Went and saw The Miracle at Naples on Friday night at convergence, and it was terrific. There were a couple of good ass smackings to make the Commedia dell’arte truly gratifying. There were some other things dealing with asses in the play, but I’ll let you find out about them for yourself.
The cast was terrific all around, but I especially loved Stuart Hoffman (Giancarlo), who really got to ham it up in this one and didn’t hesitate to do so. Robert Hawkes is boisterous and larger than life as Don Bertolino; and, of course, Lucy Bredeson-Smith is always wonderful, especially as a aggressively respectable nursemaid with a mouth like a sailor.
If you like raunchy farces with plenty of butt jokes and other scatological humor (I do), this play’s for you–and the Geoffrey Hoffman got the pace of the play just right, too.
Was watching this fantastic show last night and heard the following exchange:
Richard: We’ve lost 32% of our corporate sponsorship, our subscriber base is dying, the American tourists are staying away in droves, we got high-dollar, bad reviews. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do! Nobody will help us. I’ve been everywhere!
Donor: We’ll you’re just going to have to sell more tickets, hunh?
Richard: It’s not that easy. We’re talking about theater!
Donor: Richard, we sell people water. Something they can get out of a tap for free. You people in the arts have got to get your heads screwed on right, hunh? You’ve got to decide if you’re a business or a charity. If you’re a business: pick your market, sell your product. If you’re a charity, go to the government: that’s were the big money is.
