Books read recently by J. Zimmerman.

Reader's Bill of Rights [after Daniel Pennac in Better than Life from November 2003 Utne Magazine] includes the rights to:


{ September : septiembre (see also books on learning Spanish) 2008 }

(9.30.2008)

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(9.15.2008) (9.11.2008 to 9.14.2008) (9.9.2008) (9.8.2008)

Abandoned various books due back at the library:

(9.7.2008) (9.6.2008) (9.5.2008) (9.4.2008) (9.3.2008) (9.2.2008) Finished dipping into a couple of books to return: (9.1.2008)


{ August : agosto (see also books on learning Spanish) 2008 }

(8.31.2008)

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Tim Ocel directs this super production of William Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.

As a dark comedy, it plunges deeply into relationships and into the confrontation of those behaving in a damaging, disloyal, and dishonest way.

The picture above shows Paroles, the braggart, betraying (he believes) to a rival army his fellow soldiers and friends. He is about to be confronted by those he betrayed, particularly Bertram, the young man who has betrayed his marriage. This, in retrospect, is the start of Bertram coming to his senses, and helps him accept and (dare we say) rejoice in his wife.

Four good female roles (Helena, Diana, Diana's widowed Mum, and Helena's mother-in-law, the only one not in the photo below) were well-acted in this production, and exemplify the best of morality, tenacity, and creativity:

This production is an excellent companion to SSC's Romeo and Juliet. In both, there is a marriage between people of two families where intermarriage would not be expected. There, however, the parents disapprove of the wedding. But here, the parents and surrogate parents approve of the wedding, and the bridegroom resists it -- hence this play with its exploration of loyalty and commitment. (8.22.2008)

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Kim Rubinstein directs this magnificent production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The first delight is this production's physicality, for the play opens not with words but with the cacophony of an outdoor market place, the fruit- and dagger-wielding women, the rough-housing young men, the knife juggler, the sword-fighting gangs, and the Prince (the commanding Gene Gillette also seen in Burn This) forcing the gang fight to a crashing halt.

This energy continues in the rough-tumble interaction among Romeo and his comrades, the marvelous conceit of their donning fluffy wings of Eros (Mercutio's tinged with blood-pink edges), and their take-over of the formal dance at Capulet's house.

As for the plot, yes, it's supposedly well-known. Yes, it's a tragedy of blood vendetta and banishment; of forbidden love and midnight marriage; of death by sword, dagger, and poison; of servants and a priest whose loyalties are not reliable to those they serve.

But this production is the first to make clear the tragedy of the marriage between the inconstant Romeo with the ditsy [see ditsy footnote] Juliet:

And what of other highlights? Best are:

The Juliet Defense: Use of the word "Ditsy" is protested

by Chloé Trois, i.e. Chloé-Eloise.

"However I would not call Juliet ditsy. She is 13, even a wise 13, but still only 13. Fresh, open to the world's delights, her eagerness not yet tainted by cynicism; but naive, not able to tell the difference between playing house with her girlfriends (or reading teen romances) and a real marriage to a man, with all the weight [no Shakespearean pun intended? j.z.] it carries."
(8.15.2008)

(8.14.2008) (8.13.2008) (8.12.2008) (8.11.2008) (8.10.2008)

Wow! Heard Itamar Moses (author of Bach at Leipzig ) at Capitola Bookcafé.

Some quotations from Moses:

(8.09.2008)

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Anatomy for Yoga with Paul Grilley.

This is the most useful DVD you will ever see on Yoga: it shows you how different our bodies are, and why some people MUST be allowed the freedom to adapt poses to avoid injury to the unadaptable bone-meets-bone part of the anatomy.

(8.04.2008)

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{ July : julio (see also books on learning Spanish) 2008 }

(7.31.2008)

Burn This is the fiercest play in Shakespeare Santa Cruz's 2008 season. It is powerful and difficult, and it strongly resonates and reverberates days afterward.

This is an important play to see for its treatment of passion and love, loyalty and betrayal. But more especially it is important for its treatment of anger. All too often in drama, anger is simply an inflammatory tool that powers the plot. And anger is indeed one of the cylinders that Burn This runs on.

But more importantly, Burn This concerns the recognition, the acknowledgment, the acceptance, the living through, of anger. And the one person that does this, that can do this, that is the heart, the Heart, of the play, is Anna, the only woman in this four-character play.

In preview, the strongest of the four actors were

Yvonne Woods (Anna) was weaker, particularly in the first third, where the play has distressingly more narration rather than action; it will be important for her to enters the role more fully, so that she inhabits (instead of "acts") the central role of Anna. David Arrow (Burton) seemed comparatively weak and rather artificial; I don't think it's just that his character is unlikable, though I have a copy of the play script on order so I'll be very curious to see how the parts read on the page.

As with Bach at Leipzig, it's important not only to see Burn This, but to try to see it a second time, to appreciate more of its depth, complexity, and wisdom. (7.30.2008)

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Having heard great things about this play and loving Bach, blogger Jean Vengua and I were delighted to see it tonight. The first half of SSC's Bach at Leipzig is witty and amusing. But after the intermission, the play opens into incandescence!

The story shows seven musicians competing in Leipzig for a prestigious job and intriguing in various combinations to defeat the others.

Both we and the audience around us laughed, chuckled, giggled, and guffawed for almost the entire play. The wit is in the words and in the body language of the actors, particularly the lithe and graceful Drew Foster (Steindorff), the nimble-fingered Allen Gilmore (Lenck), and "first voice" Stephen Caffrey (Fasch).

Don't be alarmed by reports that this play is written to echo the form of a musical fugue. You don't need to know anything about music to see and delight in this play. Moses does not presume that his audience has musical experience: he structured his play as a fugue, with each actor being one of the intertwining voices of a fugue. Some distance into the play, Moses has one of his actors (appropriately, the first one to speak) describe how a fugue is organized, with the actors pantomiming a recapitulation (as a fugue does) what has occurred already.

Particular delights include:

As Marco Barricelli says : "Itamar Moses will be one of the great forces of theatre in the next decade". (7.24.2008)

(7.23.2008)
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Shakespeare Santa Cruz's 27th season is officially from July 16 - August 31. Today's preview conversation gave a unique early view from executive artistic director Marco Barricelli and actors for:

These preview conversations are insightful and illuminating introductions to each of the 2008 plays:

Index of 2008 season of Shakespeare Santa Cruz (7.20.2008)

(7.19.2008) (7.18.2008)

Shakespeare Santa Cruz's 27th season is officially from July 16 - August 31. Today's preview conversation gave a unique early view from executive artistic director Marco Barricelli and actors for:

This sounds like an exciting staging of a brilliant play. Marco Barricelli says "Itamar Moses will be one of the great forces of theatre in the next decade". Audience members who had seen one of the previews were enthusiastic about the great quality of the drama, the acting, the costumes and scenery, and the integration of music with action.

Highlights from the four actors who talked with us include:

These preview conversations are insightful and illuminating introductions to each of the 2008 plays:

Index of 2008 season of Shakespeare Santa Cruz (7.17.2008)

(7.16.2008) (7.15.2008) (7.14.2008) (7.13.2008)

Shakespeare Santa Cruz's 27th season is officially from July 16 - August 31. The preview talks give a unique early view of the vision of artistic director Marco Barricelli for the season and of the directors and actors he has brought in:

This is going to be a great season, judging from the passion and clarity of SSC Artistic Director Marco Barricelli, some of whose comments were:

Highlights of comments by New York-based director Michael Barakiva (for Burn This):

Index of 2008 season of Shakespeare Santa Cruz (7.12.2008)

(7.11.2008)

Shakespeare Santa Cruz's 27th season is officially from July 16 - August 31. But actually it starts today, with the first of several preview talks:

July 11: Preview of Romeo and Juliet (Noon at the Nick)

These preview talks are insightful and illuminating introductions to each of the 2008 plays:

Today's preview talk the SSC production of Romeo and Juliet makes both the play and the upcoming season sound terrific -- full of creativity, energy, talent, and passion.

The new SSC Artistic Director, Marco Barricelli, seems very grounded and more open than his predecessor, the talented Paul Whitworth. Particularly Barricelli talked frankly about the challenges of putting together a season and his selection of four plays. He expressed his need that for his first season, his directors of the plays in the open-air forested Glen (Romeo and Juliet and All's Well That Ends Well) who had directed previously in that "unique" space.

Then, Romeo and two companions sat on the left of the stage, talking to us about their (in this production) central-European gypsy status and relationships. There will be a lot of gypsy music in the show!

And Juliet on the right of the stage talked about the aristocratic nature of her family and relationships.

They production is "in tech" now, having moved out of the rehearsal space into the Glen.

Check the Shakespeare Santa Cruz site for the schedule of the plays themselves and of additional preview talks:

Index of 2008 season of Shakespeare Santa Cruz (7.10.2008)

(7.9.2008) (7.8.2008) (7.7.2008) (7.6.2008) (7.5.2008) (7.4.2008) (7.3.2008) (7.2.2008) (7.1.2008)