http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/22/the-titans/ Washington DC's Liveliest Theater Website Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:48:38 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/22/the-titans/comment-page-1/#comment-4172 Jack Marshall Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:05:47 +0000 http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=1789#comment-4172 The contrast between this review and Nelson Pressley's in the Post today couldn't be more stark. Of special interest to me is Pressley's comment that theater-goers who are not familiar with the facts and events of the Cuban Missile Crisis should "hustle to see the show," implying that most people ARE so fully versed in the story that the play holds no surprises. Really? I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, read "Thirteen Days" in college and saw the TV movie, and I didn't know a lot of what happens in the play, especially from the Russian side. Neither did the cast, the production team, and about 90% of the audience so far. The theory that a straight version of a historical event requires fictionalizing to make it compelling is really anti-history, and has led to such abominations as Billy Zane chasing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet around the Titanic while it's sinking, as if the facts of the tragedy weren't dramatic enough. I may be a sap, but to me, the prospect of nuclear holocaust is enough to keep me interested, even though I know how it turned out. The contrast between this review and Nelson Pressley’s in the Post today couldn’t be more stark. Of special interest to me is Pressley’s comment that theater-goers who are not familiar with the facts and events of the Cuban Missile Crisis should “hustle to see the show,” implying that most people ARE so fully versed in the story that the play holds no surprises. Really? I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, read “Thirteen Days” in college and saw the TV movie, and I didn’t know a lot of what happens in the play, especially from the Russian side. Neither did the cast, the production team, and about 90% of the audience so far. The theory that a straight version of a historical event requires fictionalizing to make it compelling is really anti-history, and has led to such abominations as Billy Zane chasing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet around the Titanic while it’s sinking, as if the facts of the tragedy weren’t dramatic enough. I may be a sap, but to me, the prospect of nuclear holocaust is enough to keep me interested, even though I know how it turned out.

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