The celebrated playwright, director, translator, lyricist, and seven-time Obie Award winner, has been an influential voice in American theatre for more than four decades and a highly-regarded teacher of playwriting. Includes: Mud, The Danube, Sarita, and The Conduct of Life.
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"The Danube [is] one of the most startlingly original and devastating things I can ever remember seeing on a stage." -- Michael Feingold, Village Voice
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mud, The Conduct of Life, Danube, & Sarita,
By Christopher F. Lapinel (Alexandria, Va) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Plays: Maria Irene Fornes (PAJ Books) (Paperback)
The spectrum of her work, included in this book is amazing. Though all the plays have a similar aesthetic, each one has a singular style and tone. I have read some critiques, which suggest that, in this postmodern world, her work might be too obvious. This is laughable though. While her work, as in Mud, has the trappings of simplicity owing to the fact that it is a relatively short piece, the impact and depth of the play is found in the nuances. One must consider Mae. What is her place between a poor, illiterate mate and a pathetically snobbish boor? Both men hold a power over her by virtue of their sex. She has little alternative but to choose from among those two men. But the oppressive constructs she works within also give her an invisible weapon. As a woman, it is expected that she care for them and nurture their health. This is a place of power, if not an obvious one. This play in particular can be looked at from two faces--as allegory or as a psychological portrayal of a woman's mind. This is only a short review, so I must stop soon. But imagine. if a few lines of a review can reveal such complexity of depth then what is it that the postmodern critics find so simple and obvious? Are they that much more brilliant than the rest of us? Or, perhaps, the cynicism of postmodern analysis takes the circumstantial plot as the true thing that Fornes is aiming for. Does a plot need to be as convoluted as the one in the film Magnolia, to convey deep meaning? I enjoyed that film, but I don't feel it captured a tenth of dynamics of what occurrs in in the plays by Fornes. Perhaps that is the curse of Hollywood, however. In which case, I am glad that Fornes is not or ever will be mainstream. Postmoderns may settle for the for the flashy pyro-technic plot, in which there are 20 twists of fate that we must smirk at and a large cast of characters that we must feel sick for, but in Fornes' work there is real fire--ignited from condensed intensity. I strongly recommend this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
homage to Fornes,
This review is from: Plays: Maria Irene Fornes (PAJ Books) (Paperback)
Maria Irene Fornes is a terrific playwright - challenging, concrete, innovative - and this volume contains some of her best plays, among them _Conduct of Life_, the innovative greatness of which is apparent even as we read the description of the set. I've been reading Fornes for some fifteen years now, and her plays stand up to the hardest test of all, namely, frequent rereading.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Original theater at its best,
This review is from: Plays: Maria Irene Fornes (PAJ Books) (Paperback)
This is the perfect collection to start with when approaching Fornes. Her plays are challenging, raw and fascinating. Fornes gives a voice to characters that are forgotten in the theater world and society at large. Her language is spare and at times confusing or seemingly random. This is because Fornes transcends the academic idea of the "well made play" and stays true to her artistic vision without a care for what the general public thinks. 'Mud' is probably my favorite play in this collection; the characters are rough, outcast types to put it lightly and at times it is painful to read but it is ultimately a rewarding and moving play. If are interested in experimental theater at all Fornes is worth a look.
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