Lettice & Lovage ephemera
First Matinee special
Sunday, Sept. 15, beginning about 5:30 p.m.
Why is our Shaffer production such a big deal?
Peter Shaffer writes good plays, for one thing, including Amadeus and Equus. His Five Finger Exercise formed part of Town & Gown's 1969-70 season. Both T&G and the University of Georgia have put up Amadeus, in 94-95 and 2002 respectively.
L&L differs sharply from most of his other works: It's a comedy with elements of farce, it focuses on women, and he wrote it to capitalize on the strengths of a friend who also happens to be a notable performer. But the play has a special appeal because in an odd way it fits together with the wrenching dramas that came before it.
You may have seen Amadeus on stage or film, for example. Think about the ways the two central characters, Mozart and Salieri, look at the world—or rather how they respond to it. Salieri may strike you as earnest; he certainly thinks of himself that way. He sees the highest values (of music, in this case) as achievement within a framework of philosophy. He intends his music to serve God, and he assesses Mozart's music in the same context. Mozart in contrast does it because, well, it feels good. He has no philosophy, and serving God is all right if it happens, all right if it doesn't. You could conceive of Salieri as a great river running in its banks and Mozart as a stream in flood, running wherever it will.
To put it flippantly, they drive each other crazy. They aren't opposites in the way Oscar and Felix are, but on a deeper level. If Mozart is blessed by God, that is Salieri's curse. Salieri may feel some momentary remorse as he drives Mozart to poverty and starvation, but his ideas about music as mission won't let him relent. Mozart just writes this stuff.
How do you cover the same territory, represent the same kinds of questioning, in a comedy? Because that's what L&L does. You have to see it worked out.
And then you can talk it over with some people who have worked to realize Shaffer's scripts in the theater.
Attendance at the First Matinee event is free of charge. You may enjoy it more if you've seen the play first, but we won't be taking names. Come to Town & Gown after the performance on Sunday, Sept. 15, for a discussion featuring C.B. Davis, director of Amadeus last season, and Ben Teague, director of L&L. The curtain should come down around 5:30, and the discussion will get under way shortly afterward. We hope to see lots of you there.
| Approved Ben Teague web site |
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