(no subject)

[proximoception]

Two Stoppard versions of Chekhov plays are being published in January. I found his Seagull a bit disappointing--Stoppard reflexively goes for a deadpan sort of dialogue, where you're supposed to know his characters are actors. It's very good for comedy, implying everything is safe (that even apparently unsafe things are demonstrations, hence safe), a way of polishing outrageous things into acceptability. Very, very good for comedy, not so good for The Seagull, where a quiet surface is broken by expressions of frustration that further frustrate those expressing them. Another kind of dialogue of safety, maybe, but if so one safe because all possible harm has already been done by the world outside of words.