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- Oct 17, 2012
- Location
- Middle Tennessee
Butler
Richard Strand delves into Civil War history in his world premiere production with New Jersey Repertory Company.
By Hayley Levitt • Jun 18, 2014 • South Jersey, New Jersey
John G. Williams as Shepard Mallory and Ames Adamson as General Benjamin Butler in the world premiere of Richard Strand's Butler, directed by Joseph Discher, at New Jersey Repertory Company.
(© Suzanne Barabas)
Historical drama scratches a certain theatrical itch that no other genre can reach. The most treasured stories of popular culture are woven into rich, three-dimensional worlds where their leading characters are transformed into flesh-and-blood human beings, accessible in both body and spirit. This was certainly the formula for the success of All the Way, Robert Schenkkan's homage to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, which was just handed the biggest prize of the Broadway season. In a similar political vein, playwright Richard Strand is now premiering his newest work, Butler, at New Jersey Repertory Company, taking a stab at the story of Benjamin Franklin Butler — a major general for the Union Army during the Civil War whose actions facilitated the eventual emancipation of Southern slaves. Butler's controversial activities and ambiguous motivations are, at the very least, comparable in theatrical potential to the fight for civil rights legislation that lends LBJ's story its central conflict. Strand, unfortunately, has not given his raw material the dramatic heartbeat necessary to convert this historical anecdote into a pulsating human story.
For the rest: http://www.theatermania.com/new-jersey-theater/reviews/06-2014/butler_68923.html
Richard Strand delves into Civil War history in his world premiere production with New Jersey Repertory Company.
By Hayley Levitt • Jun 18, 2014 • South Jersey, New Jersey
John G. Williams as Shepard Mallory and Ames Adamson as General Benjamin Butler in the world premiere of Richard Strand's Butler, directed by Joseph Discher, at New Jersey Repertory Company.
(© Suzanne Barabas)
Historical drama scratches a certain theatrical itch that no other genre can reach. The most treasured stories of popular culture are woven into rich, three-dimensional worlds where their leading characters are transformed into flesh-and-blood human beings, accessible in both body and spirit. This was certainly the formula for the success of All the Way, Robert Schenkkan's homage to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, which was just handed the biggest prize of the Broadway season. In a similar political vein, playwright Richard Strand is now premiering his newest work, Butler, at New Jersey Repertory Company, taking a stab at the story of Benjamin Franklin Butler — a major general for the Union Army during the Civil War whose actions facilitated the eventual emancipation of Southern slaves. Butler's controversial activities and ambiguous motivations are, at the very least, comparable in theatrical potential to the fight for civil rights legislation that lends LBJ's story its central conflict. Strand, unfortunately, has not given his raw material the dramatic heartbeat necessary to convert this historical anecdote into a pulsating human story.
For the rest: http://www.theatermania.com/new-jersey-theater/reviews/06-2014/butler_68923.html
Bringing the