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Title: Proof : A Play by David Auburn ISBN: 0-571-19997-6 Publisher: Faber & Faber Pub. Date: 05 March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.68 (22 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: a great contemporary play
Comment: For those naysayers who lament the death of the theatre, David Auburn's brilliant, intimate, touching ode to the mysteries of life, family, love and identity offers proof that contemporary playwrights are indeed creating brilliant works of art.
Using four well drawn, three dimensional characters, Auburn paints a vivid portrait of a late mathemetician and his legacy of madness and genius. His youngest daughter may have inherited both as the play centers around identifying the authorship of a magnificent mathematical proof (which ends up being a brilliant use of Hitchcock's "McGuffin" rule).
Auburn creates a play filled with an excellent series of suprises, revelations and passionate debates. His narrative is well structured as it provides the actors with clear objectives and a variety of tactics to explore and enact, all engaging the audience's attention and energy.
Four of my friends recently produced the play and produced an evening of magic. A great theatrical experience demands a strong story to tell and Auburn provides such a vehicle with this, his Pulitzer Prize winning work.
A brilliant piece of writing. A must read for theatre fans and practitioners alike. A most producable work as well. It would make for a fine addition to any theatre season.
Rating: 4
Summary: Auburn Proves Himself
Comment: In Proof, Auburn has written a wonderful play, taking on some very key characteristics of humanity. Especially wonderful is the father-daughter relationship between Robert and Catherine. However, just as intriguing are the relationships between sisters Catherine and Claire, and between Hal and Catherine.
Auburn hits strong notes on most issues, including trust, duty, love, and sanity. After reading the play, it should be quite clear why it won the Pulitzer.
This is a first-rate drama, and I would dare to list in up with plays by Ibsen and Chekov. The only reason I omitted the fifth star is purely subjective, in that I did not feel Claire's character was fully developed.
Rating: 4
Summary: Sanity in a crazy world
Comment: I saw Proof performed a couple years ago on Broadway, and have read the script twice since. Any performance of Proof hinges on the casting of Robert (an aging mathemetician) and Catherine (his daughter). The performance I saw had two magnificent actors in these roles, which smoothed away some of the rough edges of the script itself.
Don't get me wrong; this is an amazing piece of playwriting, better than 99% of everything else out there. But the setting of the play is so very static, and its language so toned down, that it takes a very talented and entertaining group of actors to pull it off. The writing of Proof is very much like Chekov -- brilliant, but somewhat unapproachable.
(Drama teachers take note: this is a great play for students to improve their acting skills, but a terrible play for students to actually perform.)
The plot, if not the style, of this play can be compared to the style of the recent big-budget film (based on a novel) Big Fish. But in that comparison Proof comes off looking brilliant, and Big Fish comes off looking overwrought. If this play is done right, there is a moment toward the end that can compete -- in terms of sheer pathos and emotionality -- with anything Sophocles ever wrote. Watch for the stage direction: "After a long moment Catherine closes the notebook." It brought tears to my eyes.
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Title: Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, Michael Frayn ISBN: 0385720793 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 08 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Wit : A Play by Margaret Edson ISBN: 0571198775 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 29 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies ISBN: 1559361948 Publisher: Theatre Communications Group Pub. Date: 01 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks ISBN: 1559362014 Publisher: Theatre Communications Group Pub. Date: 04 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman ISBN: 0375727191 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 11 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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