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Playing Czechers Review
Mar. 20th, 2015 11:48 amHi,
I forgot to metion that I also read through Capek Four Plays by Karel Capek and translated by Peter Major and Cathy Porter.
I got turned on to Capek from the book Danubia I read earlier this year. Although I wasn't super familiar with him, I did know that he'd written R.U.R. and invented the word Robot. So I thought I'd give his works a spin.
The four plays are:
R.U.R. -- Following the trials and tribulations of the owner/managers of the world's first (and only) producer of robots. In this particular case, robots aren't men of metal they're more like quasi-biological beings. More like Replicants from Blade Runner. Then they futz with the secret formula and it all goes to hell.
The Insect Play -- A drunk goes through a series of vignettes where the activities of insects are compared to the activities of humanity. Butterflies flirt, dung beetles covet their balls of shit and ants go to war with one another.
The Makropulos Case -- An inheritance case drags on for almost 100 years. A mysterious woman appears who inflames the passions of everyone around her and tries to gain access to documents possessed by one of the parties.
The White Plague -- A mysterious disease is sweeping through Europe killing off people over 50. One man has a cure but his price may be too high.
The plays are all rather dark in theme (although they have funny bits and The Insect Play is mostly comical). The author lived through WWI and the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a lot of that radical upheaval informs the plays.
Of them all, I think The Insect Play would be the easiest to put up on the stage, The White Plague could be most profitably re-envisioned and The Makropulos Case is a fun spooky tale for Halloween. R.U.R. feels most like a curiosity at this point -- the wellspring of an amazing avenue for inquiry but it's hard not to see as a bit crude and heavy-handed. Still, it was an interesting read.
later
Tom
I forgot to metion that I also read through Capek Four Plays by Karel Capek and translated by Peter Major and Cathy Porter.
I got turned on to Capek from the book Danubia I read earlier this year. Although I wasn't super familiar with him, I did know that he'd written R.U.R. and invented the word Robot. So I thought I'd give his works a spin.
The four plays are:
R.U.R. -- Following the trials and tribulations of the owner/managers of the world's first (and only) producer of robots. In this particular case, robots aren't men of metal they're more like quasi-biological beings. More like Replicants from Blade Runner. Then they futz with the secret formula and it all goes to hell.
The Insect Play -- A drunk goes through a series of vignettes where the activities of insects are compared to the activities of humanity. Butterflies flirt, dung beetles covet their balls of shit and ants go to war with one another.
The Makropulos Case -- An inheritance case drags on for almost 100 years. A mysterious woman appears who inflames the passions of everyone around her and tries to gain access to documents possessed by one of the parties.
The White Plague -- A mysterious disease is sweeping through Europe killing off people over 50. One man has a cure but his price may be too high.
The plays are all rather dark in theme (although they have funny bits and The Insect Play is mostly comical). The author lived through WWI and the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a lot of that radical upheaval informs the plays.
Of them all, I think The Insect Play would be the easiest to put up on the stage, The White Plague could be most profitably re-envisioned and The Makropulos Case is a fun spooky tale for Halloween. R.U.R. feels most like a curiosity at this point -- the wellspring of an amazing avenue for inquiry but it's hard not to see as a bit crude and heavy-handed. Still, it was an interesting read.
later
Tom
