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Plays One
Roland Schimmelpfennig is the most performed contemporary German playwright. This collection demonstrates the breadth and formal innovation of his writing.
The Animal Kingdom depicts the unremitting battle for human survival in a merciless environment: the theatre.
Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God has been likened to a post-colonial Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Here two doctors who have returned from Africa reveal the true cost of their failure to combat a terrible and frightening disease.
Idomeneus is a narrative play written for a large chorus which re-tells the classical Idomeneus myth in contemporary terms; a fractured, mythic tidal wave, brought to life with astounding theatricality by an ensemble of storytellers.
A small narrative piece, The Four Points of the Compass is an urban fable of crossed destinies and uncanny coincidences and a compelling contemporary tale of lust for life and the fragility of existence.
The Animal Kingdom depicts the unremitting battle for human survival in a merciless environment: the theatre.
Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God has been likened to a post-colonial Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Here two doctors who have returned from Africa reveal the true cost of their failure to combat a terrible and frightening disease.
Idomeneus is a narrative play written for a large chorus which re-tells the classical Idomeneus myth in contemporary terms; a fractured, mythic tidal wave, brought to life with astounding theatricality by an ensemble of storytellers.
A small narrative piece, The Four Points of the Compass is an urban fable of crossed destinies and uncanny coincidences and a compelling contemporary tale of lust for life and the fragility of existence.
- GenresPlays
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 8, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 18, 2024
3.5, rounded up.
1. Animal Kingdom: 3 stars. Concerns a troupe of actors who have been enacting the same play about animals for six years in repertory, but word has gotten out that a new play, in which the actors will perform as common food items is about to be mounted - chaos ensues, with the actor playing the zebra escaping to NY instead to film a perfume ad (which was first proposed in the playwright's previous work, Push-Up).
2. Idomeneus: 3 stars. Using the same Greek myth that Wagner used for his opera, the playwright constructs a new 21st century Greek drama - but to what end? Not quite sure the point.
3: Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God: 4.5 stars. Likened to Albee's V. Woolf, this concerns a couple of doctor-missionaries returning back to their homeland after 6 years of fighting infectious disease in Africa, and confronting their more complacent colleagues who remained behind.
4. Four Points of the Compass: 3.5, rounded up. Four characters, each representing a direction on the compass, intersect in each other's lives in unusual ways, demonstrating the fragility of life.
1. Animal Kingdom: 3 stars. Concerns a troupe of actors who have been enacting the same play about animals for six years in repertory, but word has gotten out that a new play, in which the actors will perform as common food items is about to be mounted - chaos ensues, with the actor playing the zebra escaping to NY instead to film a perfume ad (which was first proposed in the playwright's previous work, Push-Up).
2. Idomeneus: 3 stars. Using the same Greek myth that Wagner used for his opera, the playwright constructs a new 21st century Greek drama - but to what end? Not quite sure the point.
3: Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God: 4.5 stars. Likened to Albee's V. Woolf, this concerns a couple of doctor-missionaries returning back to their homeland after 6 years of fighting infectious disease in Africa, and confronting their more complacent colleagues who remained behind.
4. Four Points of the Compass: 3.5, rounded up. Four characters, each representing a direction on the compass, intersect in each other's lives in unusual ways, demonstrating the fragility of life.
January 22, 2019
The Animal Kingdom - 3.5 stars
Idomeneus - 4 stars
Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God - 4 stars
The Four Points of the Compass - 3 stars
Idomeneus - 4 stars
Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God - 4 stars
The Four Points of the Compass - 3 stars
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews