Not necessarily…I wouldn’t say you should, but a couple of his books have some wonderful Vienna scenes, in particular Hotel New Hampshire and The World According to Garp.
I applied to direct a production of Schnitzler's *La Ronde* as an undergraduate but was turned down. I thought it was quite relevant, as that was still the heyday of panic about the AIDS epidemic.
Alas, I ended up directing a tamer piece by Chekov and thereafter gave up directing.
Interesting. Part of me is not shocked that you were turned down... though undergraduates should be able to handle it. (My students are reading it later this semester.) I think it's important not to be more explicit that Schnitzler himself is. The subtlety contributes to the shock effect much more than rubbing an audience's noses in sex.
I trust that whatever calling you found as an alternative to directing has been satisfactory!
In retrospect, the faculty was right to deny me the play. At 20-something, I wouldn't have handled it with grace and sensitivity, letting the work speak for itself. I would have hit the audience over the head with "the message".
I suspect now, in middle-age, I could do it justice, but I've devoted the intervening years to supporting and raising a family. I have no regrets.
I'm almost tempted to read Zweig for the 3rd time! I have read Round Dance, but I missed the opportunity to read it alongside this chapter.
I'm curious if you've ever read John Irving? If you have, you'll know why I'm asking. (If not, I can tell you why!)
I'm afraid I haven't. Should I?
Not necessarily…I wouldn’t say you should, but a couple of his books have some wonderful Vienna scenes, in particular Hotel New Hampshire and The World According to Garp.
Ah, I see. Maybe I can excerpt the relevant scenes one day....
Max Ophüls made a marvelous film of 'La Ronde' in 1950.
Thanks for the tip, Brooks!
I applied to direct a production of Schnitzler's *La Ronde* as an undergraduate but was turned down. I thought it was quite relevant, as that was still the heyday of panic about the AIDS epidemic.
Alas, I ended up directing a tamer piece by Chekov and thereafter gave up directing.
Interesting. Part of me is not shocked that you were turned down... though undergraduates should be able to handle it. (My students are reading it later this semester.) I think it's important not to be more explicit that Schnitzler himself is. The subtlety contributes to the shock effect much more than rubbing an audience's noses in sex.
I trust that whatever calling you found as an alternative to directing has been satisfactory!
We read it in our theater literature class, too.
In retrospect, the faculty was right to deny me the play. At 20-something, I wouldn't have handled it with grace and sensitivity, letting the work speak for itself. I would have hit the audience over the head with "the message".
I suspect now, in middle-age, I could do it justice, but I've devoted the intervening years to supporting and raising a family. I have no regrets.
There is something to be said for the experience and wisdom of (middle-)age!
And it sounds to me as though you've been doing good work of a different sort since then.