Talking about wierd art...

... tonight we went to the new Chicago Lyric Opera performance of "Salome" by Richard Strauss. Last Sunday we saw "The Pillowman" by Martin McDonagh at the Steppenwolf Theatre.

First things first, the Pillowman was billed as a "dark comedy". It is much more dark than comedy. The plot is a tad implausible - but not really. It explores the mind of the psychopath (all the characters are indeed psychopaths) and as a result it appears to be implausible - but that is what psychopathic minds are - they see the implausible as plausible. "The Pillowman" draws one into the minds of psychopaths and treats them as if they are almost normal, but a little odd.

I often said (when I was gainfully employed) that I did not know what I thought until I wrote it down. This blog entry is a prime example of that. I started off intending the slam "The Pillowman" as an over the top piece of writing that delivered neither insight nor amusement. By writing what I thought, I discovered that it did indeed deliver insight - but its amusement quotient is, to me, still fairly low. So, if you want insight with minimal amusement, go see "The Pillowman." Be warned - the writer is a poor editor - the work runs for 2 1/2 hours - way too long.

"Salome" is, of course, a classic. It is also a tad tedious. Some of the music is, well, musical. Much of it sounds like Strauss trying to be Wagner, but never reaching the gut emotional impact that Wagner delivers. The "Dance of the Seven Veils" for me always raises the memory of Peter Sellers and "The Dance of the Seven Army Surplus Blankets." This sort of dilutes the emotional impact of the moment. The Dilbert book "Bring Me the Head of Willy the Mailboy" also came to mind all to often. Despite being based on Oscar Wilde's play, Salome delivered no insights to me. I am a big time fan of Oscar Wilde's works, but the mix of Germanic music and Irish wit just does not work. Mercifully, it was over in 105 minutes with no intermission.