THOUGHT-PROVOKING THEATER
We were at the first preview performance of Asolo Rep’s production of Disgraced and it was excellent! Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize winning play is simultaneously hard-hitting and nuanced about issues of race and religion. Amir, a young lawyer on the track to partner, has hidden and, to a great extent, set aside his Pakistani and Muslim roots. His wife, Emily, is a white artist; one of his law colleagues a black woman; and her husband, Isaac, the art curator promoting Emily’s work, is Jewish. Add to this mix Amir’s Muslim nephew who arrives with first one request for legal help and then later a second one. How this initial request impacts Amir and Emily’s marriage and then leads to an explosive dinner with Isaac and his wife is the stuff of uncomfortable theater, but uncomfortable in a good way because it makes you squirm and ponder your own reactions and behavior. If you have the chance to see this play, do!
ON THE SMALL SCREEN
I’m currently in love with a very finely drawn Australian drama series set in a small town near Sydney in 1953. Entitled, A Place to Call Home, the lead, Sarah Adams, is a widowed nurse new to town whose interactions with the townspeople and the ruling Bligh family are cause for consternation. Sarah is Jewish and has not shared her past nor her activities during WWII. Elizabeth Bligh, the matriarch, is determined to run Sarah out of town despite her son George’s involvement with her. Add in matters of social class (as in who is a suitable mate for Elizabeth’s granddaughter, Anna), homosexuality (best kept secret and viewed by most as a condition that can be corrected), and lingering resentments from the war, and you have all the elements of a family saga in a time of change. As a bonus, the accompanying score features popular songs of the period.
The series is available from Acorn which means it isn’t free, but definitely worth either purchasing a season at a time or subscribing to all of Acorn’s appealing offerings. And, no, I’m not on Acorn’s payroll!
SHORT FICTION
I am not a big fan of short stories (probably should be), but do occasionally nudge myself to read them. Most recently, I’ve been dipping into Elizabeth Tallent’s latest collection, Mendocino Fire. Tallent is a professor of creative writing at Stanford and this is her first collection in 20 years, which is perhaps why her name was not familiar to me.
Her stories are peopled with individuals who are vulnerable and occasionally broken involved in relationships that sag and sometimes unravel. Here’s 48-year old David in “Tabriz” reflecting while in conversation with his third wife: “In his work, he’s a good listener. More than that he solicits the truth, asks the unasked, waits out the heartsick or intimidated silences every significant lawsuit must transcend. Someone has to ask what has gone wrong, and if the thing that’s gone wrong has destroyed the marrow of a five-year-old’s bones, someone has to need that truth or it will never emerge from the haze of obfuscation. Of lying. But this isn’t work. This is his wife.” These are good stories.
MANHATTAN INTERLUDE
We were in Manhattan over the weekend meeting our new granddaughter and chanced upon what turned out to be a great addition to our restaurant repertoire. Located on W. 9th Street, Omar’s combines a busy bar scene (we might have been put off by the crowd and the noise on this late Thursday night) with a pleasant, and mostly empty when we arrived, dining room. We sampled some light bites and found the hamachi tostados with avocado to be excellent, also the marinated Parmesan chunks with Marcona almonds and truffle oil, mounds of burrata with lightly dressed strands of jicama, and the octopus. Definitely a must for a return visit!
Header image: Spring in Manhattan (copyright JWFarrington)
