counterpart
“Night”
forces
us to contemplate what we
normally
try
and
shuffle
into the periphery. The stage
is dark except for a long,
rectangular table where four
men sit. One recalls the time
when his squad, during a war,
invaded a home and killed
an entire family until “no
life remained in the house
— a ‘family unit’ had been
eliminated.” Another talks of
killing two rapists in a tunnel
and seeing the life leave their
eyes. Dialogues like these
made me want to clap my
hands over my ears and shut
myself out from the world.
No one wants to hear these
things. No one wants to relive
how terrible the world can be
every single day. But topics
like these are discussed so
frequently in Mee’s work that
they become normalized.
Mee’s constant portrayal
of
death
and
destruction
raises an important question:
Is
modern
human
society
actually civilized? If making
a comparison to prior foraging
societies, for example, most
would say yes. We now have
agriculture:
a
means
to
produce our own food instead
of obtain it elsewhere. We have
technology and science, but
with our capacity to kill and
hate, how are we any different
from
those
we
consider
“uncivilized?”
Our
human
nature is the same at its roots;
we are still capable of war, and
we still have insecurities. We
now have complex societies
linking us together, but very
little has changed.
During
“Night,”
an
“uncivilized” man caked in
charcoal and blood moves
in slow motion about the
stage, contorting in different
positions among the feet of the
“civilized” dressed in suits.
While the civilized feast and
clatter their spoons and forks,
the “uncivilized” man doesn’t
join, but instead remains at
their feet like a servant. He
tries to confront a “civilized”
man, approaching him slowly
and purposefully, but ends up
falling into his arms instead in
surrender: The “uncivilized”
is no match for our modern
world.
In Mee’s world, however,
civilization
and
societal
structure is the true enemy.
The less coherent the world
is, the better. “Night and Day”
is purposefully jumbled up
because there is security in
expression that ignores the
constraints
and
stigma
of
the world we like to consider
“civilized.”
Sometimes
the
world makes the most sense
when there’s nothing holding
us back.
“Night
and
Day”
will
continue to run Oct. 11-14 at
the Arthur Miller Theater.
“Night and Day” is not
your typical play. There is no
damsel in distress, no heroic
prince to come to the rescue
and no sorcerer casting spells.
It is not exactly a tragedy or
a comedy. There is no naïve
Juliet blinded in search of love
and no handsome Romeo, bold
and daring. “Night and Day”
makes you uncomfortable, not
content. The result is what you
have left after peeling away
the browning outer layers of
an onion: raw flesh and rich
substance.
Charles
Mee,
the
revolutionary playwright of
“Night and
Day,”
declares
that:
“There
is
no
such
thing as an original play.”
This production is a part of
Mee’s
“(re)making
project”
which focuses on weaving
together multiple plays while
maintaining
originality
in
abstract
interpretations
of
them. “Night and Day” is a
joint
collaboration
by
the
School
of
Music,
Theatre
&
Dance’s
Department
of
Theatre and Drama and the
National Academy of Theater
Arts in Krakow, Poland, and
is directed by Malcolm Tulip
and Dominika Knapik.
“Night and Day” is messy
and disjointed. There are no
firmly developed characters.
Instead, ensemble members
assume different roles for
each
scene.
Most
of
the
interpretation is up to the
audience.
The play opens with a
woman dreamily proclaiming
that Mee’s version of “Day,”
based
on
“Daphnis
and
Chloe” by Greek romanticist
Longus, and “Night,” based on
“Thyestes” by Roman tragic
playwright Seneca, is version
“2.0.” It’s new and improved,
so to speak. It’s evident why:
The entire production follows
the plot of these ancient works
only slightly.
Minutes
into
“Day,”
viewers
are
confronted
with confessions from the
ensemble concerning intimate
portrayals of their sex lives
and
miscarriages,
among
other topics. One member
talks
for
a
full
minute
about his experience with
a prostitute, including the
exact amount he paid her
and for what services. An
uncomfortable silence follows
each of these monologues.
Awkward laughter fills the
air with uncertainty. Mee has
mastered the art of pushing
uncomfortable topics to the
forefront, making us question
why we stigmatize them to
begin with.
Similar segments in the
When you stand too close to
the subway platform and feel the
wind from the train breathe across
your body, there is a moment
where time pauses. Your stomach
drops, your eyes widen and
your heart skips a beat. In a split
second, the rush is gone, the wave
of heat you felt creep through you
moments before subsides, but
your heart keeps pounding, alert
and on edge. This same surge
of adrenaline is exactly what “A
Star is Born” gifts its audience,
an unexpected drop into a
mesmerizing world of music and
intimacy. Lady Gaga and Bradley
Cooper’s collaboration is nothing
short of wondrous, inexplicably
captivating with every note sung
and every gaze shared. Though a
remake of a classic tale, Cooper’s
film gracefully forges its own
path and leaves us all stunned
into a state of awe with its heart-
swelling chemistry, entrancing
lyrics and a sense of electricity
and vibrancy.
Working in a restaurant by day
and moonlighting as a supporting
act singer in a local drag club,
aspiring artist Ally (Lady Gaga,
“American Horror Story”) is a far
cry from living in the spotlight.
Though independent, spirited
and
tremendously
talented,
Ally clearly grapples with her
unconventional beauty, which
has played its part in blocking her
from breaking into the industry
thus far. Her luck changes,
however, when one fateful night,
steady, down-to-earth celebrity
musician Jackson “Jack” Maine
(Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings
Playbook”)
coincidentally
staggers drunk into the drag bar
where Ally is performing. The
connection between the two is
almost otherworldly, intense, yet
pure. Mesmerized by Ally’s voice,
Jack invites her out for a drink
and, by the end of the night, asks
her to accompany him to his show
the next night. Ally’s life is turned
upside down, as she is thrown
into the limelight at Jack’s side
and subsequently rocketed by her
talent into a spotlight of her own.
First
things
first,
let
us
acknowledge
that
Gaga
and
Cooper are nothing short of
sensational in this film. From
the start, they delude us into
thinking that what we are about
to witness will be one musician’s
rise to fame and another’s fall
from it. But the real magic of “A
Star is Born” is its tangibility.
Gaga and Cooper personify Ally
and Jack so deeply that we swear
we could reach across the screen
and touch them. The connection
they share is between them and
them alone, and though their
relationship is challenged by
Jack’s struggles with alcohol,
they remain somehow untainted
by the elements of lust, money
and
fakeness
that
surround
them. Their love is not one
manufactured for an audience,
which is exactly why we can’t
take our eyes off of the screen.
Aside from making all of our
hearts bleed in longing for a love
like theirs, Cooper and Gaga’s
musical chops, both solo and in
tandem, craft a soundtrack of gold.
As a six-time Grammy winner,
Gaga isn’t exactly a novice in the
singing department. However,
this makes her performance as
Ally no less powerful. Unlike
popular pieces from Gaga’s body
of work, when she performs live
as Ally up on stage, we get a taste
of her voice without an ensemble
of
synthesizers
and
other
instruments. And it is staggering.
Her passion behind every lyric
she sings and every melodic note
she hits echoes in our ears long
after the screen goes black. Now,
of course, we can’t forget about
Cooper, who kicks of the film
with a foot-thumping number
that sends chills of excitement
down
our
spines.
Cooper’s
throaty, country-rock style is
harmonized
alongside
Gaga’s
belting vocals and somehow it
just works. Leaving the theater
(after wiping away hysterical
tears), we can’t refrain from
immediately downloading every
track on Spotify, prepared to
put Gaga and Cooper’s blissful
melodies on repeat.
Evidence of Cooper’s brilliance
as a director is the fact that never
once do we look on screen and
see Bradley Cooper, dazzling
and uber-famous actor, and Lady
Gaga, eccentric and fearless pop
superstar. We see only Jack and
Ally. Just as their characters’
love miraculously shadows them
from the toxic culture of fame
that surrounds them, Cooper
and Gaga morph so convincingly
into their roles that we forget
any knowledge of their celebrity
outside of the film, unable to see
them as anything but two people
hopelessly in love. One thing
is for certain: What Gaga and
Cooper have given us all with
“A Star is Born” is timeless. We
can’t shake the fantasy of a love
so raw and real, just as we can’t
erase the film’s haunting, yet
stunning lyrics from our minds.
Surging with emotional energy,
the deepest of sorrow and the
greatest of love, “A Star is Born”
is a soul-shaking epic that is, quite
simply, unmissable.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 — 5A
“A Star is Born”
Warner Bros.
State Theater
Cooper and Gaga shine in
luminous ‘A Star is Born’
SAMANTHA NELSON
Daily Arts Writer
FILM REVIEW
WARNER BROS.
This
production is
a part of Mee’s
“(re)making
project” which
focuses on
weaving together
multiple plays
NETFLIX
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
‘Night and Day’ is uncomfortably thought provoking
TRINA PAL
Daily Arts Writer
A few weeks ago news broke
that the beloved animated series
“Avatar: The Last Airbender”
was to live on as a live-action
reimagining,
courtesy
of
Netflix. Fans who began having
horrible flashbacks to the last
time “Avatar” went live action
were given reason to hope with
the additional news that this
time around the remake will be
spearheaded by original creators
Brian Konietzko and Michael
Dante DiMartino. The cast won’t
be whitewashed and will feature
actors whose skin tone and
nationality will properly reflect
the roles they will be playing.
This is all very exciting. But, as
I’ve written many times before
in this column, the question must
be asked: Do we really need this?
“The Last Airbender” is easily
one of the best children’s TV
series of all time and some might
go as far as to say it deserves
to be considered on the list of
the greatest scripted television
shows
period.
I
recently
re-watched the majority of the
series and it held up even better
than I remembered. Practically
everything that goes into telling
a story in the visual medium,
from character to plot to music
to visual design, was done to
absolute perfection. Spanning
only three seasons (or “books,”
as they were stylized in the
universe), the story has continued
with a spin-off TV show, “The
Legend of Korra,” as well as a
number of books and comics.
With such an expansive world
at their disposal, it seems like
the creators could have brought
the show to Netflix with a new
story instead of just a re-telling
of one we’ve already seen, but
I suppose there wouldn’t be as
much money in that.
I’m approaching this reboot
with trepidation. On one hand,
it seems impossible that it could
possibly any worse than the M.
Night Shyalaman movie “The
Last Airbender,” which is widely
regarded as one of the worst films
of the 21st century. On the other
hand, it is also hard to imagine
how this new series could ever
be better than the original. The
original show was basically
perfect on its own, so what more
could really be done with the
story and characters that wasn’t
done
before?
The
“Avatar”
storyline also worked well in
the serialized format of old-
school TV, where episodes would
release every week with long
gaps, at times, between episodes,
adding to the experience of
journeying and growing with
these characters. It’s possible the
travelogue nature of the series
will fall a bit flat if whole seasons
are released at a time, as is the
Netflix way.
All that aside, the potential is
there. The children who grew
up watching the Nickelodeon
cartoon are now in their late
teens or early 20s, and the
potential to grow the show with
the audience in a similar way to
other generational series such
as Star Trek is clearly there. The
original episodes featured their
fair share of dark content but
also shied away from the concept
of death and at times sugar
coated certain aspects of the
genocidal war that was taking
place in order for the show to be
appropriate for children. This
live-action Netflix need not place
such restrictions on itself.
The
other
big
question
hanging over the revival of
“Avatar” is the status of former
head writer Aaron Ehasz. Ehasz
was the head writer for the
entirety of the series and appears
to have been an influential part
of the writing that made the
show a cut above the rest of early
2000s children’s programming.
Strangely enough, Ehasz recently
debuted
his
own
serialized
animated series on Netflix that
was hailed by many as the next
“Avatar.” “The Dragon Prince”
came out on Netflix this past
September and quickly gained a
following, although it’s a far cry
from “Avatar.” “Prince” has been
renewed for a second season, so
whether or not that will preclude
Ehasz from working on the new
“Avatar” remains to be seen.
In this age of never-ending
stories,
“Avatar:
The
Last
Airbender”
remained
the
pinnacle of how to tell a story
correctly. The three books of
Water, Earth and Fire were a very
clear beginning, middle and end.
There was at most one important
remaining question at the end of
the series and all character arcs
were fulfilled in an extremely
satisfying way. With the brand
recognition and sheer popularity
of the franchise, it was unlikely it
was going to be gone forever, but a
live-action reboot of the original
story might not necessarily be
what fans were hoping for. Only
time will tell if this new version
of Aang’s story will be worth the
trouble.
The Avatar returns
DAILY ENTERTAINMENT COLUMN
IAN
HARRIS
“Night and
Day”
SMTD
Thurs. Oct. 4 - Sat.
Oct. 6 @ 8p.m.
Sun. Oct. 7 @ 2
p.m.
Thurs. Oct. 11 - Sat.
Oct. 13 @ 8 p.m.
Sun. Oct. 14 @ 2
p.m.
Arthur Miller
Theater
$30 GA, $12
Student