One thing I love about Martin, is that he doesn't pretend to have a theory. He just goes to the show and tells us, basically, what happened when he went.
I'd say this review sums up a fair amount of general audience reaction to Foreman's work. But Martin would be the first to say, I'm sure, that it's only his opinion.
For the record, here is a link to my original review on the site of "THE GODS ARE POUNDING MY HEAD!"
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
4 comments:
I just saw "Zomboid" tonight and actually found it quite wonderful. I would have been much more interested to hear, in the review, the thought process of the observer, rather than a description of events. Since, at least for me, Foreman is about interruption of action and disruption of thought as much or more than action and thought in and of themselves.
"You can't watch and listen deeply at the same time."
But then I thought 'Gods" was a brilliant commedy and didn't stop laughing once the piece got started. For whatever that's worth. Taste sure is a tricky thing.
What strikes me here is that Foreman has, it seems, a particular mindset that one must be in to enjoy him.
And, is he not meant to be understood? Or just... reacted to, in a completely self-contained way? If so, him being considered hilarious and him being considered baffling are all in the eye of the beholder.
Well, yes I think that is true. Also, for a bit of context, my iPod did a random shuffle to John Cage's 'Indeterminacy' for the subway ride to the show, and then bumped to a humorous bebop tune as I approched the Theatre. Sure set my mood to watch Zomboid.
The mise-en-scene was quite aggressive, powerful, attractive, chaotic, themed, and annoying. I was annoyed because I'm guessing there was no narrative. Those cute, damn donkeys were just donkeys. They could have been bears. Or additional cubes with letters on them. Didn''t matter. In his program, Foreman announces his intention to play with and present a "staging area" between narrative events, claiming that the stuff left over after everything has been "tossed away" will vibrate with a fascinating new rhythm. Hmm. Well, for someone claiming that it is good to make as few choices as possible in a composition, he sure makes a hell of a lot of them. He laces his film/stage non-narrative reality with inexplicable motifs and philisophical aphorisms that we all heard from our freshman dorm neighbor while smoking too much grass. I suppose that the point is to not think too hard about it all and appreciate the whimsical essence of postmodernism that since everything can be deconstructed, there is no essential reality to anything. While I appreciated the meticulous design and performance score, I couldn't help thinking, Wouldn't it be a lot easier to achieve this with some Buddhist meditation? I've already got enough animals running around in my head.
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