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At the 2008
Review by Martin Denton, www.nytheatre.com 080908 Meanwhile, beneath and hovering all around the garden-variety questions posed by the circumstance are fragments of enigmas that, for me, are the most exciting and interesting aspects of this supposed Lecture. When we enter the theatre, the stage is set for a recital by a string quintet: there are chairs and music stands arranged in a semi-circle, and the promise of a "Lecture, with Cello" projected on a screen behind them. But when our protagonist makes his entrance—apparently as surprised as we that five musicians haven't materialized—he compensates for their absence in startling ways. He drags out a boom box and presses its play button; he sets up oversized placards, each displaying a painting of a specific string instrument; he brings forth sheets of music. I thought: are these representations of music, both analog and digital, ultimately different from the music itself? Throughout the professor's monologue, Moulthrop revisits this fundamental question. What is art? Does it lie in its physical manifestations, or in someone's brain; and if the latter, whose brain—the creator's or the observer's? One of the most fascinating sections of Lecture, with Cello is a deconstruction (quite literally) of the cello. I thought: what a marvel, that someone was able to figure out how to put together all these pieces of wood, glue, string, resin, and hair in just this precise way, so that glorious music could emanate from them. Another highlight for me was the consideration of music, like light, as both particle and wave—the sound's physical form obviously being the latter, but its representation on paper, as musical notes, being the former. Moulthrop's piece is thus a remarkable feast for the intellect, brimming with ideas that help us look at what we take for granted in art in new and compelling ways. So I was somewhat disappointed that the character of the professor proves not to be so interestingly resolved here. But, under Kent Paul's expert direction, Timothy Babcock makes this man consistently engaging and empathetic, even as the hints of his madness are peeled away. (Babcock's work in this solo performance is astonishingly good.) The press release for Lecture, with Cello describes the play as an "exploration of the conjunction of madness, violence, and art." Maybe it's just me, but I mostly stayed focused on the subject of art on its own, and reveled in the piece's rich meditations on where it is to be found. Robert Moulthrop (Playwright) won a Fringe Outstanding Playwriting Award in 2005 for Half Life; and solo actress Margaret Daly won a Fringe Outstanding Performer Award in 2006 for her work in T. L. C. Kent
Paul (Director) helped launch Contemporary
Stage Company in
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