In honor of Groundhog Day last week, we swap favorite time travel stories with fellow nerd AJ Mass that run the gamut from Ray Bradbury, Jack Finney, and Stephen Fry to Eliza Dushku and Ashton Kucher. Featuring nods to precision, romance, 12 monkeys, gateway drugs, literary detectives, time-traveling Irish playwrights, open and closed universes, and the surprising double presence of Christopher Plummer. Heavy, doc. (Length 37:40)
Podcast: Download ()
Playwright Sara Gmitter (In the Garden: A Darwinian Love Story) returns to Chicago's Tony-winning Lookingglass Theatre for the world premiere of her adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel Villette – and returns to the Podcast to discuss how the production came to be and why the novel isn't as famous as Brontë's other work, Jane Eyre. Sara talks about the challenge of channeling Brontë’s voice (in both language and staging); who to credit (or blame) for this adaptation; the joy of working with characters that demand to be brought to life; gratitude to directors and designers who help visualize the story; how the relationship between the protagonist and audience mirrors the one between an author and reader; the undeniable fact that Charlotte Brontë is funny; and the unassailable right of an unreliable narrator to keep some things to herself. (Length 20:35) (PICTURED: Debo Balogun, Mi Kang, Ronald Román-Melendez in the Lookingglass Theatre production of Villette, written by Sara Gmitter, directed by Tracy Walsh. Photo by Sandro Miller.)
Our 'London Entertainment Correspondent' (!) Elizabeth Dennehy reviews the transformative Almeida Theatre production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Rebecca Frecknall and starring Paul Mescal and Patsy Ferran (above). Elizabeth discusses how the direction and performances made it feel as if she was hearing Streetcar for the very first time, and how they scrape off the barnacles of affectation from previous productions; redefine the tragedy of Blanche DuBois; how her feelings are perfectly expressed in David Benedict’s review in Variety; how the magic of theatre is not an illusion and more effective when it doesn’t try to be; and the fundamental importance of trusting the words, trusting the actors, and most of all, trusting the audience. (Length 20:54)
Part speakeasy bar, part magic theater, the Chicago Magic Lounge presents live magic shows seven nights a week in its two performance spaces, its bar, and at your own table. It's incredible immersive theater and the brainchild of Joey Cranford, the founder, co-owner, and CML CEO. Joey talks about his Magic Lounge's inspiration and how its roots are firmly embedded in Chicago history; the relationship of Chicago’s magic community to its improv community; the art of building anticipation and developing a speakeasy aesthetic; the fun of making a clubhouse; and the revelation that (to paraphrase Soylent Green) “Magic is people!” (Length 21:20)
17 Comments
Julie K. · March 24, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Other time travel favorites inculde the following:
1. Wrinkle in Time (Madeline L’Engle)
2. Chronicles of Narnia
3. Fringe (You say “altenate universe”, I say “timeline.”)
4. Adventures in Odyssey (the Imagination Station)
5. Hitchhiker’s Guides
6. Brigadoon
7. Daybreak (Similar to Groundhog’s Day, but Detective Brent Hopper wakes up to the same day on which he’s been accused of murdering a district attorney. Every morning is identical, except for any new information that he has discovered from the previous day–and anything that has happened to his body.
8. Lost in Austen (Elizabeth Bennett comes to the present and current day Amanda Price goes back to Pride and Prejudice times.)
austin · February 20, 2012 at 7:35 am
I agree on both points, and you’ve convinced me to go back and re-watch “Blink”. Thanks, Hilary!
Hilary Giffen · February 20, 2012 at 7:27 am
The Doctor may be a time traveller, but most of his stories aren’t actually time travel stories. They’re more settings for stories. There are a few individual episodes that do qualify. “Blink” from series 3 is outstanding on so many levels and is a true time travel story. I would put that episode in my top 10 list of “best hours of television” and the top of my list of best time travel stories.
austin · February 13, 2012 at 8:16 am
Seriously? How can we trust somebody with a *Stanford* email address… Holy crap, you ain’t kidding! This is a shocking blind spot. I look forward to checking out her books. Thanks for the recommendation…and Go Bears!
Joe Pallas · February 13, 2012 at 7:32 am
Hello, Connie Willis? Firewatch, Doomsday Book, and To Say Nothing of the Dog? Not only does she present the time machine as a fait accompli without any silly pseudo-technical explanation, she puts it in the hands of academic historians, because really, who else should be operating a time machine?
austin · February 9, 2012 at 7:33 am
Names of fans are culled from these comments, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes reviewers, and actually (gasp!) meeting fans in person. They’re then thrown into a digital hat and I pluck one out each week, double-checking that I haven’t given them a shout-out before. I usually try to get both first and last names but sometimes will use noms de web if it looks like I’ll totally screw up the pronunciation.
Colin · February 8, 2012 at 8:02 pm
How do you decide random fans? I know they’re random but how do you have a list?
austin · February 8, 2012 at 10:45 am
Love it. There’s a similar bit in the DS9 episode “Trials & Tribble-ations”, in which an agent from the “Department of Temporal Investigations” refers to Capt. James T. Kirk as “The worst. A menace.”
Frank Forkl · February 8, 2012 at 10:34 am
My favorite Star Trek time travel story is from Voyager. A renegade time cop from the future travels back in time to kill Janeway because she’s messed with time too much. For me its so meta. Star Trek always seems to do a time travel ep when they run out of other ideas. So, for there to be an in-universe character who just flips his lid and goes “STOP. MESSING WITH. THE TIMELINE!” is hysterical to me.
austin · February 8, 2012 at 10:29 am
Ooh…excellent point, sir.
Frank Forkl · February 8, 2012 at 10:22 am
I also love Back to the Future, including the chalk board bit, BUT: Back to the Future Pt. II isn’t internally consistent! After Biff brought the almanac back, he would have traveled to the newly created 2015, not the one Marty and Doc were walking around in. They should have been stranded in that 2015 forever. But then, of course, there’s no story.
austin · February 8, 2012 at 10:03 am
That may well be it!
Katy Hargreaves · February 8, 2012 at 10:02 am
Trust me, I noticed and was outraged by the lack of Dr Who. I put it down to you being Americans… 😛
austin · February 8, 2012 at 7:56 am
Thanks, Dustin! You’re the third person to post that information (the other two were on Facebook and Twitter). Thanks for the confirmation!
Dustin · February 7, 2012 at 10:10 pm
FYI – Austin, the story you are looking for is “Behold the Man” by Michael Moorcock.
Kyle · February 6, 2012 at 10:35 pm
By the way…Where the hell is Hot Tub Time Machine in this? Major failure, guys. This will be on your permanent record
Kyle · February 6, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Yes! Love it! PRIMER! That’s how I know you’re picking the right interviewees. I literally had my comments all ready: “PRIMER IS THE BEST”. He. Said. It. For. Me! <3 <3 <3