Post by jo on Aug 20, 2024 1:03:33 GMT -5
Many thought THE RIVER was too enigmatic to fully appreciate.
Over the years ( it was on Broadway 10 years ago) -- I have wondered about the play and what drew Hugh Jackman to it. He even said not so long ago that he had chosen a play over one of Florian Zeller's plays to dramatize on stage. Presumably it was Jez Butterworth's play The River.
I did get a copy of the play The River and even have Hugh and one of his co-stars sign it.
But the play continued to be less easy to appreciate for me.
More recently, I came upon my collections of playbills and re-discovered the insert -- a poem by W.B.Yeats called "The Song of The Wandering Aengus"
When I looked it up --
It means looking for the "elusive", something that may not be attainable.
I think it is in that context that Jez Butterworth framed his play.
The Man was in his eternal quest for the elusive, the ideal woman for him... and never finding her (although it seems he is saying he might have found it in the Other Woman?)
But one of the most unforgettable moments for me ( I saw the play a few times) was one of the last moments in the play when Hugh Jackman started delivering what seemed to be an ode...
I loved that moment-- it was as if Hugh Jackman was back in drama school and doing one of the required exercises on how to deliver a monolog, a beautiful piece of writing, maybe even a poem?
His voice rang loud and clear ... and melodic!
The poem was W.B.Yeats's "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" --
and The Man (Hugh Jackman) delivered only the second & third paragraphs ( I cannot remember anymore if he delivered the entire poem because in the printed play, the first stanza was sung outside and he comes in only for the second part).
But here is the entire poem --
I do wish I could recapture those moments when he delivered those lines. Hugh has a well-modulated voice that he uses effectively on film and on stage -- but to hear him deliver classical material is a gift!
Jo
Over the years ( it was on Broadway 10 years ago) -- I have wondered about the play and what drew Hugh Jackman to it. He even said not so long ago that he had chosen a play over one of Florian Zeller's plays to dramatize on stage. Presumably it was Jez Butterworth's play The River.
I did get a copy of the play The River and even have Hugh and one of his co-stars sign it.
But the play continued to be less easy to appreciate for me.
More recently, I came upon my collections of playbills and re-discovered the insert -- a poem by W.B.Yeats called "The Song of The Wandering Aengus"
When I looked it up --
First printed in 1897 and collected in The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), W. B. Yeats's "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is a dramatic monologue about burning and thwarted passion. Written in the voice of Aengus (a god of love and youth in Irish mythology), it tells the tale of a magical fish that turns into a beautiful girl and runs away. The infatuated Aengus wanders the earth in pursuit of this girl, growing old but never giving up his search. As a kind of miniature fable, the poem suggests how unrequited love—or any other unattainable dream—can both exhaust a person's energies and nourish a person's imagination.
It means looking for the "elusive", something that may not be attainable.
I think it is in that context that Jez Butterworth framed his play.
The Man was in his eternal quest for the elusive, the ideal woman for him... and never finding her (although it seems he is saying he might have found it in the Other Woman?)
But one of the most unforgettable moments for me ( I saw the play a few times) was one of the last moments in the play when Hugh Jackman started delivering what seemed to be an ode...
I loved that moment-- it was as if Hugh Jackman was back in drama school and doing one of the required exercises on how to deliver a monolog, a beautiful piece of writing, maybe even a poem?
His voice rang loud and clear ... and melodic!
The poem was W.B.Yeats's "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" --
and The Man (Hugh Jackman) delivered only the second & third paragraphs ( I cannot remember anymore if he delivered the entire poem because in the printed play, the first stanza was sung outside and he comes in only for the second part).
But here is the entire poem --
I do wish I could recapture those moments when he delivered those lines. Hugh has a well-modulated voice that he uses effectively on film and on stage -- but to hear him deliver classical material is a gift!
Jo