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Ludlow Fair

Ludlow Fair is a one-act play by American playwright Lanford Wilson . It was first produced at Caffe Cino in 1965, a coffeehouse and theatre founded by Joe Cino , a pioneer of t...

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Ludlow Fair is a one-act play by American playwright Lanford Wilson. It was first produced at Caffe Cino in 1965, a coffeehouse and theatre founded by Joe Cino, a pioneer of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement.[1][2]

Production history

The play was originally supposed to premiere as a double bill with Adrienne Kennedy's The Owl Answers, with both plays directed by Michael Kahn. Kahn and Lucille Lortel asked Wilson to remove a four-letter word from his play, which he agreed to. When Lortel wrote to Wilson's agent, she also asked him to change the term "pissed off", then further stated, "Throughout I feel there are entirely too many 'Christs.' I feel it is possible to make a true and telling point without undue vulgarity, as Miss Kennedy's play proves." Wilson did not agree to these changes.[3]

The play premiered at the Caffe Cino in February 1965. It was directed and designed by Neil Flanagan, with lighting design by Dennis Parichy. The cast featured Martha Galphin (Rachel) and Jennie Ventriss (Agnes).[4] It then premiered off-Broadway, in a double bill with The Madness of Lady Bright, at Theater East. The double bill opened on March 22 and closed on April 3, 1966. It was directed by William Hunt, with set and lighting design by David F. Segal and costume design by Kapi Reith. The off-Broadway cast featured Sasha von Scherler (Agnes) and Ann Wedgeworth (Rachel).[5]

In the spring of 1967, a Lanford Wilson festival was produced for the tenth anniversary of the Caffe Cino. The cast featured Brandy Carson and Sandy Lessin.[6] In the 1970s, Conchata Ferrell was acting at Circle Repertory Company and wanted to do a revival of Ludlow Fair. Trish Hawkins was cast opposite Ferrell, and after Wilson saw this production, he cast both actresses in The Hot l Baltimore (1973).[7]

En 1976, Ludlow Fair se presentó en cartelera junto con The Madness of Lady Bright y The Family Continues en el NYTE Arena Theatre de Nueva York, bajo la dirección de Pam Billig. [ 8 ] En 1980, se presentó en cartelera junto con Summer, Sex, and Sanity en el Manhattan Conservatory Theater . Las cuatro obras incluidas fueron A Good Time de Ernest Thompson , This Property is Condemned de Tennessee Williams , Chamber Music de Arthur Kopit y Ludlow Fair . [ 9 ] Ludlow Fair se presentó en cartelera junto con All On Her Own de Terence Rattigan , con Alicia Springer, Jo Damiano y Marina Cross, en el No Smoking Playhouse en 1982. [ 10 ]

Cesear's Forum, la compañía de teatro minimalista de Cleveland , presentó en 2024 una reposición de la obra doble original de Wilson titulada Ludlow Fair & The Madness of Lady Bright , en Kennedy's Down Under, Playhouse Square . El elenco de cuatro actores incluyó a Graceyn Cecilia Dowd (Rachel) y Katie Wells (Agnes), quien interpretó dos papeles en la segunda obra (Chica), junto a Matthew Wright (Leslie "Lady" Bright) y Daniel Telford (Chico). La codirección estuvo a cargo de Greg Cesear y Tricia Bestic. Christine Howey, de Cleveland Scene , escribió: "Dos obras, experiencias completamente diferentes y cautivadoras; cada una de aproximadamente una hora de duración y con dinámicas narrativas muy particulares". [ 11 ]

Resumen de la trama

El Village Voice describe la obra de la siguiente manera:

"...un cuento para dormir sobre dos compañeras de piso. Rachael es glamurosa, vive a toda velocidad y a veces se pierde en sus propias dramatizaciones; Agnes es sencilla, práctica, su timidez enmascarada por una personalidad peculiar. La obra trata aparentemente sobre Rachael: denunció a su último novio a la policía cuando le robó, y ahora está arrepentida; ahora decide que está enamorada de él. Agnes intenta animarla con bromas, luego intenta reavivar su autoconciencia, y finalmente Rachael se duerme. Agnes se queda sola, pensando en su cita para comer con el decepcionante hijo del jefe mañana. Y de repente es su obra, la realista es la verdadera romántica. Las emociones sencillas pero reales de Agnes superan los adornos exagerados y autocomplacientes de Rachael, y de repente la obra es simple y conmovedora." [ 12 ]

Referencias

  1. ↑"Lanford Wilson: The Mozart From Missouri". Caffe Cino Pictures. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  2. ↑"Theater". New York. 15 (3): 85. January 1982.
  3. ↑Greene, Alexis. "Chapter 5"Lucille Lortel: The Queen of Off Broadway, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2004. ISBN 0879103027, p. 210.
  4. ↑Wilson, Lanford. "Introduction. Script" in Ludlow Fair and Home Free!, Dramatists Play Service Inc., 1993. ISBN 0822216280, p. 4.
  5. ↑"Ludlow Fair"Lortel.org. Accessed January 14, 2016.
  6. ↑Stone, Wendell C. "The End of the Cobra Cult" in Caffe Cino, SIU Press, 2005. ISBN 0809388316, p. 155.
  7. ↑Shewey, Don. "Lanford Wilson" DonShewey.com.
  8. ↑"In and Around Town"New York Magazine, October 4, 1976, p. 21.
  9. ↑"Theater Listing"New York Magazine, July 28, 1980. Vol. 13, No. 29, ISSN 0028-7369, p. 66.
  10. ↑"Theater"New York Magazine, January 18, 1982, Vol. 15, No. 3, ISSN 0028-7369, p. 85
  11. ↑"'Ludlow Fair & The Madness of Lady Bright' at Cesear's Forum Is an Invigorating and Hilarious Portrait of a Wounded Soul". clevescene.com. October 1, 2024. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  12. ↑Wilson, Lanford. "Ludlow Fair" DramaList.com.

Further reading

  • Barnett, Gene A. (1987). Lanford Wilson. Boston: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 080577498X.
  • Williams, Philip Middleton (1993). A Comfortable House: Lanford Wilson, Marshall W. Mason and the Circle Repertory Theatre. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0899508367.
  • Off-Broadway listing at Lortel Archives
  • Photograph from the original production at Caffe Cino
  • Village Voice review of the original production at Caffe Cino
  • Notes and drafts for Ludlow Fair are held in the Lanford Wilson Collection at the University of Missouri Libraries