of other days
of A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney
by Lucas Hnath
Soho Rep, New York
directed by Sarah Benson
I go to the theatre a fair amount - plays mostly, so trips to New York are great for me to see productions that will probably never see light of day in the UK.
I was very intrigued when this play popped up - the reviews were fantastic - a four person cast - Walt Disney, his brother Roy, his daughter Diane (though she is only ever referenced as Daughter and not by name) and her husband, Ron Miller (Ron is described as a dumb jock - a golden retriever of a person ;).
The setting is a board room and its set up for a screenplay reading - the actors "read" from the screenplay and it is told in that form - the most common lines used are "cut to" and "close up on Walt". The story focusses heavily on Walt’s obsessions in the later years of his life - EPCOT, about how he will be remembered - what his legacy will be, about why won’t his daughter name a child of hers after him and how little respect his gave his brother.
This is not a play for aficionados of the "uncle" Walt image - but I don‘t think it presents anything totally outrageous - it is after all one presentation on the character of Walt - and Disney have themselves always presented Walt in a certain way - so this is just another fiction, as this Walt uses an ipod and an iphone... - but no, Saving Mr Banks this isn’t.
The scene above from the play script is just one of many where a bloody handkerchief appears (to many an audible gasp from the audience).
It was a solid, thoroughly entertaining piece of theatre - highly recommended with many little references for the Disney aficionado to chuckle over (especially about the Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Tree and throwing Roy E Disney under the bus (not literally) over lemmings...
of A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney
by Lucas Hnath
Soho Rep, New York
directed by Sarah Benson
I go to the theatre a fair amount - plays mostly, so trips to New York are great for me to see productions that will probably never see light of day in the UK.
I was very intrigued when this play popped up - the reviews were fantastic - a four person cast - Walt Disney, his brother Roy, his daughter Diane (though she is only ever referenced as Daughter and not by name) and her husband, Ron Miller (Ron is described as a dumb jock - a golden retriever of a person ;).
The setting is a board room and its set up for a screenplay reading - the actors "read" from the screenplay and it is told in that form - the most common lines used are "cut to" and "close up on Walt". The story focusses heavily on Walt’s obsessions in the later years of his life - EPCOT, about how he will be remembered - what his legacy will be, about why won’t his daughter name a child of hers after him and how little respect his gave his brother.
This is not a play for aficionados of the "uncle" Walt image - but I don‘t think it presents anything totally outrageous - it is after all one presentation on the character of Walt - and Disney have themselves always presented Walt in a certain way - so this is just another fiction, as this Walt uses an ipod and an iphone... - but no, Saving Mr Banks this isn’t.
The scene above from the play script is just one of many where a bloody handkerchief appears (to many an audible gasp from the audience).
It was a solid, thoroughly entertaining piece of theatre - highly recommended with many little references for the Disney aficionado to chuckle over (especially about the Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Tree and throwing Roy E Disney under the bus (not literally) over lemmings...