19th July 2012 Who Did It?

The shortest college test paper ... Only a woman could think of this!

 

A college class was told they had to write a short story in the fewest words possible (fewer words, higher grades), which should include 3 specific elements:

1. Religion

2. Sexuality

3. Mystery

 

Below was the only A+ short story from one female student from the entire class:

Good God, I'm pregnant! I wonder who did it?

Tags: who?

Prev: 19th July 2012 Sound Of Silence

19th July 2012 Sound Of Silence

'Lliure', the oldest, biggest & the most elegant theatre in Barcelona put on a new play some time back, which had been presented in 20 countries, apparently getting thundering applause & standing ovation, as well as a lot of controversy in all of them. It's called 'Long Life'. It was staged in other major Spanish cities after Barcelona.

Even though I am a theatre buff, the reason I mention this one & not the dozens of others is that it's probably the most unusual play done with the totally innovated style ever seen before in the history of theatre productions. The story is anything but fascinating to most people I guess, unless they are die hard fans of theatre plays like me. It's about 5 retired old people sharing the same abode (or in a home for the old, I am not sure) & their daily lives. Sounds dead boring to most I dare say.

It's such a new way of presenting the show that interests me, as it's a serious drama without words, from beginning to end of the 2 hour duration. The 5 actors are all young, 4 men & a woman. They wore no make-up at all to portray the characters of advanced age. The description of the stage decors is minimal, & stark, with one dangling light bulb from the ceiling. All emotion & the development of the story depended entirely on the acting.

Some might think it's not so strange, as miming has long been an established performing art. But, miming is based on the artist's exaggerated movements to tell the story with a stony face void of emotions. This play does the exact opposite. The actors act with their facial expressions, emotions, feelings & body movements, as in real life, giving no clue to the audience what they are illustrating.

I am the kind of fan that values good acting more than the story. Or the lavish stage set, the special effects, nor the big name stars. These actors were not even made up as old folks to help them get into character, so they had to FEEL old; they couldn't change their voice to let others know they ARE old, & they must TALK to one another to convey the daily life they led & conflicts they encountered in the story!

The play was so successful & well received (seems like I am not the only nut-case) that the theatre company had started right after rehearsing a sequel called 'The sound of silence'. 

 

Most intriguing.

Tags: silencedrama

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