Last night, I saw Seminar: a new Broadway production starring Alan Rickman (aka Professor Snape). The production was written by Theresa Rebeck and directed by Sam Gold. The production is still in previews, so last night was one of the first shows that an audience has seen. It opened to the public on October 27th and is being performed at the Golden Theather.
Alan Rickman stars as an acclaimed, eccentric, sometimes damaging fiction editor, who was hired by four aspiring writers to critique their work. Each of the writers react differently to Alan Rickman’s harsh criticism. Some of writers nowadays resent the criticism, while others take Rickman’s advice to heart. The audience sees the difficulties that modern writers need to overcome in order to publish.
In terms of setting, the play reminded me of the Bald Soprano by Ionesco. The play takes place in an apartment on the West Side. It is not meant to be an action packed play. The play centers around their meetings, and their conversation. It also reminded me about the Bald Soprano because of the emphasis on language. Whereas the Bald Soprano turned language into absurd, Seminar emphasized the importance of language.
As the perfect ending to a great night, I met Alan Rickman outside the theater and he signed the playbill. Everyone should see Seminar if you enjoy Broadway. Here is the Link
This issues of criticism and taste are significant with regard to all of the arts. Should we just listen to the critic? to which critic? Should we make up our own minds? based on what criteria? All of the “Idol” shows (especially the ones that invite the audience to vote for favorites) are caught up in this aspect of the arts. We don’t want to invest our time, energy and emotion into something that does not stand up to critical judgement. It is just very hard to know who to listen to.