Knitters: Tracy Ullman has signed to publish a funny and practical book about knitting (I think in 2006. It wouldn't be in 2007, would it? I don't have the article in front of me).
Theater: One Berk Rep play was Fetes de la Nuit, and I *loved* it. It's a series of vignettes, like, 30 of them, written to approximate what it would be like to stroll around Paris, observing. The staging and costumes are simple but brilliant. It's funny and sweet and sometimes sexy. Also, full male and female nudity! always fun. Afterwards, we went out for the usual coffee and dessert and talked about which one was our favorite. Mine was "Intimate Moments." An actress stood still in a spotlight, then different actors would walk into the spot with her. They'd start a new intimate moment as soon as he touched her: a kiss, a dance; like, there were probably 15 or so different little moments, each one a minute or less. Then the actor would walk off stage and the actress would kind of go to this neutral place. If her arm had been raised, it lowered to her side. If she'd been looking at him, or away from him, expression would fade from her face, and she'd look neutrally down but with her head still up. Then the next actor would walk into the spot and she'd come alive each time in a new way as a different person. Just, wow. I'm a theater-going geek and have seen 95% of Berkeley Reps plays for the last 22, 23 years. Theater isn't new to me. But this, this is just magic and slays me. I'm guessing it's probably a regular acting exercise. Every now and then, one character will get to do that shape-shifting inside a play and it always knocks my socks off. It doesn't happen that often, but when it does, I'm entranced.
The play was pure fun. I loved it. We all did. If you're a Bay Area person, try to see this one. I'm part of a group who goes to the theater together regularly and we talk about how every year, there's only one play that's THE Play that we will remember. I think this one was it for this season, but we still have a few plays, so the jury's out. So far, everything falls into rank behind Metamorphosis and Peter and Wendy.
The Sarah Jones workshop was marvelous. If you've never heard of her, she's one of the artists who does Anna Deveare Smith-like work, a one-woman show of different characters who are embodied one by one toward a whole story. This story is about the performers at an poetry performance. They're all NYC residents and international immigrants. She's added a banner, "I.A.M.A.P.O.E.T.T.O.O.," (pronouced 'I am a poet, too') which it made it easier to focus back on central premise the few times my mind wandered off into the stratosphere. The play made me think of the poetry performance Katerinabead, Sparky1 and myself went to recently to see OCVictor and Leah, actually. We all commented, during after-play dessert, how large her hands, how long her fingers, how expressive her hands. We all caught the little details, the small movements when her hands shook and plucked at her button when she was portraying an elderly woman. It's a message play, and I liked the message of tolerance and inclusion of immigrants, and the frisson of fear that was introduced by having the MC on the phone with his wife, who's concerned about a friend or relative who's being questioned by, well, I thought of it as Bush's bootjacks. The MC has no fear and is reassuring her like crazy, because he's this goofy, good, citizen accountant who trusts in the US protection of its citizens. I found myself wondering abou their safety.
Oh brother, I guess I am a really slow writer. It's late! already! Today was a CRAZY busy day. I didn't have time to eat lunch until 5 PM. Time to go home.
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