Comments on: The Autumn Garden — The American Century Theater http://dctheatrescene.com/2006/03/19/jorgensen-and-high-bring-life-to-garden/ DC's Liveliest Theatre Website Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:45:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: CROSSROADS » http://dctheatrescene.com/2006/03/19/jorgensen-and-high-bring-life-to-garden/#comment-649 CROSSROADS » Tue, 28 Mar 2006 00:56:07 +0000 http://dctheatrescene.com/2006/03/19/jorgensen-and-high-bring-life-to-garden/#comment-649 [...] I saw a quite-nice production of Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden yesterday, and in my usual Jungean way searched for some aspect of my own personal mythology among the characters. Oddly enough, it was General Griggs who, upon cresting his own arc in the last act, realized: "So at any given moment you're only the sum of your life up to then. There are no big moments you can reach unless you've got a pile of smaller moments to stand on." [...] [...] I saw a quite-nice production of Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden yesterday, and in my usual Jungean way searched for some aspect of my own personal mythology among the characters. Oddly enough, it was General Griggs who, upon cresting his own arc in the last act, realized: "So at any given moment you're only the sum of your life up to then. There are no big moments you can reach unless you've got a pile of smaller moments to stand on." [...]

]]> By: ronnie http://dctheatrescene.com/2006/03/19/jorgensen-and-high-bring-life-to-garden/#comment-648 ronnie Tue, 21 Mar 2006 22:05:48 +0000 http://dctheatrescene.com/2006/03/19/jorgensen-and-high-bring-life-to-garden/#comment-648 Editor's Note Other local reviews are posted <a href="http://dctheatrereviews.com/review/local-reviews/" rel="nofollow">here</a> Editor’s Note

Other local reviews are posted here

]]> By: Jack Marshall http://dctheatrescene.com/2006/03/19/jorgensen-and-high-bring-life-to-garden/#comment-647 Jack Marshall Mon, 20 Mar 2006 02:30:43 +0000 http://dctheatrescene.com/2006/03/19/jorgensen-and-high-bring-life-to-garden/#comment-647 I think its easy to see reasons why the play didn't fly in 1951, but excessive exposition was not among them. Hellman's pro-Stalin sentiments had eroded her popularity by then, and the regret/despair theme of "The Autumn Garden" couldn't have been more out of sync with the times, as was the presence of a gay character. Regret plays are hard on audiences for sure, but thet are also full of enlightenment if the playwright and the actors combine their skills to make painful life stories involving and even thought-provoking. Here they do...the 2 1/2 hour play (not to carp, but it really isn't three hours even counting two intermissions)moves along briskly despite all the exposition. Yeah, I'm biased for sure: I'm the Artistic Director. But there are more memorable lines and interesting relationships here than in any three plays written since 2001. I think its easy to see reasons why the play didn’t fly in 1951, but excessive exposition was not among them. Hellman’s pro-Stalin sentiments had eroded her popularity by then, and the regret/despair theme of “The Autumn Garden” couldn’t have been more out of sync with the times, as was the presence of a gay character. Regret plays are hard on audiences for sure, but thet are also full of enlightenment if the playwright and the actors combine their skills to make painful life stories involving and even thought-provoking. Here they do…the 2 1/2 hour play (not to carp, but it really isn’t three hours even counting two intermissions)moves along briskly despite all the exposition. Yeah, I’m biased for sure: I’m the Artistic Director. But there are more memorable lines and interesting relationships here than in any three plays written since 2001.

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