More pretentious twaddle from Reza, who has redirected her tone deaf ear from dialogue about 20th century painting to modern cosmology. The current play (titled in French Les trois versions de la vie) presents three takes on a failed dinner party: it's hosted by insecure and struggling astrophysicist Henry and wife Sonia for his smug but influential colleague Hubert and wife Inez.

Lindsey Spencer as the offstage voice of demanding six-year-old Arnaud does best, perhaps because her text has what the other characters' lacks—verisimilitude. (Maybe what Reza needs is a new translator.) However, Kathryn Kelley as Inez does find some juice in a tipsy second-scene monologue about...well, not much.

The play strives for the import of drama, of George and Martha duking it out before Nick and Honey, and yet all it can achieve is a little low farce that turns on a Kaufmanesque misunderstanding about appointment dates.

Henry's research interest is the clouds of dark matter surrounding galaxies, and whether they are spherical or disk-shaped. But the physics has no real bearing on the proceedings, and Henry could be a veterinarian for all that. Audience members accustomed to well-researched plays by Stoppard and Frayn will be disappointed. If we're very lucky, community theaters will not pick this script up for their '06 and '07 seasons.

posted: 10:14:24 PM  

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Nail Gun of Sweet Reason.

Get yours.

(Thanks to blogdex.)

posted: 2:17:43 PM  

Birthday links for Samuel Beckett, one year shy of his centenary, at wood s lot.

posted: 2:17:42 PM  

Sandeep Krishnamurthy of the University of Washington is on a mission to get Microsoft to fix the lousy grammar checker in Microsoft Word.

(Thanks to Arts & Letters Daily.)

posted: 10:17:03 AM