new: Spring 2003 * Don Juan -- read vtheatre files!
Summary
1. Description
2. An excerpt
3. Table of contents
4. Review
Questions
Don Juan and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics)
This selection of seven of Moliere's prose plays includes "Precious Provincials," "The Would-be Gentleman," "Don Juan," "The Reluctant Doctor," "Scapin the Schemer," "The Miser," and "George Dandin."
The play Don Juan has been everything from critically
acclaimed to outright banned, and it only takes one viewing the
realize this. With segments brushing off religion and speaking in
favor of adultery this play teeters on the edge of falling into the
pit of horrible risqué. That being said, this was a great play for a
college campus. It raised some interesting views such as what would
happen to someone if they completely disregarded the "good book," and
delved into the mind of a true chauvinist and lover. Don Juan is no
doubt the man who many men would love to be: a character who does
what he wants when he wants and has the success that most of us don't
even dare to dream of. I was disappointed because the legend of Don
Juan says that he truly loved each of thousands of women he slept
with each in their own special ways, and this version did not
emphasis that enough. It made Don Juan appear the dirty, vulgar,
playing fool that he would no doubt be considered in today's world.
However, in moving away from the original translation, there were
several witty remarks made by the actors that wittily clashed between
the renaissance and modern eras. Speaking of which, the renaissance
era costumes were one of my favorite parts of the play, they if
anything personified the actors more than anything. The set was very
effective despite its shaky appearance and its relative simplicity
allowed the actors to use their skill instead of relying on the set.
I recommended this play to several people because of how hard it made
me laugh, but that does still not cover the point that the original
thought of Don Juan was blurred a little bit and the homoerotic
scenes were flooded on a bit too much even for a liberal college
audience.
theatre theory * 
