Événement

Summer Classics: "The Stronger" and "The Proposal"

Two iconic short plays directed by Glenda Donovan
August Strindberg's The Stronger
Featuring Anna Smulowitz and Kathleen Isbell
In this short play Strindberg creates an episode of incredible, poetic power a snapshot of life so intense, so powerful, that it rivals Beckett at his best. Like a Kafka short story, 'The Stronger' is rich in allegory and lends itself to many layers of interpretation. It is a powerful play, one that makes a deep impression, and leaves one with the illusion that one has travelled far and seen much.
What is it that makes the play so powerful? To begin with, it is an immaculate piece of stagecraft. It is a tribute to Strindberg's genius that despite the fact that one character, Miss Y, says nothing right through the play, the interaction between her and Mrs X is in every sense of the term a dialogue, leaving open the question of who is 'The Stronger' one.
Anton Checkov's, The Proposal
First performed in 1890, this one-act farce suggests that, in marriage, economic security takes precedence over romance and love. The play takes place in 19th Century Russia and takes a satirical look at the upper middle class and courtship.
Lomov is thirty-five years old and his neighbor Natalia is twenty-five, well past the age of most brides at the time of the play's setting. This fact suggests that Lomov's motivation is not romantic, but practical. Lomov is reluctant to say anything romantic to Natalia; instead, he speaks of the meadows, "....and furthermore.... my meadows touch your birchwoods." The marriage proposal itself is laced with foolish arguments over small things.
Funded in part by a generous grant from New England BioLabs Inc.