Blogs on The Other Side

Margo Channing's feline-like review (this is one of the kinder remarks, believe it or not):

Too bad that two of our greatest actors -- Harris and Cullum -- found themselves saddled with such unsalvageable material. They do what they can, but they don't have believable characters that make any actual sense from moment to moment, so even their formidable talents come off mostly as muted here.

R.J. Keefe of Portico says:

Rosemary Harris is Broadway's grande dame. She is our Helen Hayes, our Lynn Fontanne. At a minimum!
...
The actors do their best to ham things up. Thank heaven for that. Slyly - I'm not sure that I ought to say this - the two pros play to the audience, jettisoning any illusion of their being alone in a remote cabin. No; they're great actors on the New York stage. That ought to be an insult, but given the thinness of Mr Dorfman's material, it's an absolute blessing. Why, I can hear Ms Harris herself saying just that, nodding her head pensively while brandishing her soup ladle at the audience and pretending not to smirk. "That's just what it is - an Absolute blessing."

Oprah

Kiri, a blog reader, has suggested that we write to Oprah to urge her to have Ms Ehle as a guest on her show. Who knows, maybe Oprah's a fan?

By the way, I just realised how close it is to the 15th! It's your last chance to see The Other Side.

Since this is turning into a random-bits-of-information post, here's a slightly interesting auction from eBay - a German edition of Possession ("Besessen") by A.S. Byatt, with the movie poster on its cover.

Rosemary Harris and John Cullum on ATW radio

The American Theatre Wing's radio program Downstage Center features Rosemary Harris and John Cullum.

Stage veterans Rosemary Harris and John Cullum talk about meeting for the very first time to play husband and wife in Ariel Dorfman's The Other Side, discuss their feelings about seeing their children follow in their acting footsteps, and recall the subdued 1966 Tony Awards, when Cullum was nominated for On a Clear Day...and Harris won for The Lion in Winter.

Here's the direct link to the 12.1mb mp3 file. It's 41 minutes long. Right click (ctrl-click on Mac) and choose "save (link) as".

[edit: I've excerpted the bit where Ms Harris talks about her daughter; it's a 927kb mp3 file. I really recommend you download the full interview though, especially if you're interested in seeing The Other Side. Incidentally, the play is closing on January 15th not 21st as previously announced]

[edit #2: there's also a streaming RealMedia version of the interview at the ATW site]

The Other Side roundup, again

Rather nice reader review from the NYT

The reason this play seems so timeless is because it lays bare a universal tragedy of ethic and human conflict. The acting is superb, reinforced by a powerful set. Admittedly, this parable /is/ contrived, which is not an insult. The playwrite's craft nicely emphasizes the absurdist realities that mirror life in the 21st century. However, like many articulate and tightly wrought dramas, this play really delivers thought-provoking, touching, and very compelling entertainment.

Backstage

It's a tribute to the extraordinary acting of Cullum and Harris that The Other Side isn't unendurable. ...
The Other Side may elicit general feelings regarding the farcicality, the stupidity, of war. But the pace of Blanka Zizka's direction is shiftless, lugubrious; the play's moody hopelessness is numbing more than provocative. If Cullum and Harris elegantly shade their roles with wit and depth, it's because they find humanity in such an antitheatrical mise en scène. There's value in that, but there would be more if the play had something direct to say.

Times Square

Gene Farber makes a slightly stiff guard, but the acting from the two leads, Rosemary Harris and John Cullum, could not be better. That's the problem, for neither actor is able to rise above the allegorical and stereotypical. Harris and Cullum do what they can with Dorfman's trite dialogue trying to be both seriously profound and profoundly funny, but they can't help lift "The Other Side' from the mundane to the marvelous.

New Yorker

Dorfman’s work often deals with the ambiguous emotional fallout of political strife—but when his open-ended dramas are matched with unspecific acting, as they are here, the dialogue loses its potency for subtext.

Aisle Say and NY Post review Other Side

Not very positive, I'm afraid. Aisle Say says:

Under the direction of Blanka Ziska, the play is performed with an urgency matching its silliness, Mr. Farber seeming more stiff than strict, and veterans Cullum and Harris spinning pleasantly respectable variations on their personae, familiar from so much previous exposure on stage and in the media. It all seems like a strange literary exercise, removed without fanfare from a time capsule, only to be sent back once the limited run concludes...

The NY Post review is along the same lines. Registration required; bypass with BugMeNot.

While the metaphor is reasonably evocative, its thinness becomes apparent very quickly, and Dorfman fails to provide the wit necessary to sustain the concept.

It's unfortunate, both because of the play's relevance and the typically strong performances by the veteran stars. While it might have been highly effective as a brief one-act, in full-length form "The Other Side" feels both precious and attenuated.

Bioluminescence

...Rosemary Harris, radiant as ever, glows from within as the matriarch Levana. Her refusal to give up on the promise of her son's return home fuels just about every moment of this play with a fierce power that very precisely illuminates Dorfman's central ideas.

It all makes for a theatre experience that's as compelling and searing as it is harsh. Art is supposed, sometimes, to tear at our hearts and souls. The Other Side is a visceral, sad reminder that the atrocities of war that we take for granted when we see them on TV newscasts can still authentically touch us.

Review by Martin Denton of nytheatre.com. Note how the same adjective is also used to describe her daughter.

Villager: "Ariel Dorfman's Bedroom War"

In this interview, the playwright of The Other Side talks about how the play relates to his own experiences.

“My own existence,” said Ariel Dorfman, “has been affected, let’s say, by exile and repatriation of a sort. My work has always turned around borders, and identity.”

Financial Times on The Other Side

Brendan Lemon, 19 December 2005, Financial Times (USA). Not online.

While the play is more watchable than some reviews have suggested, it displays its Modern Master influences - Pinter, Beckett - a little too obviously and develops its storyline in fits and starts.
...
Dorfman's language can be eloquent: Levana recites a verbal aria about suffering ("We'll feed off the dead. We'll sell the dead. One by one.") that is a high point of Harris's polished performance.
...
Like [Death and the] Maiden, The Other Side provides some marvellous moments for actors, even as its political concerns have been explored more engagingly by others.

The Other Side video

David Cote's review of The Other Side is scathing, but at least you can see some clips from the play. Click on the "dialup" or "broadband" buttons under the title.

Even more

New reader reviews at the NYT site. This one's by "sonic79".

Call Me Crazy...but I thought this was a very strong play with great acting. Rosemary Harris gave what was, to me, her best performance in years as a hardened (and surprisingly sexy) woman in the middle of a battlefield. The play is otherworldly and strangely familiar, symbolic without losing its realism. I loved the moment when the house flew apart and the soldier marches in to establish a border straight through the bed, a symbol that asks big questions about how cultures can live together. I felt like the play was well-paced, interesting, funny, and visually (and aurally) superb. I would recommend this play to any fan of Beckett or Carol Churchill, or any lover of strong, challenging theatre.

William Wolf, Wolf Entertainment Guide.

Despite the presence of the accomplished Rosemary Harris and John Cullum, Ariel Dorfman’s play about war is a misfire...The newcomer joins in the pompous talk, and although all three actors pour their hearts into the dialogue and drama, the situation is too contrived to sustain.

Harvey Kissel, NY Daily News.

The elderly man and woman who live there, born in the opposing countries, must now ask permission to cross the border in their own home.

This, too, might have been amusing for 10 minutes, but it is too preposterous and too pretentious to engage us much longer, despite fine performances by Rosemary Harris and John Cullum as the couple and Gene Farber as the guard.

More Other Side press reviews

Charles Isherwood, NYT.

Ms. Harris brings a surge of anguished conviction to a poetic litany in which Levana mourns the blank future: "We'll feed off the dead. We'll sell the dead. One by one. The only thing this place produces. We'll trade the dead, we'll buy milk with the dead, we'll warm ourselves with the coal of the dead." But there is more dutiful professionalism than passion in her performance, and in Mr. Cullum's spry turn as the pessimistic Atom.

Michael Sommer, Star Ledger.

Regardless of their material, Harris and Cullum are eminently watchable. So harmonious are their physical rhythms together that they truly appear to be a longtime couple. Gene Farber is a gruff yet oddly appealing figure as the officious fellow who may or may not be their beloved son.

Brian Scott Lipton, TheatreMania.

Harris, one of the theater's greatest living treasures, makes an equally vivid contribution whenever the script allows her to. A still-youthful 78, she brings her trademark dignity, conviction, and expressiveness to the role of headstrong Levana Julak, and she does everything possible -- if not more -- with a couple of nearly heartbreaking speeches in the play's more serious second half. But watching Harris try to breathe life into this disappointing work only makes us long to see her in the kind of triumphant role that her contemporaries Lois Smith and Frances Sternhagen are now playing in The Trip to Bountiful and Seascape, respectively.

Eric Grode, NY Sun.

Ms. Harris fares best despite being given much of Mr. Dorfman's most selfconsciously florid material. ("We'll build your toilet with the samples we take from the dead, we'll make love in the night blessing the dead.")

AmericanTheater Web.

There's no doubt about it. The pairing of Rosemary Harris and John Cullum onstage is delectable. Her feisty charm matches his sweet curmudgeonly presence beautifully. The opportunity to watch their wonderfully complementary presences and their sense of craftsmanship when it comes to character truly is an early holiday gift. Unfortunately, Ariel Dorfman's The Other Side, the play in which theatergoers can find Harris and Cullum currently and which opened last night in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at City Center Stage I, is not an equal cause for celebration.
...
Theatergoers will savor Harris and Cullum's performances as they enter into these minor skirmishes and pondering their implications in the larger, and less successful, context, of Dorfman's play. Audiences, looking for fresh and insightful, anti-war theater, however, would be well advised to look elsewhere.

Ron Lasko, Broadway.com

The cast, lead by Rosemary Harris and John Cullum, is top-notch. The seasoned stage veterans do surprisingly well with the bipolar script. Director Blanka Zizka is lucky to have them. As the guard, Gene Farber makes the most out of a fairly one-note role.

If you are a fan of Harris or Cullum, The Other Side may prove to be a worthwhile and provocative outing. If you really want a war comedy, stick with M*A*S*H.

Linda Winer, Newsday.

She has the bemused, tufted smile of a cat. He has the ornery bluff of a buzzard. Rosemary Harris and John Cullum are riveting together as Levana and Atom, a long-married couple who bury the dead for money during decades of war between his town and her former village.

Whatever the heavy-handed frailties of Ariel Dorfman's "The Other Side," the 75-minute wartime parable that opened last night at Manhattan Theatre Club, the connection between these theater royals is electric. Every time we think the absurdist drama might've been more provocative as a short story, an unexpected rough gesture from the elegant Harris or a lemon-tinged outburst from the low-key Cullum pulls us into the material with urgency.

Ms Harris "a joy to watch"

AP drama critic Michael Kuchwara reviews The Other Side, finding it "heavy-handed" but...

No matter what she is in, Harris, an expressive, sympathetic performer, is a joy to watch. She brings a dignity and pathos to the character, qualities that are meagerly represented in Dorfman's play, which presents ideas rather than real people. And Cullum offers strong support in the thankless role of her cranky yet loyal husband.

The Other Side: first batch

There's a spoileriffic, blow-by-blow account of the play at the Hartford Courant, while USA Today opines thusly:

Dorfman's post-absurdist script nods to original sin and will evoke various conflicts and catastrophes for viewers, not least of all the conflict in Iraq. But for all its disturbing aspects, Side, which runs through Jan. 15 at New York City Center, ultimately makes a case for the power of love and empathy, even in a troubled and disjointed world.

However, it hasn't gone down very well with these NYT reader reviewers. Variety is a little more even-handed:

Ariel Dorfman delivers his message right off the bat in this political allegory about two unnamed nations worn out by an endless war. But having made his point about the absurdity of war between neighbors who share a common heritage, the Chilean scribe leaves himself nowhere to take this static drama. Despite forceful performances from veteran thespians Rosemary Harris and John Cullum, this bleak tale feels out of its element in Blanka Zizka's overstaged production for MTC and more suited to the literary form of short story or novella.

Ariel Dorfman on radio

Broadway World reports that Ariel Dorfman, writer of The Other Side, will be featured on WKCR's "Composed on the Tongue" program tomorrow (Sunday) from 9-9.30pm (89.9 FM). Perhaps there will be clips from the show? Cross your fingers.

The Other Side official site

Manhattan Theater Club's official site for The Other Side is open. There's a synopsis, a gallery with photos from the show, biographies of the cast members, and a page with info about tickets and the schedule (8pm Tue-Sat, 2pm Sat-Sun, 8pm Sun from Dec 18-Jan 1, 2pm from Dec 21-Jan 22).

Playbill also has some pics from the opening night partay. There's one of Rosemary Harris with Jin-chaek Sohn, who directed the play in Japan and Korea.

We're a bit confused about the opening date. It's either December 6th or 13th. Either way, the play is on now!

The Other Side preview

A funny, thought provoking piece (no pun intended), “The Other Side” is a brief 75 minute work being performed at the Manhattan Theatre Club until January 22. With an experienced cast and insightful writing, the show is a wonderful way to relax and enjoy your holiday.

Says Washington Square News, NYU's paper. If you too are scratching your head...piece, peace. Yeah.

"Underground theater"

First blog review of The Other Side by Ted Green, dating from the previews:

It's an intense little show about war -- between countries and between parents and their children. Harris gives an amazing performance as a Mother who has been waiting for the return of her son for over twenty years.
...
The audience today seemed like a real New York crowd. I'm guessing most of the audience were subscribers to the theater. I liked the show, but I heard a lot of discontented muttering on the way out. In fact, when the show was over several seemed unsure if the show was actually over or if it was simply an intermission.