Compensar
Hoy en día el público para el teatro infantil es exigente y sofisticado. Con dos hijos, he asistido a una buena cantidad de teatro para niños y me molesta que cuando la obra no es de altura, inteligente y bien pensado. El público para el teatro infantil se ha acostumbrado al mundo de Pixar, Wallace y Gromit, e incluso Disney, y esperamos elementos sutiles que hablan a los adultos quienes acompañan a los niños. No me malinterprete, el humor infantil puede ser genial. Por ejemplo, me encanta el trabajo del escritor-artista argentino Luis Pescetti, y las compañías de teatro bogotanas La Gata y La Libélula Dorada. Me encanta el teatro experimental, cuando es interesante al nivel visual, musical, o en sus planteamientos. Acepto que los elementos técnicos no están impresionantes si la obra cuenta una buena historia. Pero la serie de viñetas que componen Cuttlas Anatomía de un pistolero no se suma en una narrativa, y el efecto global es decepcionante.
Los niños asistentes no quedaron encantados, había mucha inquietud y bulla entre ellos, y no estaban interactuando con los personajes en el escenario. Los padres no se ríen de los chistes, algo que no es una buena señal.
Hay belleza en la simplicidad de delimitar los personajes como dibujos escuetos. Sugiere la técnica de animación o los dibujos de Pablo Picasso. La música en vivo, incluyendo un piano honky-tonk estilo viejo oeste, y un momento íntimo de ukelele, era buena, pero no fue suficiente para recomendar la obra.
El director Sergi Pons y su compañía de teatro trabajan en el campo de teatro de objetos (en el cual dan vida a objetos inanimados). Probablemente el mejor ejemplo de este género es el grupo suizo Mummenschanz que he visto en dos festivales de teatro anteriores. Ahorre su dinero y su tiempo y vayan a ver Mummenschanz en lugar de este grupo.
Samsara Víctor Ullate Ballet Company, Spain 21 March Teatro Colsubsidio
Véase la versión el español en la parte inferior de la página.
TranscenDance
Samsara means “to flow together.” It refers to the concept of reincarnation in India’s philosophical traditions, and the capacity of human beings to free themselves from that cycle through illumination or nirvana, which is the absence of longing and suffering. Achieving nirvana is pretty much an endless cycle for we imperfect humans.
The show begins with the dancers in semi-darkness, performing a tai chi-like choreography as images of the most horrific historical atrocities are projected on a screen behind them. The warning is clear: humankind has tremendous capacity for harm and destruction, but it also has the capacity to transcend.
The Víctor Ullate Ballet Company emphasizes technical classical ballet training and the dancers show off this training to good effect, but the choreographies break out of the traditional mold and explore different aspects of expression through movement, in this case with strong influence from the Asian martial arts. References to prayer, love, chanting, drumming, tai chi, martial arts are all used in Samsara as vehicles for transcendence. It is a highly successful mix of traditions.
Some highlights from the performance: A couple whose synchronization and understanding is so profound that sometimes they appear to meld into a single organic being. A dancer who looks like a Buddhist initiate in his robes, whose dance is so spiritual that you feel uplifted. Burqa clad women huddle together, fearful; each one approaches the light and receives it in her hands. There is beauty in the moment, but as the dance continues darker aspects are revealed in the harsh punishments meted out for daring to stray from the dictates of Islamic law.
In the costuming color is used to emphasize vitality and exuberance. Black and gray reflect a lack of illumination. The music is sometimes light and soaring, at other times deep and percussive, and sometimes strange and beautiful chanting. Each scene begins with a quote that sets the tone, although some of the dances were easier to relate to the quote than others.
Is nirvana reached? The final scene has each dancer come forward on the stage and place a single white rose in a row. It is a small gesture of hope and beauty. A peaceful moment before the human dance can begin again in its hopes and misguided clumsiness. Humankind is still working on it. Samsara, however, achieves a state of grace.
Samsara Compañía Víctor Ullate Ballet, España 21 March Teatro Colsubsidio
TrascenDanza
Samara significa “fluir juntos.” Hace referencia al concepto de la reencarnación en las tradiciones filosóficas de la India, y a la capacidad de los seres humanos para liberarse de este ciclo mediante la iluminación o nirvana, que es la ausencia del deseo y el sufrimiento. Alcanzar nirvana es prácticamente un ciclo sin fin para nosotros, los seres humanos imperfectos.
El espectáculo comienza con los bailarines en la penumbra, realizando una coreografía que parece tai chi, mientras imágenes de las atrocidades más horribles de la historia se proyectan en una pantalla detrás de ellos. La advertencia es clara: la humanidad tiene una gran capacidad para el daño y la destrucción, pero también tiene la capacidad de trascender.
La Compañía Víctor Ullate Ballet hace énfasis en la técnica del ballet clásico y los bailarines lucen su formación, pero las coreografías rompen con el molde tradicional y exploran diferentes aspectos de la expresión a través del movimiento, en este caso con una fuerte influencia de las artes marciales asiáticas. Referencias a la oración, el amor, el canto, la percusión, el tai chi, y las artes marciales se usan en Samsara como vehículos para la trascendencia. Es una mezcla muy exitosa de tradiciones.
Algunos aspectos destacados de la obra: Una pareja cuya sincronización y comprensión es tan profunda que a veces parece fundirse en un solo ser orgánico. Un bailarín quien parece a un budista en entrenamiento, cuyo baile es tan espiritual que lleva al espectador en alto. Mujeres vestidas de burqa apiñan juntas, temerosas; cada uno se acerca a la luz y la recibe en sus manos. Es un momento de belleza, pero el baile continúa y los aspectos más oscuros se revelan en los duros castigos impuestos por atreverse a apartarse de los dictados de la ley islámica.
En el vestuario de color se utiliza para enfatizar la vitalidad y la exuberancia. El negro y el gris reflejan la falta de iluminación. La música es a veces ligera y alegre, en otros momentos es contundente y de percusión, y a veces es un extraño y bello canto. Cada escena comienza con una cita que marca el tono, aunque algunas de las danzas son más fáciles relacionarse con la cita que otras.
Se alcanza el nirvana? En la última escena cada bailarín se acerca a la parte delantera del escenario y coloca una sola rosa blanca en una fila. Es un gesto pequeño de esperanza y belleza. Es un momento de tranquilidad antes que la danza humana puede empezar de nuevo, en su esperanza y torpeza. La humanidad todavía está en su búsqueda. Samsara, sin embargo, alcanza un estado de gracia.
Véase la version el español en la parte inferior de la página.
The Battle of Stalingrad Tbilisi Marionette Theatre, Georgia 20 March, Teatro Libre del Centro
A Matter of Scale
Sometimes the best way to deal with an event that is enormous, is to make it small. This is the approach taken in portraying the Second World War battle for Stalingrad that was fought between the German and Soviet Armies, a clash that left over 3 million dead. Working on a miniature scale makes it possible to address events that took place on a large scale. Some of the striking images used to convey this effect were sheets of helmets moving by as if on a conveyer belt to suggest an endless army; two turntables on which different elements of scenery are placed as we hear the unceasing clackety-clack of a train rushing over the rails; a tattered and destroyed Kremlin tucked away at the back of a scene.
Asking the audience to suspend its disbelief in order to allow the story to be told through puppets makes it possible to break over conventions too. The characters include a spirit who restores a character to life (even though he warns that the other will suffer bitterly), a pair of horses whose love is interrupted and lost because of the war, and an ant lamenting the loss of a daughter. The latter is one of the play's most powerful moments: No one mourns the loss of a crushed ant, except that ant's own family. In war, we are all merely ants crushed under the exorable forces of someone else's imperatives. Nor, for that matter, can the horses be taken literally, and that is not a problem within the play's logic. Some of the human characters were less clear.
Sometimes I felt that the scenes lacked context elements for understanding. This could have been the result of a lack of familiarity with the events, or might also have been a translation problem. When I was deciding which plays I would see during the theater festival, I looked at a number of reviews. Sometimes the reviews quoted dialogue from performances given in English. The English translations that I saw looked a lot better than the Spanish subtitles that were provided tonight.
In terms of technical elements, the lighting was subtle and impeccable. Sound was excellent (the group uses a prerecorded soundtrack rather than delivering dialogue live.) The visual elements used to set the scenes were creative and evocative, striking just the right balance between realism and expressionism. The technical expertise of the puppeteers was excellent. They are always visible to the audience and yet they do not distract, and sometimes they are part of the action such as laying a table while waiting for a person to arrive home, or giving a burial to the dead.
The play was at its best in its most intimate moments. The lone ant. A painting of a bedroom and a bed with two pillows, and a single figure who slowly raises a handkerchief to her eyes. It is hard to get a feeling of the full magnitude of the death and destruction, but the plays conveys the sense that no one was left untouched by this war.
La batalla de Estalingrado Teatro Estatal de Marionetas de Tbilisi, Georgia 20 de marzo, Teatro Libre del Centro
Trabajando a escala
A veces la mejor manera para tratar un evento que es enorme, es de hacerle pequeño. Este es el enfoque adoptado para presentar la batalla que los ejércitos alemán y soviético libraron sobre Estalingrado en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, un enfrentamiento que dejó más de 3 millones de muertos. Trabajando en escala de miniatura permite abordar acontecimientos que tuvieron lugar en gran escala. Algunas de las imágenes impresionantes utilizadas para transmitir en esta sensación fueron bandejas de cascos que movían como sobre una cinta transportadora para sugerir un ejército infinito, dos platos giratorios sobre los cuales se colocaban diferentes elementos del paisaje acompañado del sonido incesante del clac-clac de un tren corriendo sobre los rieles, un Kremlin roto y destruido medio escondido en la parte posterior de la escena.
Pedir al público de suspender su incredulidad para permitir que la historia sea contada a través de títeres permite romper con otras convenciones también. Los personajes incluyen un espíritu quien restaura la vida a otro personaje (y le advierte que sufrirá amargamente), un par de caballos, cuyo amor se interrumpe y se pierde a causa de la guerra, y una hormiga lamentando la pérdida de una hija. Esta última es uno de los momentos más conmovedores de la obra: Nadie llora la pérdida de una hormiga aplastada, con excepción de su familia. En la guerra, todos somos simplemente hormigas aplastadas por las fuerzas exorables de imperativos ajenos. Los caballos tampoco se pueden considerar literalmente, y eso no es un problema dentro de la lógica de la obra. Algunos de los personajes humanos fueron menos claros.
A veces me sentí que algunas escenas carecían de elementos para entender el contexto. Esto podría haber sido consecuencia de una falta de conocimiento de los hechos, o tal vez fue un problema de traducción. Cuando estuvo tomando las decisiones sobre cuales obras iba ver durante el festival de teatro, revisé las críticas. A veces las críticas citaban diálogo de presentaciones en inglés. Las traducciones al inglés que vi parecían mucho mejores que los subtítulos en español que vi esta noche.
En cuanto a los elementos técnicos, la iluminación fue sutil e impecable. El sonido fue excelente (el grupo utiliza una banda sonora pregrabada en lugar de diálogo en vivo.) Los elementos visuales utilizados para establecer las escenas fueron creativos y evocativos, con un equilibrio justo entre el realismo y el expresionismo. El desempeño técnico de los titiriteros fue excelente. Ellos siempre son visibles para el público y sin embargo no distraen, y a veces hacen parte de la acción: por ejemplo poniendo una mesa a la espera de una persona para llegar a casa, o dando sepultura a los muertos.
La obra se destacaba en sus momentos más íntimos. La hormiga solitaria. Una pintura de una alcoba con una cama de dos almohadas, y la figure de una mujer solitaria quien lleva lentamente un pañuelo a los ojos. Fue un desafió comunicar el concepto de la magnitud de la muerte y la destrucción, pero la obra logra transmitir la sensación que nadie se queda al margen de la guerra.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars I hate book reviews that start with something like, "I found this such an interesting book. It taught me so much about…." But that is the way I feel about this book. Anyway, just what was I supposed to have known about Chinese foot binding, marriage practices, and filial relations in the period from 1823 to the start of the 1900s?
The book is narrated from the point of view of Lily, the "worthless daughter" of a rural Chinese family, who has her feet bound to improve her marriage prospects. Her prospects do improve, mainly because a wily matchmaker has been looking to link the fate of Snowflower, the daughter of a once noble family that has fallen on hard times, to that of a likely rising prospect. Lily fits the bill. Marriage intrigues and matchmakers aside, this is a book about a deep friendship between two women, the conflicting needs of personal honesty and social expectations, and the process of social acculturation.
The reader is taken on a journey into an exotic world that explores the role and worth of women in Chinese society, foot binding, laotong friendship, sworn sisterhoods, personal ambition, sincere affection, betrayal, and atonement.
The themes remain contemporary and universal. The delight of the writing is the focus on the details of everyday life. See leads us on a journey in which we observe, smell, feel, and empathize along with the heroines. She truly leads us to See with new eyes.
I could have done without some of the melodrama: Spring Moon throwing herself down the well was a bit much. But then it is part of a different cultural logic. It is like Chinese opera. I can't say that I have a taste for that kind of stylized performance and screechy atonal music.
On a more familiar note, having recently read Anne of Green Gables again, it is impossible not to note the similarity in the concept of intense and unbending female friendship. Lily and Snowflower are bosom buddies and this friendship sustains each of them, for different reasons through most of their lives. Anne would have been a stubborn Horse too. The book is both foreign and familiar.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars Hold onto your disbelief folks, we're not even going to attempt plausibility here!
Published in 1818, this book is the original science fiction novel. The young Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with uncovering the mysteries of nature (natural philosophy). This book resoundingly precedes Jules Verne (1828- 1905) who is generally considered to be the father of science fiction.
I think that this was a good book club choice because it has a lot of material for discussion, but it is not a very enjoyable read. The language is flowery and outdated; the leaps of logic are implausible to the point of being insulting. Even in Shelley's day people must have questioned the plausibility of putting together a living being composed of discarded body parts. I am sure that the people of the time were familiar with the smell of rotting meat. How could Victor Frankenstein have put the monster together in his school dorm room without everyone being aware of what he was doing? The larger than life monster then escapes into the university town of Ingolstadt (Germany) and nobody notices him! Puhleeease! I had to keep repeating to myself, suspend your disbelief, plausibility is not the point of this story. The scene where the monster catches up with Victor on a mountaintop in Chamonix, and recounts how he has become educated is even more tenuous. That monster is quite the little autodidact.
Nonetheless the book serves as an excellent vehicle for discussing its major themes: 1. The creator's responsibility to his creation; 2. The effects of rejection by human society; 3. How evil is the monster? Mary Shelley also uses the device of parallel stories to good effect.
The same story would work better in a futuristic context, as an AI story about a robot whose consciousness awakens, and who becomes resentful of the fact that he is not accepted as an equal in human society. Wait a minute, I think that's been done….
p. 31 capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter. p. 31 "You expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted; that cannot be…" p. 31 "he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow. p. 35 He animates the monster p. 6, 36, 110 Ancient Mariner references p. 50 Two years have gone by since the monster was created. Monster escapes from Frankenstein's room at the university. Nobody sees it in Ingolstadt. Goes to Geneva
Themes The creator's responsibility to his creation. The uncannily articulate autodidact monster confronts Victor on a glacier and rebukes his creator for not having made him in a way that would allow him to live in human society. The debate is still relevant in modern society: Are parents responsible for their children? Are scientists responsible for the way that their discoveries are used? Are artists responsible for the impact of their creations? p. 161 "I created a rational creature, and was bound towards him, to assure, as far as was in my power, his happiness and well-being. This was my duty; but there was another still paramount to that. My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attention."
The effects of rejection by human society. Frankenstein's monster argues that he has become violent and wants revenge because human society will not accept him. This echoes current studies that examine young social outcasts who become violent. Shades of Columbine?
How evil is the monster? Kills out of anger and for revenge. Orders F to make him a companion. F agrees at first then repents. p. 121 (Two wrongs don't make a right). The female monster has made no bargain with him. What is she is even worse. She in no guarantee that the monster will be happy. And what if they procreate.
The three pillars of the human condition in Frankenstein Life Learning Love
The Sensible Monster Two years later, the monster confronts Frankenstein on a mountaintop in Chamonix, and recounts his story. The way the monster has learned about the world and language.
Lived in the forest near Ingolstadt. Ate nuts, berries, p. 72. Some offal more tasty. Learns about fire. Scares a peasant, eats his food. Approaches cottages; scares children, attacked by peasants. Creates a dwelling in a shed attached to a cottage and observes the peasants (French living in exile in Germany). Old man De Lacey, Felix, Agatha. Learns language by listening as Safie is taught to speak French, basic geography, and history from book Ruins of Empires (p.84). Find a trunk in the forest containing three books: Paradise Lost - creation story Plutarch's Lives - history and government Sorrows of Werter - p. 91 "lofty sentiments and feelings" Sturm und Drang Finds Frankstein's papers in pocket of coat that he took from laboratory, so he knows where to find him.
By the Chamonix meeting the monster has become extremely proficient at language and social mores and conventions.
Parallel Stories
Stories told through letters: Sorrows of Young Werther.
The need for friendship/companionship Robert Walton writes to sister about wanting a friend. Frankenstein has Clerval Frankenstein to marry Elizabeth
Contrast between the friends Victor Frankenstein is driven, intense, and miserable (even before he created his monster). He wants to undo and understand the workings of the world, rather than appreciate its beauty. Henry Clerval sees beauty and delight in the world around him.
Family attitudes toward study: The Frankenstein family puts premium on Education; Henry Clerval father cannot see the point of having a son who knows Latin, and the works of the Middle Eastern poets.
Riches to Rags Frankenstein's father's friend Beaumont lost his fortune, then died leaving daughter Caroline penniless. F family takes her in. She becomes Victor's mother.
Milan peasants raising beautiful girl Elizabeth whose Austrian parents have died. F family adopts her.
De Lacey family loses fortune for defending the Turk, Safie's father. Safie forsakes her father out of love for Felix De Lacey.
Images Landscapes Mighty landscapes, magnificence of natural beauty contrasts the travesty of nature that he has created.
Travel on water Frankenstein goes out in the boat on Lake Geneva when he need to calm himself. Voyage down the Rhine with Clerval. Boat to the Orkney Island cottage. Crossing to Ireland.
Guilt Victor Frankenstein presumes to play God and create a living being. His being turns out to be a monster. Frankenstein is then consumed by over his creation. Self-indulgent guilt. Frankenstein believes himself to be the center of the universe, and all good or evil hinges on what he does or has done.
The point of whether the experiment was actually successful or not is irrelevant: a person can become so completely obsessed with the idea of his creation that it drives him insane, whether or not the creation is successful. His feeling of guilt for even attempting the act could make him feel as through he were responsible for what could have been the random deaths of his brother William, the servant girl Justine (maybe Justine was not the innocent he painted her to be), his friend Clerval.
My friend Lori Weston wrote about the closing ceremony to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics:
"Watched the Olympics closing ceremony, with larger-than-life manly-men sports heroes surrounded by the only female representation present - cancan-kicking "girls" as mini-skirted and midriff-baring versions of Mounties and maple leaves - I couldn't help but wonder if the women athletes felt at all insulted by this one-sided view of Canadian icons. Granted, it was tongue-in-cheek and appeared to be some gay choreographer's vision of a Busby Berkeley number on acid, with enormous moose balloons floating overhead and voyageurs dancers step-dancing inside bottomless canoes hanging off their shoulders. Talia and I agreed that the most surreal element was Michael Bublé in a Mountie uniform warbling the Maple Leaf Forever against a retro stereotypical postcard backdrop of the Rocky Mountains...we expected Jeannette McDonald to come out and join him at any moment."
Thank you Lori. That pretty much sums it up.
Nonetheless, if you still need some more Canadian content, check this out:
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Anne of Green Gables
The last book that we discussed at book club was Anne of Green Gables. I facilitated the discussion. Here is my review followed by the facilitating notes, in case anyone wants to use them.
My Review When we decided to read a children's literature novel in book club, I nominated Anne of Green Gables with enthusiasm. Nonetheless, it was with some trepidation that I went back to the book, because the things that moved you as a child sometimes fail to have the same impact later in life. As a young reader I shared Anne's joy and wonder at the world and its beauty, her fear of not being accepted into the family and society, her longing for romance in an ordinary world, her outrage at the unfairness with which youth is treated. Her attempts and shortcomings to live up to moral standards.
As an older reader, these features still touched me. Reading the book later in life I also paid more attention to the older characters: The sadness of Marilla, who has watched her life shrivel way. Matthew's mute inability to make contact with others. They are both of caring and kindhearted people but their lives lack joy.
It is not difficult to figure out why Anne is such an endearing and enduring heroine. She is intense. She loves and hates passionately. Her bosom buddy/kindred spirit relations. Her romanticism, great imagination, and that fact that she is given to flights of fantasy. She revels in sentimental tragedy. Her outspokenness. Her adventurousness. She is hard working, honest, caring and compassionate. She is aware of her own shortcomings. She sees beauty and looks for goodness. She approaches the world with wide-eyed wonder and openness.
Rereading Anne of Green Gables brought me back to the Leslie Anne I used to be.
Happy International Women's Day to all!
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Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery Book Club Facilitating Notes
1. Plot Summary 2. List of Characters 3. L.M. Montgomery Biography 4. Bibliography, Awards and Recognitions 5. Some historical facts addressed in the novel. 6. Comparative study: Anne of Green Gables and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm 7. Discussion Questions 8. My review
1. Plot summary Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, unmarried middle-aged siblings who live together at Green Gables, a farm in the village of Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island, decide to adopt a boy from an orphan asylum in Nova Scotia as a helper on their farm. Through a series of mishaps, the person who ends up under their roof is a precocious girl of eleven named Anne Shirley. Anne is bright and quick, eager to please and talkative, but dissatisfied with her name, her pale countenance dotted with freckles, and with her long braids of red hair. Although wishing she was named Cordelia, she insists that if you are to call her Anne, it must be spelt with an 'E', as it is "so much more distinguished." Being a child of imagination, however, Anne takes much joy in life, and adapts quickly, thriving in the environment of Prince Edward Island. She is something of a chatterbox, and drives the prim, duty-driven Marilla to distraction, although shy Matthew falls for her immediately.
The rest of the book recounts her continued education at school, where she excels in studies very quickly, her budding literary ambitions and her friendships with people such as Diana Barry (her best friend, "bosom friend" as Anne fondly calls her), Jane Andrews, Ruby Gillis, and her rivalry with Gilbert Blythe, who teases her about her red hair and for that acquires her hatred, although he apologizes many times. Anne and Gilbert compete in class and Anne one day realizes she no longer hates Gilbert, but will not admit it; at the end of the book, they both become very good friends.
The book also follows her misadventures in quiet, old-fashioned Avonlea. These adventures include her games with her friends (Diana, Jane and Ruby), her rivalries with the Pye sisters (Gertie and Josie) and her domestic mistakes such as dyeing her hair green. Anne, along with Gilbert, Ruby, Josie, Jane and several other students, eventually go to the Queen's Academy and obtains a teaching license in one year, in addition to winning the Avery Prize in English, which allows her to pursue a B.A. at Redmond College.
The book ends with Matthew's death, caused by a heart attack after learning of the loss of all his and Marilla's money. Anne shows her devotion to Marilla and Green Gables by giving up the Avery Prize, deciding to stay at home and help Marilla, whose eyesight is diminishing, and teaching at the Carmody school, the nearest school available. To show his friendship, Gilbert Blythe gives up his teaching position in the Avonlea School to work at White Sands School instead, thus enabling Anne to teach at the Avonlea School and stay at Green Gables all through the week. After this kind act, Anne and Gilbert become friends.
2. Characters Anne Shirley - An imaginative, red-headed orphan who comes to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, siblings
Marilla Cuthbert - A crisp, practical, no-nonsense woman who doesn't approve of Anne's wild imagination although she does grow to love the orphan. Her sense of humor develops greatly upon Anne's arrival and Mrs. Lynde states that she became "mellow".
Matthew Cuthbert - Marilla's brother, a shy, awkward man who takes a liking to Anne from the start. The two become fast friends but he dies in the end.
Diana Barry - A bosom friend of Anne, Anne's kindred spirit. Anne and Diana become best friends from the moment they meet. She is the only little girl who lives close to Green Gables. While Anne does not think Diana is very imaginative, Diana is noted for being pretty, merry and very amiable.
Gilbert Blythe - Anne's enemy from the beginning for pulling her hair and calling her "Carrots". Even though Gilbert apologizes shortly after the incident, Anne remains scornful toward him for a few years but Gilbert never abandons his quest for her friendship as he is in love with her. Anne forgives Gilbert by the end of the book and the two become friends - and eventually marry (an event which takes place a few books later in the Anne series).
Rachel Lynde - A neighbor of Matthew and Marilla and the nosiest person in town. Although she did not take a liking to Anne in the beginning, she soon warms to the freckled faced orphan. She is incredibly industrious, helpful and loves doing work for the church, her husband follows her orders.
Miss Stacy - Anne's new teacher. Miss Stacy is truly a mentor to Anne. Miss Stacy worked hard to be accepted by Avonlea, as her teaching methods were new, and she was a "woman teacher."
Josie Pye - Anne's sometimes friend, sometimes rival, and classmate. She is vain and generally disliked by the girls of Avonlea like all the other Pyes. Her younger sister is Gertie Pye.
Jane Andrews - One of Anne's friends whom she is very fond of, although Diana remains her closest friend. Jane is described as rather staid, plain and with very little imagination.
Ruby Gillis - Another one of Anne's friends. Ruby is flirtatious and always discusses beaux. She is portrayed as pretty with long, golden hair and an imagination like Anne's. Ruby loves getting the attention of the boys but will eventually die after finding her one true love.
Reverend and Mrs. Allen - The minister and his wife, two friends for Anne. Mrs. Allen becomes Anne's hero.
Mr. Philips - Anne's first teacher at Avonlea, whom she despised (he spelled Anne's name without an 'E', among other things).
3. Biography of Author
Born on Nov. 30, 1874, on Prince Edward Island, Canada, L. M. Montgomery was raised by her maternal grandparents after the death of her mother when Montgomery was two years old. Her grandparents, a pair of strict Presbyterians, raised Montgomery in their Cavendish farmhouse in a religious environment and isolated her from much social involvement with other children. “I had no companionship except that of books and solitary rambles in wood and fields,” wrote Montgomery in one of her many journals. “This drove me in on myself and early forced me to construct for myself a world of fancy and imagination very different indeed from the world in which I lived.” Her natural surroundings gave her a “passport to fairyland” as she used her imagination to escape the day to day life on the farm.
While Montgomery’s grandparents fulfilled the material side of her childhood needs, they were unable to supply the additional emotional and mental support she required. As a sensitive child, she was especially vulnerable, and when her grandmother harshly reminded her of such things as her father’s abandonment of Maud, she recoiled into her own world.
As a child, Montgomery began keeping journals. She found a safe outlet for her temperaments in these records. Later, as Montgomery grew up and became more introspective, the journals were a method of keeping herself in control and a place to express her thoughts. She kept a record her entire life.
From childhood, writing was Montgomery’s dream. “I cannot remember the time when I was not writing, or when I did not mean to be an author. To write has always been my central purpose toward which every effort and hope and ambition of my life has grouped itself.” In 1890, at the age of sixteen, her poem, On Cape Le Force, was published in Charlottetown’s newspaper. Shortly after, she started publishing articles, essays, short stories, and verse in other newspapers.
Meanwhile, Montgomery went to school and earned her teacher certificate in 1894. The next year, she received her first class license to teach. She taught at schools throughout the Island until her grandfather’s death in 1898. At that time she left the teaching profession in order to return home to Cavendish to help her grandmother. She nursed her grandmother until the woman’s death in March of 1911.
Montgomery found inspiration for the Anne story from an old entry in one of her notebooks. “Elderly couple apply to orphan asylum for a boy. By mistake a girl is sent them.” She thought this would make a nice story for the serial she wanted to write. The novel took shape in the evenings between the spring of 1904 and the fall of 1905. After receiving several rejection slips from publishers, she put the book away for two years before revising and submitting it to the Boston publishing company L. C. Page. On April 8, 1907, Montgomery received an acceptance letter, and in slightly more than a year, Anne of Green Gables was published.
The book was extremely popular. In response to her publisher's request for a sequel, Montgomery produced Anne of Avonlea. Montgomery was a prolific writer. Besides Anne series, she also wrote many other novels, including several other series, poetry, and short stories, while her letters and journals have been separately collected and published posthumously.
Montgomery married the Reverend Ewan Macdonald on July 5, 1911. She gave birth to three sons, one of whom was still born, in the early years of her marriage. Her husband suffered from long-lasting episodes of deep depression, and Montgomery bore the burden of nursing him and of keeping the secret for him during the large part of her marriage life.
Among her difficulties, Montgomery was also involved with a lengthy lawsuit against her first publisher, L. C. Page. Along with the strain of coping with her husband’s mental disorder, Montgomery had health problems of her own, especially towards the end of her life. The years of covering for her husband took their toll, as did worries about her law suit, the two world wars, and her own concerns. In 1938, she suffered a physical and nervous breakdown, and another in 1940. She died on April 24, 1942. (68)
4. Works Novels: (20) •1908 Anne of Green Gables •1909 Anne of Avonlea •1910 Kilmeny of the Orchard •1911 The Story Girl •1913 The Golden Road •1915 Anne of the Island •1917 Anne's House of Dreams •1919 Rainbow Valley •1920 Rilla of Ingleside •1923 Emily of New Moon •1925 Emily Climbs •1926 The Blue Castle •1927 Emily's Quest •1929 Magic for Marigold •1931 A Tangled Web •1933 Pat of Silver Bush •1935 Mistress Pat •1936 Anne of Windy Poplars •1937 Jane of Lantern Hill •1939 Anne of Ingleside
Poetry: (2) •1916 The Watchman and Other Poems •1987 The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery
Short Story Collections: (12) •1912 Chronicles of Avonlea •1920 Further Chronicles of Avonlea •1974 The Road to Yesterday •1979 The Doctor's Sweetheart •1988 Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans •1989 Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea •1990 Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side •1991 After Many Days: Tales of Time Passed •1993 Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement •1994 At the Altar: Matrimonial Tales •1995 Across the Miles: Tales of Correspondence •1995 Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories
Journals: •1985 The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume I: 1889-1910 •1987 The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume II: 1910-1921 •1992 The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume III:1921-1929 •1998 The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume IV:1929-1935 •Soon The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume V:1935-1942
Letters: •1960 The Green Gables Letters: from L.M. Montgomery Ephraim Weber, 1905-1909 •1990 My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. MacMillan from L.M. Montgomery •2006 After Green Gables: L.M. Montgomerys Letters to Ephraim Weber, 1916-1941
Essays: •1934 Courageous Women
Lyrics: •1907 The Island Hymn
Autobiography: •1917 The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career
Awards In 1923, Montgomery became the first Canadian woman to be made a member of the British Royal Society of Arts. In 1935, Montgomery was made a Companion of the Order of the British Empire by King George V and was elected to the Literary and Artistic Institute of France. After her death in 1942, the National Sites and Historic Board of Canada declared Montgomery a person of national historic significance. In 1999, Montgomery was voted one of the top 20 Canadian heroes in a Dominion Institute and the Council for Canadian Unity internet survey. In the same year, CBC held a millennium poll and Montgomery was voted the most influential Canadian writer of the twentieth century. In 2000, L.M. Montgomery was chosen by Maclean's magazine as one of twenty-five Canadians who inspired the world.
Map of Prince Edward Island. Anne's Avonlea is thought to correspond to Cavendish.
5. Historical facts in the Novel
Orphans in Canada Thomas John Barnardo (1845-1905) is a classically Victorian figure - evangelical, entrepreneurial and philanthropic. His crusade to 'rescue children from the streets' was one the best known social interventions in the last half of the nineteenth century.
Child migration The export of destitute and orphaned children has a long history in Britain - with around 130,000 children being shipped off to various parts of the Empire over some 350 years. The first group was arguably sent in 1618 to Richmond, Virginia in the USA; the last was dispatched to Australia in 1967. The various groups and agencies sending children to Canada, Australia and other countries generally thought they were providing them with a new start:
He was also able to convince host governments such as that of Canada of its efficacy. Reception homes were established and from them children were placed. Those still at school stayed in the homes until they finished schooling - after which they were fostered with local families. Between 1882 and 1939 the agency sent over 30,000 children to Canada.
PEI red soil High iron oxide content The Mi'-kmaq say that the Great Spirit of Creation used the red soil to create "the fairest of all earthly places."
Ipecac is an emetic and it has been used to treat croup and bronchial congestion.
Redmond College Redmond College is in Kingsport, N.S., but it is fictional although Kingsport NS does exist.
Avery Scholarship The Avery Scholarship was established in December 1998 by the owners of Cavendish Figurines Ltd., Don Maxfield and Jeannette Arsenault, as a contribution to their Island community in grateful appreciation of the legacy of L.M. Montgomery on PEI and in tribute to the "spirit of Anne." The award is named after the fictional Avery Scholarship in Anne of Green Gables.
God's in his Heaven - All's right with the world! Pippa Passes was a dramatic piece, as much play as poetry, by Robert Browning published in 1841.
Inherited Politics Grits and Tories
6. MIRROR IMAGES: Anne of Green Gables and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm By Constance Classen and David Howes Kate Douglas Wiggin's Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was published in Boston in 1903. Lucy Maud Montgomery began writing Anne of Green Gables in 1905 and the final version of the work was published in Boston in 1908.
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is no longer widely read. However, at the time of Anne of Green Gables‘ publication it was at the height of its popularity and the similarities between the two books must have been noticed by the readers of the day. This was, in fact, the case, judging by the comments of contemporary reviewers. One American reviewer called Anne of Green Gables "a sort of Canadian `Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm‘" (MacLulich 1985: 10). A British reviewer stated that "We can pay the author of Anne of Green Gables no higher compliment than to say that she has given us a perfect Canadian companion picture to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (cited in Barry, Doody, and Doody Jones 1997: 489). Mark Twain, who knew how to build a story out of an imaginative child’s rebellion against a repressive adult world himself, spoke in glowing terms of both works. He found Rebecca "beautiful and moving and satisfying" (Smith 1925: 134), and called Anne "the dearest and most lovable child in fiction since the immortal Alice" (Eggleston 1960: 80).
Montgomery herself stated that "Anne’s success at school is too good for literary art. But the book was written for girls and must please them to be a financial success" (Eggleston 1960: 73). In "The Bogus Ugly Duckling: Anne Shirley Unmasked", Lesley Willis writes: "What L.M. Montgomery really wants is to engage for Anne the same kind of sympathy which might be given to a fairy-tale heroine, but without making her undergo the same trials" (Willis 1976: 251). However, it was precisely because Montgomery was more interested in entertainment than plausibility that she is able to place her heroine in situations which would be improbable for Rebecca in her more constrained setting. Anne breaks her slate on a classmate’s head and refuses to return to school (118), she dyes her hair green and has to have it cut off (229), she accidentally intoxicates her best friend (136), and so on. Rebecca, at her worst, can do little more than wear her good dress without permission (92) and throw her parasol down a well in a fit of self-mortification (122). Anne certainly has the edge over Rebecca when it comes to adventure.
Critical Reception Early critics praised Anne of Green Gables as a delightful work for children, especially girls. Subsequent criticism through the first three-quarters of the twentieth century was polite but unenthusiastic, despite the novel's popularity around the world, including in Japan, where young girls became enthralled with the red-headed Anne's adventures. But in the 1970s and beyond, and especially as important contemporary women writers such as Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro began to acknowledge their affection for Anne, the book took on a new critical life, with many feminist commentators noting the care Montgomery took to make Anne a fully developed character. Some critics still maintain that the book is sentimental and overwrought with stereotypical gender depictions, but many regard Anne as a solid role model for girls and young women.
Map of Avonlea
7. Discussion Questions
1. Good behavior is a subject that troubles Anne. Choose two main characters from the novel and discuss the different ways each character approaches the problem of being good.
Answer for Study Question 1 >> Upon her arrival at Green Gables, Anne immediately comes into conflict with the people of Avonlea, especially Marilla, because of their different conceptions of what it means to be good. Marilla follows a strict definition of good behavior based on traditional roles and propriety, and she uses behavior to judge a person’s underlying moral character. To Marilla, Anne’s ignorance of the proper way to pray suggests that Anne is not only badly brought up but possibly wicked. When Anne decorates her hat with wildflowers on the way to church, she unwittingly draws stares and laughter from established churchgoers. Marilla feels that such Anne’s actions reflect badly on her. Although Marilla understands and sympathizes with Anne’s lack of formal education, she believes that standard rules of behavior should govern a young girl’s actions. Anne is perplexed by the new moral codes she encounters while living with Marilla. She includes several personal wishes in her first prayer, asking that God make her pretty and change her red hair, which suggests that Anne thinks of prayer as an opportunity to express her fondest desires. Similarly, she does not understand why wearing flowers to church is objectionable, as the other girls wear artificial flowers in their hats. Expectations that conflict with her own common sense confuse Anne. Anne believes that if good intentions drive a person, it does not matter if her actions are unusual, because that person is still inherently good. As Anne matures and Marilla mellows, their conflict over the definition of good behavior becomes less strident. At the beginning of her stay, Anne thinks that if she feels justified in her actions, it is right for her to act in any way she chooses. For example, Anne attacks Mrs. Rachel when Mrs. Rachel makes a derogatory remark about Anne’s red hair. Although Marilla sympathizes with Anne’s feelings, she insists that Anne follow the accepted code of conduct. Eventually, Anne comes to appreciate pleasant behavior and treating others with kindness and respect. She maintains her independent spirit, but begins to understand the importance of good behavior as a way of getting along with people and that acting as expected puts people at ease.
2. How do Anne’s conceptions of the future evolve throughout the novel?
As an unloved orphan, Anne cultivates the ability to imagine exciting futures. She constructs futures for herself based on imaginative, romantic notions of beauty, eternal love, and tragic loss. When Anne arrives at Green Gables, she dreams of a future in which she is named Lady Cordelia and has a best friend, a home, and people who love her. She imagines that her red hair will disappear and that riches will surround her. When some of these dreams come true, they disappoint or please her to varying degrees. She loves her home and her family, but her dreams of riches fall flat. When she and Diana visit Aunt Josephine in the city, for example, partaking of her wealthy lifestyle, Anne discovers that the fantasy of wealth gives her more pleasure than the fact of wealth. As Anne matures, she envisions her future differently. Her romanticism fades, and she regards her childhood fantasies as undesirable. Ambition replaces romanticism, and Anne strives to achieve real goals. She studies and works with the same zeal that she earlier applies to daydreaming. At the end of the novel, Anne’s vision of her future draws on her romantic notions as well as her ambition. Anne gives up her unrealistic dream of becoming rich and spoiled and her realistic dream of attending a four-year college. She settles for a future that combines her idealism and her work ethic. She will stay in her well-loved Avonlea, with the house and family she dreamed of as a child. She will continue her studies and teach at the school, but she will also fulfill her duties as a responsible adult by caring for the ones who love her.
3. What role does fashion play in Anne of Green Gables? In what ways do fashion and characters’ differing attitudes toward fashion reveal differences and similarities between various characters?
As a child, Anne dreams of wearing fancy dresses and puffed sleeves, but Marilla, always sensible, considers interest in fashion an expression of vanity. Marilla believes that an upstanding Christian woman should condemn fashion. The conflict between Marilla’s and Anne’s attitudes toward dress reflects broader differences in their personalities and beliefs. Anne often equates morality with physical appearance, saying that it would be easier to be good if only she were pretty and well dressed. Marilla, on the other hand, considers morality to exclude concern with dress. Matthew’s timid entry into the realm of women’s fashion is the turning point in Anne and Marilla’s conflict. Although Matthew is normally unaware of feminine pursuits, he notices that Anne stands apart from her friends because of her plain, unfashionable clothes. He decides to get Anne a new dress and courageously faces a female store clerk in town, marking an important change in his character. Fashion is a means by which Matthew shows his evolution as a character. For love of Anne, he becomes a bit more brave. Matthew’s purchase of a dress for Anne changes both Marilla’s and Anne’s attitudes. Marilla sees that Anne is the same person in a plain dress or in a fancy one. Marilla no longer relies solely on dogma for moral guidance but is willing to accept new ideas. Anne realizes that her physical appearance does not inform her morality and that she can be a good person no matter what she wears. Anne learns that beauty is more than just wearing a dress with puffed sleeves and that behavior, not fashion, makes a person good.
1. Discuss the role of imagination in the novel. How does it drive plot events, and how do characters’ imaginations evolve throughout the novel?
3. How does Anne’s character change, and how does her character change those around her?
4. Why are confessions important in Anne of Green Gables? Compare Anne’s confessions and discuss how each one has a different impact on her.
How does Anne compare to the Colombian classic María by Jorge Isaacs?
Roles of women in Anne of Green Gables Voting: 1916 Canada, 1922 PEI Mrs. Lynde in favor of allowing women to vote
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