James Rutherford, Feathers Wise, & Laura Butler Rivera of “Salome”

M-34 presents SALOME, written by Oscar Wilde in a new English translation by director James RutherfordListen in as Salome director James Rutherford (who also translated Oscar Wilde’s script from the French) and actors Feathers Wise & Laura Butler Rivera, with GSAS! correspondent Alex Randrup, discuss dark rituals, queerness & desire, what is seen and what is obscured, looking and being looked at, simple complexity, finding musicality in biblical text, and translating/seeing/hearing the heart of Oscar Wilde.

“…he wasn’t really hiding. There’s no subtext to the play, everything that everybody is feeling they’re coming out with immediately…the way that it’s being said allows it to be very open, very emotional…”

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James Rutherford and Elliot B. Quick, adaptors & directors of “The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway”

M-34 presents "The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway" at The Access TheaterTo drastically, drastically oversimplify his play—this what happens when an easy pun is chased down to the point where it becomes a complex theatrical statement.

If they all turn out like this, a strong case can be made that we should all chase such simple puns more often.

Listen in as the adaptors/directors of The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway, James Rutherford and Elliot B. Quick, discuss the complexity of Oscar Wilde’s puns, what it really means to be earnest, and how even when things work out just perfectly, there can still be hurt & pain.

“It did actually start from a pun — and then we started working on it, and were really shocked and appalled that it was really fruitful territory, and that these two writers actually have a great deal to say to one another…”

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