I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: I WAYNE-Tiny Desk Concert #180 (December 12, 2011).

This Tiny Desk Concert is just 7 minutes long.  I Wayne is a reggae singer and he’s accompanied by an acoustic guitar.

“Real and Clean” is a simple song with the appropriate reggae rhythms used as background to Wayne’s lyrics, part of which go like this:

“let nature take its course / no need to rush no need to force / no need to worry about child support / abandon abused in family court”

“Can’t Satisfy Her” seems to be about a prostitute.  The song is from 2004 and the blurb says “he’s largely credited with bringing the roots and rock back to mainstream reggae.”  I’m not sure if the NPR office knew the song, but by the end they are singing along.  With a comment at the end: “thanks to the NPR chorus.”

It’s certainly catchy and a bit more interesting than the standard reggae fare.

[READ: December 10, 2015] Every Last Trick

I found this book at work.  The cover was silly and the full title was “Feydeau’s Every Las Trick in a new version by Tasmin Oglesby.”  I saw that it was part of the Oberon  Modern Plays collection, which is a collection of short plays and I have read several of them (okay I just looked them up online and there are approximately 960 Oberon plays, I think I’ve read about 6).

Anyhow, this play is based on Le Système Ribadier by Georges Feydeau.  I’ve never heard of it or him.  But this version is a delightfully over the top farce.

There are four main players: Juan, Gus, Tom and Angela and a fifth one, Knowles.

As the play opens Gus, the servant of Juan and Angela is sneaking in through a window.  He steals some of the family’s booze.  Then Juan and Angela come in, arguing.  Angela is mad at Juan and accuses him of cheating on her.

We learn that her ex-husband Jacques cheated on her all the time and she is still mad at him (she throws darts at his picture).  Juan and Angela make up, through Juan’s suave (not native English) chatter.  As well as comic intervention from Gus.

Then a surprise occurs when Tom, Angela’s ex lover shows up.  This is not her ex-husband, but an ex-lover.  He hated that she was married to her he ex-husband and stayed away from her.  but when he learned of Jacques’ death, he crossed half of the world to see her.  Now Tom is back to take her again.  Until she says that she is now married to Juan.

And then we learn the big secret–Juan has hypnotized Angela so that every time he says “I love you,” she falls asleep.

All kinds of PG shenanigans ensue with people talking around Angela while she is asleep, with her waking up to hear crucial information when people think she is asleep and  a huge misunderstanding between Gus and Juan (that is very funny indeed).

And, in case you’re wondering, there’s a bit of turnabout on the whole hypnotism thing making the story less sexist overall.

I imagine this being a fast and funny play with lots of very funny line readings and emphases–especially when the different accents (and Juan’s poor English) make the jokes even funnier.  It’s a lighthearted romp that would be a lot of fun to see staged.