Da Birds by Aristophanes

"The Birds" by Aristophanes with a modern spin on it by Gabriel Vega Weissman and Brain Reno was a joy to work on. Gabe and Brian took an old Greek comedy, which most audience members would not understand because it is full of references that even scholars do not know, and made it relatable to college students. Also some of the things that ancient Greeks laughed at, we do not find funny anymore. When this was the case, Gabe and Brian updated and found an analogous substitute. The father beater was changed into the public deficator. The leader of the birds Tereus the Hoope was a man who rapped and cut out his wife's sisters tongue. In today's society that is not something that is okay. Instead Gabe and Brian changed him into Bill Clinton a dignified man with a shameful past. We all snicker at him and joke. Brian and Gabe took out all the excessive violence and vulgarity and made it comedic for modern day. They added characters that the everyday person would know such as Spock, Darth Vader, and J.J. Abrams.  Overall Brain and Gabe showed that they had a good grasp on both the original material and on pop culture. They brought that knowledge together in a play that made both humans and birds laugh.

"Mr.Icky" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Mr. Icky” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a play that does not make much sense. There is a very lose plot that at times is hard to follow. Mr. Icky is a hundred-year-old arsonist. We never see him set anything on fire during the play, but he has an interaction with Peter where he admits that in prison he became a bigger criminal. He also had a daughter, Ulsa, who went to Lunnon (London) to be a typewriter. With the way this play was going I would not have been surprised if she actually transformed into a typewriter. But she did not because we see her later when her fiancé Divine follows her home after they break up due to an argument about who would win in a fight. When they come to a conclusion to the debate they decide to get married again. That is the first child to leave Mr. Icky.

         His son Charles then comes out wearing a rope and anchor around his neck. He decided to go out to sea, making him the second child to leave Mr. Icky. The script then says dozen of Mr. Icky’s children come out. This 100-year-old man who was in prison for years has several dozen kids. His children all decide to leave so Mr. Icky is all alone. The curtains open and close a few times and Peter is left standing there with a moth ball. Peter is having euphoric reactions to the moth ball, so he gives it Mr. Icky as a present in the end.

         Although the plot makes no sense, the way it is written is very cool. Fitzgerald leaves places for the people performing the show to add in jokes.  Also his stage directions are very specific. An example is when he describes Divine’s stride as “He advances toward her with the graceful, even stride that made him captain of the striding team at Cambridge.” Even though I do not think a striding team is a thing, I understood what Fitzgerald was trying to say. My favorite part about the way he wrote it was at the end he says could end here or it can go on forever. There is no real structure. This is not a play that has very strict rules or is realistic at all. In my opinion it was a confusing, but fun read. 

"Kingdom of the Spider" by Nick Zagone

         What I like about Kingdom of the Spider is that Nick Zagone twists the classical devil and angel scenario. Instead, he has the devil represented by a Black Widow spider and the angel is a Mormon girl. The spider seemingly knows everything about the man including his son’s name which makes the spider appear to be a powerful being. That illusion is crushed when Bob smashes the spider with ease. It is a funny moment, not because it makes you laugh out loud. It is more of a chuckle to yourself. He builds this character up by giving it more and more information and shifting the power to the spider’s favor. And in a literal sense of knowledge being power, the spider is crushed by a pamphlet.

 The choice of using a Black Widow is interesting because it poses an immediate threat to him and his child. A Black Widow is the most venomous spider in the world. That fact coupled with Bob’s son being named Isaac gave me a “oh shit, he is going to sacrifice his son to this spider” reaction. This play has a lot of religious overtones, but I think the author is actually trying to tell the history of religion.

In the beginning, Bob meets a Satan figure. Bob is constantly left in a state of confusion because the spider doesn’t let him speak. This symbolizes the chaos of the world without organized religion. Then the bible girl comes along and puts an end to the confusion, much like how religion provided order for ancient civilizations. Then the pamphlet is used to kill a living creature even though the girl says God would not kill anything. Similar to how countless people have been killed in the name of God by people who claim that is what God would have wanted. The last part, I find the most interesting. The girl, after seeing the violence of the spider dying and being interrogated by Bob, has a crisis of faith. She much like a majority of the world today is turning away from religion. She is focusing on what she wants, and that is a baby that will be born into a world without religion.