Year of the Berlin-Brandenburg Flughafen Willy Brandt GmbH
June 20, 2012 8:55 AM Subscribe
David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest Live! On Stage! One Entire Day Only!
Breakfast epiphany?
I just realized that "Madame Psychosis" is a play on "metempsychosis".
I've been 3/4 of the way through Infinite Jest and Ulysses for a number of years.
Carry on, then, while I RTFA -- maybe then I can finish RTFBs.
posted by mean square error at 9:08 AM on June 20, 2012
I just realized that "Madame Psychosis" is a play on "metempsychosis".
I've been 3/4 of the way through Infinite Jest and Ulysses for a number of years.
Carry on, then, while I RTFA -- maybe then I can finish RTFBs.
posted by mean square error at 9:08 AM on June 20, 2012
I wonder how they're handling the footnotes.
posted by Runes at 9:11 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Runes at 9:11 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Another nice location for one of the scenes- the Versuchsanstalt für Wasser- und Schiffsbau
posted by MtDewd at 9:13 AM on June 20, 2012
posted by MtDewd at 9:13 AM on June 20, 2012
Also, evidently Chris Ayers' (previously) fantastic Eschaton design may have been used in the program somewhere.
posted by puddleglum at 9:15 AM on June 20, 2012
posted by puddleglum at 9:15 AM on June 20, 2012
Sounds interesting - particularly the Marathe-Steeply stuff - but as soon as I saw the pictures of the tennis courts, I wished they'd simply done a very faithful recreation of the Eschaton. More than any other sequence in the novel, it would lend itself readily to theatrical interpretation.
Also, Slate guy?
But so we’re at this AA meeting in a Boston school cafeteria
I see what you're trying for here. Hey, it's a little aping of Wallace's style! Because I've read Infinite Jest! Really! Just, you know, don't. For the same reason the between-acts MC at Monterey didn't introduce Hendrix by playing a few bars of "Purple Haze."
posted by gompa at 9:16 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also, Slate guy?
But so we’re at this AA meeting in a Boston school cafeteria
I see what you're trying for here. Hey, it's a little aping of Wallace's style! Because I've read Infinite Jest! Really! Just, you know, don't. For the same reason the between-acts MC at Monterey didn't introduce Hendrix by playing a few bars of "Purple Haze."
posted by gompa at 9:16 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
I wonder how they're handling the footnotes.
You mean endnotes?
posted by mattbucher at 9:17 AM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
You mean endnotes?
posted by mattbucher at 9:17 AM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
I talked with one of the people involved in this, and I can talk a little about one of the scenes of the play ...
There's a DFW Center that's opening in conjunction with the play1, and there will be the chance for the audience to ask questions to Ulrich Blumenbach, the German translator. Since the playmakers cannot be sure how many people will ask questions, they have arranged to have certain actors in the audience to ask prepared questions.
As a native english speaker who's actually read the book, I was able to prepare a few questions for the translator which might be used. The nice part is that the novel suggests so many questions, especially when you revisit it.
I heard that one of the questions actually did get posed to the translator during the first closed showing: Given that addiction is such a common theme in the book, and there are people with truly serious substance problems and mental illness, what are we to make of Hal's pot addiction fiasco? Is it meant to be ironic or serious? The answer: definitely serious.
That's, I guess, just a sample of what kinds of things you do in a 24 hour show of IJ.
I hope I do make it to a showing. (visitors from overseas meant I haven't been able to see it yet) I haven't heard anything else about other answers yet.
[1] this is not really occurring, but is actually another part of the play.
posted by cotterpin at 9:45 AM on June 20, 2012
There's a DFW Center that's opening in conjunction with the play1, and there will be the chance for the audience to ask questions to Ulrich Blumenbach, the German translator. Since the playmakers cannot be sure how many people will ask questions, they have arranged to have certain actors in the audience to ask prepared questions.
As a native english speaker who's actually read the book, I was able to prepare a few questions for the translator which might be used. The nice part is that the novel suggests so many questions, especially when you revisit it.
I heard that one of the questions actually did get posed to the translator during the first closed showing: Given that addiction is such a common theme in the book, and there are people with truly serious substance problems and mental illness, what are we to make of Hal's pot addiction fiasco? Is it meant to be ironic or serious? The answer: definitely serious.
That's, I guess, just a sample of what kinds of things you do in a 24 hour show of IJ.
I hope I do make it to a showing. (visitors from overseas meant I haven't been able to see it yet) I haven't heard anything else about other answers yet.
[1] this is not really occurring, but is actually another part of the play.
posted by cotterpin at 9:45 AM on June 20, 2012
It only takes a day to perform? Impressive.
posted by shmegegge at 9:25 AM on June 20 [+] [!]
One entire day. Like, you follow them around for 24 hours.
here's "ExBerliner"'s (ex pat mag) review.
And an interview is in there as well if you poke around.
cotterpin, what I want to know of the translator is why he translated the title the way he did: "Unendlicher Spass" Which I always read as, "Infinite fun" or even worse, "Never ending fun." I mean, he misses the whole point of the word 'jest.' Shouldn't it be 'scherz?'
posted by From Bklyn at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2012
posted by shmegegge at 9:25 AM on June 20 [+] [!]
One entire day. Like, you follow them around for 24 hours.
here's "ExBerliner"'s (ex pat mag) review.
And an interview is in there as well if you poke around.
cotterpin, what I want to know of the translator is why he translated the title the way he did: "Unendlicher Spass" Which I always read as, "Infinite fun" or even worse, "Never ending fun." I mean, he misses the whole point of the word 'jest.' Shouldn't it be 'scherz?'
posted by From Bklyn at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2012
I wished they'd simply done a very faithful recreation of the Eschaton.
You mean like this?
posted by sparklemotion at 10:40 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
You mean like this?
posted by sparklemotion at 10:40 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Like, you follow them around for 24 hours.
Oh, I got that. Still impressive, given the material.
posted by shmegegge at 11:22 AM on June 20, 2012
Oh, I got that. Still impressive, given the material.
posted by shmegegge at 11:22 AM on June 20, 2012
I wonder how they're handling the footnotes.
Phone book sized Playbill.
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:38 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Phone book sized Playbill.
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:38 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
From Brkyn - "Spass" means fun, but in usage it is often ambiguous between "making fun" and "having fun". This is especially true since when something is fun to do, you say it "makes fun". However, you don't say this for a person. Instead, if a person "makes fun", it means he is doing something in jest. When I first was immersed in Germany, I specifically got this wrong (saying "ich mache spass" means "I'm joking", not "I'm having a good time")
I'd say the ambiguity of the term makes the german translation actually a particularly good and clever title. However my German is merely good and not at level where I should be translating subtleties.
posted by cotterpin at 12:45 PM on June 20, 2012
I'd say the ambiguity of the term makes the german translation actually a particularly good and clever title. However my German is merely good and not at level where I should be translating subtleties.
posted by cotterpin at 12:45 PM on June 20, 2012
When I first was immersed in Germany, I specifically got this wrong (saying "ich mache spass" means "I'm joking", not "I'm having a good time")
Yes, the German for "I'm having fun" is "Es macht mir spass", or "it makes fun for me".
German is a pecular language. You also can't say I am warm or I am hot, you have to say Me is warm or Me is hot (Ich bin warm/heiß, as opposed to Mir ist warm/heiß). If you say it the wrong way, you're talking about sexual excitement.
posted by hippybear at 4:17 PM on June 20, 2012
Yes, the German for "I'm having fun" is "Es macht mir spass", or "it makes fun for me".
German is a pecular language. You also can't say I am warm or I am hot, you have to say Me is warm or Me is hot (Ich bin warm/heiß, as opposed to Mir ist warm/heiß). If you say it the wrong way, you're talking about sexual excitement.
posted by hippybear at 4:17 PM on June 20, 2012
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More pictures and background
Another Marathe-Steeply photo
A review (in English)
A tweet review of the show
posted by mattbucher at 9:07 AM on June 20, 2012