There is another short piece on KRCB radio called "Second row, center". Yesterday's segment was on our show, as well. Here is a transcript, printed with permission of the author:
KRCB 91.1 FM – 4/8/09 at 6:35 and 8:35 a.m. – David Templeton
Times have certainly changed.
What was scandalous a century ago is not necessarily so today. As a demonstration of this, the 6th Street Playhouse, as part of this season’s daring Studio Theater series, has just opened a three-week run of David Hare’s "The Blue Room," based on a German script that was once called the filthiest play ever written.
Of course, that was 110 years ago, when playwright and author Arthur Schnitzler first penned Der Reigen. At that time, he knew the subject matter was far too scandalous to ever appear on an actual stage, so the play was only performed in private, by Schnitzler and his friends, in various German living rooms, and the script was distributed secretly among Schnitzler’s closest acquaintances. Two decades later, when he was finally persuaded to let the play open on a legitimate stage, Schnitzler’s original concerns were confirmed when the opening night show sparked a huge riot in the theater, and the writer was immediately arrested and branded a pornographer, charges that were later dismissed by a German court, but not before Schnitzler decided once and for all to withdraw the play from the public—in Germany. At the same time, the play was building a strong, appreciative following in Russia and Czechoslovakia, and most importantly in France, where the play appeared under the title La Ronde. Today, it’s hard to believe that Schnitzler’s original text, in which ten people bed-hop through a series of partner-swapping assignations, was ever the stuff of riots and obscenity trials. Ten year’s ago, when playwright David Hare wrote his own adaptation of Der Reinen—changing its title to ‘The Blue Room’—there were no public outcries, no riots in the lobby, except for the rowdy lines of people desperate to buy tickets to see Nicole Kidman—one of the London and Broadway production’s stars—in a much talked-about nude scene. Even the full-frontal cartwheels of her co-star Ian Glen weren’t seen as scandalous and obscene so much as just another reason to buy a ticket.
So, times have certainly changed.
And yet, it’s still a bold move for a theater company to tackle a play like ‘The Blue Room,’ as 6th Street Playhouse is doing right now. Under the direction of David Lear, actors David Yen and Denise Elia are playing out the ten-character daisy-chain of sexual encounters three times a weekend, and initial word is that Yen and Elia give brave, thoughtful performances in a show that, counter to the claims of those critics who saw the original Der Reigen, is not a play about sex so much as it is a play about human beings desperate to feel a connection with another person—no matter how tentative, shallow, or brief. 6th Street Playhouse is to be congratulated for scheduling a show that continues the all-important, age-old theatrical tradition of telling stories that just might cause riot, of one kind or another.
The Blue Room runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday through April 26 at the 6th Street Playhouse, that’s 52 W. 6th Street, in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday at 8:00, and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets run from $14-$20. Call 707-523-4185 or visit 6th street playhouse.com—that’s with a numeral 6.
Listen again next Wednesday morning at 6:35 and 8:35 for more news about Bay Area Theater.
I’m David Templeton, Second Row Center, for KRCB
1 comment:
Thank you for posting this transcript. :)
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