The Reviews are In...
From the Chicago Reader:
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM You'd think that having three different directors would make for confusion beyond what Shakespeare had in mind: Sabrina Lloyd stages the court scenes, Don Johnson directs the fairies, and Devin Brain rules over the rude mechanicals. But GroundUp Theatre's choice of a Mardi Gras theme and New Orleans setting creates a giddy milieu that easily encompasses accents from Elvis to Yosemite Sam, fashions from goth to Tammy Faye, and characterizations from a nerdy teenage Bottom to a cheerful voodoo-mambo Puck. Ninety minutes long, this outdoor production touring Chicago parks throughout the summer more than makes up for its lack of polish with its invention and exuberance, particularly during the rough-and-tumble horseplay on the grass before friends and lovers are peacefully reunited. --Mary Shen Barnidge
Excellent...
The Time of the Season for Contests...
Yesterday I was running late for work, which naturally meant that I hit every red light I possibly could on my way there. For some reason, it made me think of Alanis Morrisette's song "Ironic" and how the true irony of that song is that it demonstrates with great clarity that Alanis has (or had) no real concept of what irony is. Because not a single thing listed in that song qualifies as irony.
Irony, strictly speaking occurs when someone says the opposite of what they mean. Situational irony is possible, too (although it's usually literary); it happens when actions have the opposite effect of what they should reasonably have. To take an example from the song, rain on your wedding day isn't ironic because there's no reason for anyone to believe weather patterns will change, just because it is their wedding day. That isn't irony, it's just an unfortunate coincidence. However, if a person took great pains to make sure they had their wedding in the Gobi desert in the middle of a drought, inconveniencing everyone in their party to ensure the perfect weather for their wedding, then rain would be ironic.
The real problem with Alanis's song is that, although every line in it has the potential for irony, each is missing a key situational factor to make it truly ironic. Thus, I pose a contest. Take a line from "Ironic" and come up with the circumstances under which it would become true irony. Correct Alanis's omission and e-mail your situation to mlrossi80@hotmail.com. I'll post the best of them here in, say, three weeks.
Nah...make it two.
Fuck it. Just send them to me and I'll post them for as long as they come in.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Both excellent. Both disqualified because you didn't e-mail them to the contest address.
How ironic.
Or not.
While I agree with you that Alanis does not have a clear grasp on the concept of irony, I also have to point out that she is not making a statement, but merely asking a question. Isn't it ironic? The answer is no, but she isn't exactly wrong simply for asking the question.
Post a Comment