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This two-play volume is the first published work by Chicago actor and playwright Mickle Maher. Maher is a co-founder of the experimental company Theater Oobleck, which produced both plays.
“An Apology” is a brilliant retelling of the Faust legend. Dr. Faustus spends his final hour on earth apologizing to the audience for leaving the writing of his life to “long-winded hacks” and explaining how Mephistopheles prevented him from recording his own story for posterity.
In “The Hunchback Variations”, Maher brings together composer Ludwig van Beethoven and Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, for a panel discussion on the pitfalls of artistic collaboration. They reveal the obstacles encountered in trying to create an enigmatic sound called for by a stage direction in Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, among them, the collaborators both being deaf, an unpleasant working environment, and the fact that Beethoven never finished reading Chekhov’s play.
Both of these funny, intelligent and inventive plays have had several successful productions. “The Hunchback Variations” has recently completed an extended run in Chicago at the Lunar Cabaret, and “An Apology” was remounted in New York in November, 2001, after a well-received run during the New York Fringe Festival.
Buy direct from Hope and Nonthings (with a check or money order).
on CD
sounds by Colm O’Reilly
Buy direct from Hope and Nonthings (with a check or money order).