The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 5A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 5A Funny, dark 'Box' Basement Arts to bring light humor to serious themes By NICOLE SAVITSKY For the Daily The span of a day can be gone before its noticed, yet each 24 hours presents almost unlimit- ed opportunity. "The Shadow The Shadow Box" takes Bo this theme Bx and runs with Thursdayat it, present- 7p.m. and 11 log a narrative p.m. and Friday complete with at 7 p.m. death, laughter and everything Walgreen in between - Drama Center all contained Free within a single day's time. Basement Arts, a student-run theater organization that has presented free theater for over 20 years to both the University and Ann Arbor, is presenting the show at the Walgreen Drama Center this Thursday and Fri- day. This Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, written by Michael Cristofer in 1977, takes place in separate cabins on the grounds of a large hospital. Three cancer patients - Joe, Brian and Felicity - are living with their respective families as they reach the end of their treatment and participate in interviews with a psychiatrist. The Interviewer enhances their dialogues, flowing seamlessly between the serious and often humorous moments that sur- round the idea of mortality. MT&D junior Derek Joseph Tran makes his directorial debut with "The Shadow Box," which he hopes will accurately portray the struggle of coping with death. "The play revolves around hope," Tran said. "Each patient progresses through five stages (of grief): denial, anger, bargain- ing, depression and acceptance. While they are all staggered in their stages, they share the com- mon ground of hope." The play focuses on those hard, emotional conversations that evoke the reality of its topic. As the day ends, no moral dilem- mas have been solved, no one has died, and no one is going to live forever. This triptych, or three asso- ssc "We do not know this Robert Downey Jr. or this Jude Law you speak of" 'Sherlock' reinvents classic tales flawlessly By PROMA KHOSLA DailyArts Writer John, a soldier, "Afghanistan or Iraq?" The explanation of what inferences led him to this question "The Shadow Box" tells the stories of three patients battling cancer ciated works intended to be appreciated together, presents reality, selecting three radically different people who all share the same future, whether they are terminal or not. Tran highlighted the charac- ter of Felicity, one of the big per- sonalities of story.' "She is seen as hateful because she is in the anger stage. But you feel pity and sympa- thize, because even though she is constantly spewing venom, you somehow find the positive," he said. Celebrated by critics for its intuition, shrewdness and humor in dealing with a con- troversial subject matter, Tran stressed the importance of the comedy of tragedy, hoping oth- ers will agree that it is human nature to use laughter as a cop- ing mechanism across awkward situations. Tran also stressed the use of realism in this version of the play. "The set and costume design remain simple, so as not to dis- tract from the experimental act- ing involved," Tran said. "Time isn't relevant. Despite technological advances, the psychological feeling of death approaching will always be the same," he said. As an actor and an author, Cristofer adapted the play for a TV movie in 1980, directed by Paul Newman, which went on to garner three Emmy nomina- tions and a win a Golden Globe. According to Tran, even those lucky enough to be unpracticed in the loss of a loved one can relate to this story: Regardless of the circumstances, the differ- ence between being sympathetic and empathetic is palpable, and it is found on the stage. Death is the one common concern we all live with, the one certainty in an uncertain world. "The Shadow Box" aims to drive this point home, inciting audi- ences to at least confront those difficult situations with a few laughs. If there's one thing Hollywood - everything from tan lines on his is obsessed with, it's reimagining wrists to how he stands - is cop- what has been done before. Why ied almost verbatim from Doyle's else would we have two "Spider- prose: Man" franchises in six years, Though there is no intention multiple fairy-tale retellings and of stepping on the toes of Guy reboots of classics like "Planet of Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" the Apes"? The reason producers films, the comparison is inevi- can't just leave established works table. And "Sherlock" has one alone is because they're still try- crucial element that gives it the ing to figure out how best to rein- edge: It actually puts the view- terpret classic stories. This brings er in Sherlock Holmes's mind. us to the BBC's "Sherlock," the Ritchie's films usually do this best show you're not watching. when Robert Downey Jr. is calcu- A modern retelling of Sir lating his punches, but Sherlock's Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved mind is so much more complex canon, "Sherlock" puts the titu- than that. He specializes in logic lar consulting detective (Benedict and inference, thinking at speeds Cumberbatch, "Tinker Tailor Sol- that would make most of our dier Spy") in present-day London. heads spin - and indeed, they do. It sounds simple enough, but the At the top of many scenes, cam- execution is pure genius. erawork is done from Sherlock's Creators Mark Gatiss and Ste- point of view, pointing out stains ven Moffat (who helped revive on clothes or other clues the cult favorite "Doctor Who" for rest of us just aren't perceptive the 21st-century) have done what enough to notice. Other times, so many couldn't, capturing the he fills us in with an impressively essence of these stories in a mod- rapid monologue explaining the ern setting. It's beyond just hav- deductions he made while every- ing Sherlock and Dr. John Watson one else was busy doing trivial (Martin Freeman, "The Hitchhik- things like having social skills. er's Guide to the Galaxy") traipse On such occasions, Cumber- about wearing jeans. Sherlock fre- batch's delivery is nothing short quently texts his friends and ene- of mesmerizing. mies, or he quickly looks up a fact on the Internet. His fame rises because of hits on John's blog. In one episode, a locked camera Old methods, phone is a major plot device. The Hounds of Baskerville are geneti- new toys. cally modified experiments - or are they? Each of the six episodes - three per season - is approximately The few relationships the 90 minutes, a length worthy of reclusive Baker Street detective feature films. But they don't feel manages to maintain are so sub- like feature films. They go by as tly and skillfully developed that quickly as a standard 42-min' they feel natural from the out-. ute drama, each more suspense- set. Sherlock and John take to ful and brilliant than the last. each other instantly because of a The titles usually play on Doyle's shared thirst for adventure, and original stories, such as "A Study because John is the first person in Pink" (originally "A Study in Scarlet") or "A Scandal in Belgra- via" ("A Scandal in Bohemia"). At their first meeting, Sherlock asks to not be thoroughly repelled by the arrogance that accompanies Sherlock's unnerving brilliance. The fun part of setting the show in the current era is that people aren't embarrassed to ask if Sherlock and John are dating - or to just go ahead and assume they're a couple. After a while, John stops denying it, especial- ly when his string of relation- ships fail because all girlfriends play second fiddle to Sherlock Holmes. And of course, no version of "Sherlock Holmes" would be complete without the detective's arch-nemesis, James Moriarty (Andrew Scott, "John Adams"). Ritchie's films depict a Moriarty that is Sherlock's intellectual equal, but what they don't show is how utterly deranged he is. Scott plays Moriarty without any restraint, creating an unhinged image of chaos, much like Heath Ledger's Joker. Scott's unsettling sadism adds to the chemistry of a fantasti- cally three-dimensional cast of characters. Cumberbatch and Freeman play Sherlock and John so naturally that they feel like friends from the "moment they meet. Gatiss doubles as Mycroft Holmes, coldly indifferent but also grappling with how to take care of his little brother. When Lana Pulver ("True Blood") shows up as Irene Adler in sea- son two, the sexual tension between her and Sherlock is so palpable that it practically jumps out of the screen. Allow me to take a leaf out of the Reichenbach hero's book and speak to you in simple facts: Sherlock is the bestshow ontele- vision. It's perfectly cast, expert- ly written, stunningly acted and just a pleasure to watch. If only all shows could be on this level. Then again, if it were ordinary, it wouldn't be "Sherlock," would DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SO FINE? WRITE FOR DAILY ARTS' FINE ARTS BEAT. THEATER NOT YOUR CUP OF TEA? 0 YOU CAN STILL REPORT FOR DAILY ARTS. JOIN OUR COMMUNITY * CULTURE BEAT. 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