I'll admit the modern language and music was a little jarring at first, but once it clicked for me, I realized how brilliant it was. I am so sorry for those who don't understand why it was used or who found it upsetting. It wasn't a gimmick at all. It was a perfect medium.
Period pieces can be beautiful and transportive, but we are always left with a sense of otherwordliness. The use of modern language and music in this show changed all of that. Instead of us being transported to her world, she was brought just a footfall into ours. I can't imagine a better way for Emily Dickinson to be brought truly alive and tangible and approachable to an audience who may not be familiar with her.
We never forget that she was from a different era with different requirements of women and different social ethics, but we are also invited in to see her... not as a woman from some long ago world too far away from ours to really understand... but as a young woman as real and vibrant as if she were alive today. The humor that it evoked in some scenes was the perfect foil for some of the tragedy. I really loved it.
It was heartbreaking and beautiful and really well done.
Period pieces can be beautiful and transportive, but we are always left with a sense of otherwordliness. The use of modern language and music in this show changed all of that. Instead of us being transported to her world, she was brought just a footfall into ours. I can't imagine a better way for Emily Dickinson to be brought truly alive and tangible and approachable to an audience who may not be familiar with her.
We never forget that she was from a different era with different requirements of women and different social ethics, but we are also invited in to see her... not as a woman from some long ago world too far away from ours to really understand... but as a young woman as real and vibrant as if she were alive today. The humor that it evoked in some scenes was the perfect foil for some of the tragedy. I really loved it.
It was heartbreaking and beautiful and really well done.