Siege - Day 128

Oh, this is lovely... Judi Dench laying down the law on acting:

In Passing

Sad news in today's newspaper: actor Nye Cooper has died.

Those of you outside of the DFW area won't recognize his name, but for me and many around here this is the actor who perfectly embodied Crumpet, the cynical department store elf in the Santaland Diaries.

I got to design that show one year for WaterTower Theater, setting it in the store's stock room / break room... cluttered with odd chairs, wonky tables, a time-card machine, boxes, empty clothing racks, and dilapidated Christmas decorations.  Nye sat on a giant fake Gingerbreadman instead of on the more usual Santa throne.

And was he funny!

Perfectly cynical, so funny, and somehow touching.

Ever since then, when I watch someone else in the role, I compare them to Nye Cooper.  When I read the original David Sedaris story I hear his voice.

We hardly met - a quick "Hi!" in a hall once I think - but still there Nye Cooper is, a fixture in my mental library of great characters.  Just as another actress, Kristina Baker, is in my head: the measure for Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd.   Even Patti Lupone I compared with her.  (Patti?  Pretty darn good.  Helena sweety? I'm sorry.)  Kristina has also died, but I remember her Mrs. Lovett.

Acting is ephemeral stuff - gone as soon as seen - yet strangely longer-lived than the actors.

Another Not-A-Review

Dividing the Estate at the Dallas Theater Center.  I'm beginning to be glad that I'll never invite Horton Foote to a family picnic - no telling what he'd notice.  What a very observant and quietly, wickedly, funny play Dividing the Estate is.  This cast does well by these characters.  Two I particularly enjoyed: the actress who played the sister who wants the money now! and Mathew Gray's only-sane-man-in-the-room.

Of course, it's the set I come to see.  (Kiddin', kiddin'.)  This one, designed by John Arnone, is straightforward.  A row of tall, classical columns, echoed by matching pilasters further upstage with doors and windows between them on the transparent wall, mark a raised entry hall.  Downstage, in thrust, is a dining room platform with a long table and chandelier, thrust still further downstage is the living room.  Upstage of the hall we see a small curved entry court, dangling leaves of weeping willows, and a sky cyc.  Simple, nicely done.

Now, I'm picky, but this is a Tony winning Broadway designer, visiting at SMU, so his design will stand up to a picky question.  Why deliberately flatten the columns?  Detailing made it clear this was a design choice.  Why not make the capitals 3D, since, of course, they were 3D.  Before the show I guessed some metaphor about characters presenting "facades"... but that didn't make sense watching the play.  To point out the artificiality of this as a "set" not a real place?  Puzzling.  Likewise unrealistically-wide painted floor boards - also to underline set-ishness?  I didn't like the spindle-baluster railings each side of the set, but that's a pet peeve of mine.  Hate 'em in real life.  Too widely spaced on-stage versions drive me completely nuts - I'd rather have no railings.

I found a link to Mr. Arnone's webpage.  I found his The Goat set especially interesting, as I've designed that show myself.  I hope I (and my fellow local designers) get a chance to meet this accomplished set designer now that he's in town.