A change of pace--INVENTION OF LOVE

Posted: 11/26/03 at 7:12am

Now, for something completely different (for this board at least).

I have never been partial to Stoppard's work, maybe because it's too cerebral for me, but I was fascinated beyond my imagination by INVENTION OF LOVE on Broadway a few years back. So much so that I went twice and bought the play and read many of the classical references made by the characters as well. Go figure. It also drove me to expand by G&S collection by adding PATIENCE, which I've grown to admire very much.

Back to INVENTION. Anyone else find it fascinating?

Bulldog.

[Cadriel]

Posted: 11/26/03 at 8:42am

Stoppard's one of my favorite playwrights who I haven't gotten a chance to see in performance (though I should mention - I've read enough plays where I can seriously visualize the action without the benefit of a live performance). Invention of Love is an excellent script; can't say I prefer it to Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead or Arcadia, but I did find reading it very enjoyable. I wouldn't mind seeing it live, but Stoppard is generally woefully underproduced around here.

What captivates you so about it?

-Wayne

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/26/03 at 8:49am

I have to confess. I've never seen ANYTHING Tom Stoppord.

But I do like PATIENCE, as I love the Aesthetic Movement.

[magruder]

Posted: 11/26/03 at 8:50am

Did you see Shakespeare in Love, MasterLcZ? Stoppard co-wrote it.

Updated On: 11/26/03 at 08:50 AM

[BillFinn]

Posted: 11/26/03 at 1:35pm

When I saw a clip of "Invention of Love" at the Tony's a couple of years ago, I was interested in the story so I went out and bought the play, read it, and I'm confused. lol. The only dialogue I understood was the conversation between him and his best friend when his best friend says his girlfriend thinks he likes him.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/26/03 at 1:49pm

Thanks for the heads-up, Magruder! Thanks ...forgot about that.

Yes I did like it despite its undeserved Best Actress Oscar.

Posted: 11/26/03 at 6:28pm

ARCADIA was one of the shows that I found so terribly boring that I left at intermission.

Why I went to INVENTION I don't know but I was totally captivated by the play, the production and the performances.

No time to go into details but absolutely loved it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Yours for no turkeys on Broadway!

Posted: 11/26/03 at 7:33pm

I've always been a Stoppard fan; for those of you who have read or seen The Real Thing (as I did about six or seven years ago), the cricket bat monologue was what made me want to be a playwright.

And I love any playwright who describes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as being about "these two blokes who knew Hamlet."

I, too, saw The Invention of Love (partially because of Robert Sean Leonard, partially because it was Tom effing Stoppard) and found it to be classic Stoppard, on par with Travesties. Pretentious? Maybe, but a great deal of fun. I love Stoppard for wielding his intelligence in lieu of writing plays about Floridian beauty queens (not that THOSE ever get produced).

Posted: 11/30/03 at 10:42pm

I was particularly taken with the period (Victorian England) and the wonderful blending of life in the public education system, classic poetry, Platonic relationships, G&S and Oscar Wilde, to name a few. The performances were quite wonderful and the scenic design was stunning in its evocative simplicity.

Made me pick up Ackerley's MY FATHER AND MYSELF for the 3rd time.

Bulldog.

[Mamie4]

Posted: 12/1/03 at 12:50am

This production seemed to haunt me. Over the course of its run I must have seen it 4 times. Every time I went back to NY I found myself going back to see it again.

I believe that one of the reasons I was able to enjoy it so much was that I had done my homework before seeing it for the first time. I found a site on the web that provided biographic backgrounds of each of the characters represented in the play. It also defined the meanings behind the Greek and Latin quotations cited by many of those characters. As a result, I not only knew who those people were who were speaking but just what it was they were saying! LOL

There are two scenes that I can't get out of my head and neither involve words or any particular actor. One is the scene at the school when the different characters arrive at the beginning of the term on their bicycles. That interplay of the bicycles - weaving in and out, with the accompanying orchestration, looked and felt like ballet. (Especially when seen from the balcony.) The next was the scene when the young Housman and Pollard were watching Jackson win the race. The autumn leaves were falling and that scene, with that lovely music, is stamped forever in my head. I'd give my next paycheck to be able to actually see it again.

It was wonderful seeing a play that allowed you to actually use your head and still be thoroughly entertained!

Posted: 12/1/03 at 8:11am

Wonderfully expressed Mamie. It was a haunting production.

I also think of those scenes but the scene in the skiff and the one in music hall.

Bulldog.

[BillFinn]

Posted: 12/1/03 at 5:31pm

Could you post the link to that site?

[Mamie4]

Posted: 12/1/03 at 6:00pm

Sadly, the site is no more. It was originally placed on line for the opening of the play in London. When the play was produced in America, the same glossary and study guide were attached to the web site for the theatre doing the production. Right now I can't remember if it was Philadelphia or Chicago. In either case, it's gone now.

I did find a page which explains quite a bit of information. It's not as detailed as the original study guide, but it would definitely help. http://iupjournals.org/jml/mod24-2.html