State of the Arts

State of the Arts: October 30, 2012 Archive

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The reviews are in for 'King Lear' at Park Square

Posted at 1:06 PM on October 30, 2012 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: Criticism, Theater

Shakespeare's King Lear is given a Godfather-like treatment in Park Square's latest production.

Critics found moments thrilling, but say the show as a whole was uneven.

KingLear3.jpg
The cast of Park Square's King Lear
Photo: Petronella Ytsma

From Janet Preus at HowWasTheShow.com:

...The role in this play is Lear and [Raye] Birk is impressive... The deeper Birk's Lear descends into madness, the clearer his life becomes, and the more worthy of redemption. In this, Birk was in full control.

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Jim Lichtscheidl and Jennfier Blagen in Park Square's King Lear
Photo: Petronella Ytsma

From Dominic P. Papatola at the Pioneer Press:

Director Peter Moore has set Shakespeare's tale of faithless children and political intrigue in Prohibition-era America, with the eponymous ruler as a gangster kingpin straight out of a Mario Puzo novel. Imposing a strong "concept" like this on Shakespeare is always a tricky proposition, and at Park Square, it's not an entirely successful experiment.

...as the king descends into madness because of his own poor decisions and his daughters' avaricious disregard, the Italianate frame starts to take on some tarnish. When Lear rages at the storm, his rant is punctuated by the mad king taking potshots with a handgun, giving the famous and wrenching scene an almost comical bent.

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Stacie Rice as Regan and Stephen D'Ambrose as Gloucester in Park Square's King Lear
Photo: Petronella Ytsma

From Graydon Royce at the Star Tribune:

To twist a phrase, the parts are greater than the sum in Park Square Theatre's production of "King Lear." This makes for an uneven experience full of equivocation. Moments shriek with grisly electricity and fearless stagecraft; others yawn with fuzzy exposition and an opaque orientation of place and narrative.

King Lear runs through November 11 at Park Square. Did you see the show? What's your review?

50 years after 'Silent Spring,' message still resonates

Posted at 3:33 PM on October 30, 2012 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: Books

Tonight, as residents on the east coast continue to assess the damage from Hurricane Sandy, Stillwater author William Souder will read from his book On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson at SubText bookstore in St. Paul.

Carson, the author of the seminal environmentalist treatise Silent Spring, was adamant that pesticides like DDT are as harmful as radiation to people, plants and animals. She was also a champion of the health and biodiversity of the world's oceans.

One can easily imagine her blaming the recent damage of Hurricane Sandy on what she called the "impetuous and heedless pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of nature."

Carson.jpeg

Author Elizabeth Royte reviewed On a Farther Shore for the New York Times. Royte says she found it to be an "absorbing narrative."

In Souder's telling, almost every aspect of Carson's life and times becomes captivating: her difficult personal circumstances (she grew up in rural poverty, was the sole breadwinner in her family and battled breast cancer while writing and then defending "Silent Spring"); the publishing milieu; and the continuing friction between those who would preserve nature versus those who would bend it to provide utility for man.

Souder warms up slowly, presenting Carson as a mild and mousy girl who fell into her career thanks to a charismatic mentor. As she matured, however, Carson quietly simmered with attitude, indignation and, once she became more successful, a righteous ego. Released from government service and financial peril, she roared at the forces she believed were destroying nature, her greatest source of pleasure and the thing without which, to pervert the classic advertising slogan of the agricultural chemical manufacturer Monsanto, life itself would be impossible.

Souder reads tonight at 7pm.

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