Theatre of the New Ear

November 20, 2008 3:09 PM

Theatre of the New Ear. Two radio plays: one by Charlie Kaufman, the other by the Coen Brothers, recorded live and starring Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep.

The Coen Brothers' Sawbones can be downloaded from the site linked above, or streamed along with Kaufman's Hope Leaves the Theatre here. Via Subtraction.

posted by jack_mo (18 comments total)

The site with the streaming has a really irritating interface - you have to click the link, wait for a black overlay to load on the page, then scroll around and look for a button marked "Play". Sorry about that.
posted by jack_mo at 3:16 PM on November 20, 2008

This project was really centered around the composer Carter Burwell.

I was there that night.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:19 PM on November 20, 2008

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS. I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR IT SO HARD!!!
posted by moxiedoll at 3:21 PM on November 20, 2008

Wow. You could have had me by dropping 1/3 of those names.
posted by rokusan at 3:25 PM on November 20, 2008

Without any spoilers at all, can someone tell me if the Charlie Kaufman thing is any good?
posted by empath at 3:26 PM on November 20, 2008

Just as I was riding up the hill to my house, I was thinking to myself:

"I wish I had something to listen to in the car on the way down to DC tomorrow".

Thank you.
posted by The White Hat at 3:47 PM on November 20, 2008

can someone tell me if the Charlie Kaufman thing is any good?

It's his usual combination of brilliantly clever and too-clever-by-half, terribly funny and totally irritating, joyfully bonkers and inanely obscure, &c.. Plus an overflowing barrel of meta wank. If you liked any of his films, you'll likely like this.
posted by jack_mo at 3:53 PM on November 20, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Thanks for sharing. I'm pretty psyched to check this out.
posted by defenestration at 4:04 PM on November 20, 2008

PS - Who doesn't love some good meta wank, now and then?!
posted by defenestration at 4:05 PM on November 20, 2008

SCENE BREAKDOWN 	 
Scene One	Elevator
Scene Two	Elevator, ten minutes later
Scene Three	Joe's Living Room
Scene Four	The "Kitchen," later that day
Scene Five	Offices of Rolling Stone magazine, 1969
Scene Six	Engine room of an Argentinian freighter, 1943
Scene Seven	The Void, Thursday, 6:53 EST
Scene Eight	Elevator, exactly thirty years later
Scene Nine	Joe's living room, midnight of the same day
Scene Ten	The Void, early morning
Scene Eleven	The eye of a hurricane, Easter Island, now
Scene Twelve	Elevator, one thousand years later
Scene Thirteen	A field of marigolds

Hmm, yeah. That's Charlie Kaufman, all right.
posted by Spatch at 4:06 PM on November 20, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

sure sure, this is good.
posted by Busithoth at 4:39 PM on November 20, 2008

I listened.

If you liked the Firesign Theater, you will like the Firesign Theater.
posted by hexatron at 5:30 PM on November 20, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

I've been looking for Hope Leaves the Theater since I heard these both on Sirius Classic Radio last year. I found Sawbones floating about on its own, but was much more impressed with Kaufman's. Wow, thanks.

I wish there was more audio work like this. You really have to pay attention to all the elements you're hearing to get the full picture. They remind me of opera when everyone's singing at once.

I think my favorite part of both pieces is the music. Both my wife and I had Sawbones stuck in our head for weeks, and the free form filler of Hope is just another character you can pay attention to.
posted by doctoryes at 5:47 PM on November 20, 2008

Thanks for this. Awesome.
posted by The Loch Ness Monster at 8:01 PM on November 20, 2008

I listened to the Kaufmann piece. I don't even know what to think about it. So depressing...
posted by empath at 11:03 PM on November 20, 2008

I saw this at UCLA when it was touring there, had pretty crappy seats but apparently that doesn't matter when you're watching a radio play. It is a bit more impressive that way because you see it's only three actors/actresses doing all the voices.
posted by bertrandom at 11:52 PM on November 20, 2008

Great find!. Thanks!
posted by Artful Codger at 6:37 AM on November 21, 2008

I haven't even listened to them yet, but if I could favorite this twice, I totally would.
posted by juv3nal at 10:12 AM on November 21, 2008