So D and I kind of saw the Tom Stoppard play yesterday with L and his cousin -- it turned out he and his girlfriend had broken up (though possibly just temporarily) and he invited his cousin in her place. He told D the girlfriend was a "rude girl" and he'd been meeting a lot of "rude girls" in Florida. We go to Miami once a year, and the people we meet there are pretty relaxed and happy, but the idea of a state full of rude girls is kind of funny.
Anyway, the play was awful. It was the kind of awfulness that beggars description, but I'll just say it was too talky, it made awkward stabs at humor, and it was fatally boring. If you have a yen for communism, go see The Lives of Others (it might be on DVD by now) or read The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Also, the physical seats were terrible -- really confining and uncomfortable. Think airplane seats and then make them a little smaller with less leg room. I had just gone swimming so I had all these endorphins, and then my arms and shoulders stiffened up from being stuffed into such a narrow space.
Anyway, after the intermission, L (who bought the tickets) said, "Let's get out of here." I was surprised, but not upset. So we fled.
Later, I had an interaction that left a bad taste in my mouth. I can't be specific here, but let's just say it involved someone kind of ripping her friend apart. I do know exactly what this person meant...but the ripper selected the rippee as a friend. Also, the ripper went on to engage in a specific form of behavior that the ripper criticized in the rippee.
I don't really know what to take away from this, except that we do often criticize flaws in others that we share, and maybe the ripper is more similar to the rippee than she thought!
Anyway, the play was awful. It was the kind of awfulness that beggars description, but I'll just say it was too talky, it made awkward stabs at humor, and it was fatally boring. If you have a yen for communism, go see The Lives of Others (it might be on DVD by now) or read The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Also, the physical seats were terrible -- really confining and uncomfortable. Think airplane seats and then make them a little smaller with less leg room. I had just gone swimming so I had all these endorphins, and then my arms and shoulders stiffened up from being stuffed into such a narrow space.
Anyway, after the intermission, L (who bought the tickets) said, "Let's get out of here." I was surprised, but not upset. So we fled.
Later, I had an interaction that left a bad taste in my mouth. I can't be specific here, but let's just say it involved someone kind of ripping her friend apart. I do know exactly what this person meant...but the ripper selected the rippee as a friend. Also, the ripper went on to engage in a specific form of behavior that the ripper criticized in the rippee.
I don't really know what to take away from this, except that we do often criticize flaws in others that we share, and maybe the ripper is more similar to the rippee than she thought!
Comments
Re: the ripper. I read once that the thing you most despise in another is the thing you most despise about yourself.
That's pretty good that the friend that bought the tickets also thought the same thing of the play so you didn't have to sit through the second half. I've done that a couple of times myself...which means the play was ULTRA bad, because I usually don't like to leave before the ending on the off-chance it might get better.