The Dirt Cheap Opera
dal 19/7/2002 al 20/7/2002
Segnalato da
19/7/2002
The Dirt Cheap Opera
Hannum Hall, Cambridge
The intrepid puppeteers of the Bread and Puppet Theater venture forth into the underworld of Eighteenth Century London, armed only with a few pieces of cardboard, a few drums and an accordion, as the company presents 'The Dirt Cheap Opera.' The show is loosely based on Bertolt Brecht's 'Three Penny Opera'.
Bread and Puppet Theater
Saturday, July 20th, at 7 pm and 9:30 pm
The intrepid puppeteers of the Bread and Puppet Theater venture
forth into the underworld of Eighteenth Century London, armed only with a
few pieces of cardboard, a few drums and an accordion, as the company
presents "The Dirt Cheap Opera." The show which is loosely based on Bertolt
Brecht's "Three Penny Opera" will have two performances, with part of the
proceeds to go towards the Zeitgeist Gallery's Relocation Fund
As conceived and directed by Bread and Puppet founder Peter Schumann, the
familiar story of the misadventures of Captain MacHeath, is told by a cast
of four performers. With the assistance of dozens of cardboard puppets, they
bring to life Mack the Knife, Polly Peachum, Tiger Brown, as well as
assorted thugs, floozies, demons and, last but not least, God himself.
The opera takes place in the presence of all the appropriate cardboard gods
who make sure that the dramatic events are put into the right light and
judged instantaneously and by the proper authorities. One hour short and
dirt-cheap, it features full frontal cardboard nudity and is not suited for
children or other innocent bystanders.
"The Dirt Cheap Opera" will be preceded by two shorter pieces created and
performed by two of the opera company members, Jason Norris and Clare Dolan.
"Insurrection Landscaper" Norris hauls in a trash can full of puppets to
demonstrate "A Few Bad Things." Dolan will then add a new chapter to her
series "The True Adventures of Go-Go Girl" with "Chapter 15 War and
Peace." Using paintings and a sung narration, Dolan presents a
too-good-to-be-good look at one woman's experience of contemporary life.
The entire running time for the Opera and pre-shows is 1 hour and 25
minutes. The other two members of the opera company are Maria Schumann and
Jig Gresser. Along with the traditional breaking of Peter Schumann's world
famous bread, there will also be Bread and Puppet Cheap Art available for
sale at the end of each show.
(Background) The Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 on New York
City's Lower East Side by Silesian-born sculptor and choreographer, Peter
Schumann. In 1969, a nine-month tour of Europe won recognition and critical
acclaim for Bread and Puppet. In 1970, the Theater moved to Vermont as
theater-in-residence at Goddard College, letting itself be influenced by
living in the countryside. Four years later the Theater moved to a farm in
Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 100-year old hay barn was
transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Bread and Puppet Theater does
massive spectacles in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. Their pageants
have a broad theme-oriented appeal to large non-elite audiences. They
address social, political and environmental issues or simply the common
urgencies of our lives. Some of the awards received by Peter Schumann and
Bread and Puppet are the Obie Award, the Erasmus Award from Amsterdam, the
Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Puppeteers of
America Award. Bread and Puppet is one of the oldest, nonprofit,
self-supporting theater companies in the United States.
The Zeitgeist Gallery recently met with
the forces of entropy and burned. Up to that fateful day, they had been
disrupting Cambridge for over seven years, featuring a non-stop array of
monthly and bi-weekly art exhibitions, several monthly music performances,
art classes, films, and a "variated flotsam" of random events. The
Zeitgeisters have recently found a new space and are rapidly working towards
continuing their status as the mecca for a legion of Boston-area artists.
Tickets:
$10 general admission*. [*Note: not a children's show; part of the proceeds
to benefit the Zeitgeist Gallery's Relocation Fund.] No reservations;
tickets for general seating available at the door a half hour before each
show. Advance tickets (cash only) available at the Lucy Parsons Center (549
Columbus Ave., South End, Boston, 617-267-6272), McIntyre & Moore
Booksellers (255 Elm St., Davis Sq., Somerville, 617-629-4840) and Twisted
Village (12 Eliot St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge, 617-354-6898.)
Hannum Hall, YWCA Cambridge, 7 Temple St., Central Square; conveniently
located near the Red Line