Who needs David Hare or Edward Albee when we've got these guys?
Yes, Bill Marx is hurtin'. The fifty-something, status-craving bane of local theatre, stung by my recent ridicule, tries to get hip with Company One (a group he's completely ignored heretofore), fire another salvo in his seemingly eternal feud with Israel Horowitz, and reply to me without ever mentioning my name, all in an amusingly transparent new post. Please don't take this as a slap at Company One - even though I've sometimes found their racial politics tiresome, I'm interested in After the Quake (and mean to see it this weekend), and have bemoaned the lack of Asian actors on local stages before (something which, again, I can't recall Marx discussing till now). Still, it's worth noting this particular theatre piece allows Marx to indulge in his favorite subliminal pastime: finding performance art secondary to literary art (most of his praise goes to novelist Haruki Murakami).
But what's funniest about Marx this time around is his sudden ageism. I think he's about fifty-five, yet suddenly he yearns for a far younger posse. Not for him the geriatric tropes of David Hare, Edward Albee and Joan Didion, who are "veterans of the lefty counterculture, 'names' to attract boomers and the older crowd." Fuck 'em - they're old (although no older than Haruki Murakami, who's a youthful 60)! Of course our local theatrical éminence grease isn't merely groping for an excuse for his recent behavior (which some have interpreted as just more bitter jabs at Horovitz), but is instead concerned about drawing in younger audiences, keeping the theatre alive, blah blah blah (via a 60-year-old Japanese guy?). Funny, then, that he's been trying to kill off this particular art form for what seems like years. But hey, I'll give Bill the benefit of the doubt - after all, like Auntie Mame, you're as young as you feel, right? So I breathlessly await his appreciation of the Jonas Brothers!
No comments:
Post a Comment