Re: RAT The Sassies!!!!

[NOMADMONAD@aol.com]

At 10:25 PM 1/12/00 EST, DgSWEET@aol.com wrote:
>So what was the most important piece of theater of the decade?
>
>too soon to tell
>
>of the century? 
>
>THE CHERRY ORCHARD
>
>of the millenium?
>
>HENRY IV, pys 1&2
>
>

I have been appointed by the Committee to field the rat-list nominations.  
Opinions without arguments won't fly.

The Cherry Orchard.  1904.  Okay.  Chekhov was at the cusp of the century, 
even though he's usually classified as a 19th century playwright.  So what 
makes you believe Cherry Orchard is more important than Vanya or Sea Gull or 
Three Sisters?  And if I had to vote for a 19th century playwright who in 
some seminal way led theater into and through the 20th, I would go with Ibsen 
or Strindberg.  Ibsen's last work When We Dead Awaken is an excellent play on 
which to study that century to turn.  The Dream Play by Strinberg connects 
with Freud and much more of the new century's obsessions.  

HENRY IV, pys 1&2.   ???  What's here that no one else has seen?  Hamlet, 
Lear, Macbeth, Tempest all seem better contenders.

As for your 90's nomination "too soon to tell."    Who wrote that and where 
was it produced?  I never heard of it.

You will need to elaborate on your nominations otherwise the Committee will 
sentence you and your opinions into the dustbin. 

Signed,
The Chairman