| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Miss Brodie |
Posted - 17 Jun 2004 : 6:21:57 PM
All interested persons are invited to read Clifford Odets play GOLDEN BOY and join in a discussion of the play's merits. We will read a different play for discussion each week through the summer, or for as long as interest holds. The stated deadline for reading GOLDEN BOY is Wednesday, June 23, but discussion can commence at any time and be added to for as long as folks like. |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| zadodci |
Posted - 19 Jul 2004 : 12:03:42 AM
I am finally catching up on my play reading. So here it goes.
"Golden Boy" I found a very interesting play. I am not sure how to classify it. On the one level I find it very contemporary and on another level very dated. (of course the same can be said of Shakespeare's works).
I was fasinated by how the basic human issues haven't changed in the decades since it was written. The issues of living up to parental expectations v. doing what you want in life; issues of following your heart v. doing what might be materially best for you made this for me a terrific human drama.
Yet, just as I start to think that this play is very contemporary and would carry well I run into problems with it. Some of them can be smoothed over by doing it in its period setting. But some just wouldn't play well today.
The example in my head clearest is the mispronouncing of the word 'Italian' as 'Eyetalian' even by characters of Italian ancestry. As a person of Italian ancestry myself this would never happen and is even insulting. There are other examples but you get the point.
In short this play is destined to be, in our politically correct world, treated like Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice;" often read in college theatre courses, but seldom ever performed.
David M. Cicchelli
Treasurer
Spotlight Theatre Company |
| Prosper Block |
Posted - 25 Jun 2004 : 09:45:44 AM
In Harold Clurman’s introduction to the Odets collection of plays from which I read “Golden Boy,” he writes, “All drama is dated; it is always a product of a peticular moment.”
On my first read through of this Odets play, my first reaction was that it was, indeed, quite dated. What once was a hip (talk about “dated”...have I not just exposed my own, personal, timestamp?), edgy, realistic play, when read today, comes across as a creaky, and often times, creepy play.
But upon a second reading, this play about unfulfilled dreams, seemed less affected and softer around the edges.
From the first page on, in my first read-through, I got caught up in “attitude” and venacular, and my reading of the play was tainted by the inner voice in which I was to read the play. Granted, that voice (read: acting) was necessary to capture the time, color, and period of the piece, but I overreacted (read: bad acting) and spent more time on style than on substance.
After spending a day away from the play, I picked it up again, and read through it. Now that I had gotten all the external stuff out of the way (baggage I brought, and as The Reader, probably should have left at home), I was able to READ the play. It didn’t seem as dated. It didn’t seem as creaky. Except for some phrases here and there, the dialogue was quite authentic (given the dramatic style of the time).
Overall, I don’t love the play. It seems forced and contrived, in a forced and contrived way. But I enjoyed it better the second time around, and could even see myself directing it because there’s enough “stuff” in there to excite me as a director.
I would like to discuss the treatment of women in this play if anyone is interested. |
| Prosper Block |
Posted - 23 Jun 2004 : 4:03:22 PM
Just returned to the office (it's 4:07 pm) and must attend to work.
Yes, I read it and will try to weigh in tom'w, if schedule permits.
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| Miss Brodie |
Posted - 23 Jun 2004 : 1:53:03 PM
So, did anybody read it? I finished it over the weekend. I think I must have read it a long time ago, too, because it seemed familiar.
Anyway, I think GOLDEN BOY holds up as good dramatic material. The world has changed a lot since Odets wrote it, but the same kind of tensions exist in our lives today - tensions between the desires for economic success and for personal fulfillment, tensions from sexual attraction to inappropriate people, tensions between what parents want for children and what children want for themselves.
I read the script out of an anthology, which included an analysis of Odets' work. The analysis indicated that GOLDEN BOY was written as an allegory, with Joe Bonaparte representing Everyman, who was being destroyed by Capitalism. We have survived in our capitalistic society for many decades since then. I don't think we're destroyed. But, anyway... |
| Prosper Block |
Posted - 18 Jun 2004 : 12:50:28 PM
Cyber Group Theater |
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