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11-17-2010, 05:49 AM
"Throw the bums out!" — an expression usually associated with baseball or politics — is the threatened fate of those "dead white males" once regarded as sacred giants of Western literature in A.R. Gurney's new comedy, "Office Hours."
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Two alternating casts of The Bats, members of the Flea's young resident company, enthusiastically portray either junior college instructors or students. Each handles four or five roles in neatly structured scenes that gently overlap into one another.
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Expert direction by the Flea's artistic director, Jim Simpson, keeps the vignettes lively, while helping the actors create distinct personalities for each character. Typical of Gurney, 30 Rock collection (http://www.nibdvd.com/30-Rock-Seasons-1-4-DVD-Box-set-p-653.html), The Big Bang Theory dvd box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/The-Big-Bang-Theory-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Box-set-p-662.html), Gossip Girl dvd box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Gossip-Girl-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Boxset-p-649.html), there's no real high-blown drama until late in the semester, when a former student, Ross, Brothers And Sisters dvd set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Brothers-And-Sisters-1-4-dvd-p-636.html), How I Met Your Mother 1-5 dvd (http://www.nibdvd.com/How-I-Met-Your-Mother-Seasons-1-5-DVD-Box-set-p-659.html), (played with restraint by Raul Sigmund Julia,) who's apparently had a mental breakdown, physically confronts his former literature teacher. The escalation of danger feels out of step with the rest of the play, Taxi dvd 1-5 (http://www.nibdvd.com/Taxi-Complete-Seasons-DVD-Box-Set-p-720.html), but the director and cast defuse it with humorous overtones. Betsy Lippitt gives one of several thoughtful performances here, as a teacher who distracts Ross by humorously quoting Shakespeare to calm him down.
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Even if you never saw a slide-rule, you'll enjoy this often-amusing look at the ups and down
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As sweeping social and political upheaval of the early 1970s emboldens college students to challenge every aspect of the required curriculum, Desperate Housewives 1-6 dvd (http://www.nibdvd.com/Desperate-Housewives-Seasons-1-6-DVD-Box-set-p-647.html), tenuous academic careers in the Humanities department at a prestigious American university suddenly hang in the balance.
The insular concerns of academia are familiar to Gurney, Brothers And Sisters dvd box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Brothers-And-Sisters-1-4-dvd-p-636.html), Gossip Girl dvds (http://www.nibdvd.com/Gossip-Girl-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Boxset-p-649.html), who once taught literature at MIT. His play covers a single semester, set in the offices of various junior faculty members, 30 Rock dvd box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/30-Rock-Seasons-1-4-DVD-Box-set-p-653.html), Gossip Girl 1-3 (http://www.nibdvd.com/Gossip-Girl-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Boxset-p-649.html), Scrubs box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Scrubs-DVD-Complete-Seasons-1-8-Box-Set-p-627.html), Ally McBeal 1-5 (http://www.nibdvd.com/Ally-McBeal-DVD-Complete-Series-1-5-Box-set-p-37.html), as they conduct sometimes-fractious meetings with students and worriedly discuss the fluctuating literature curriculum with one another.
Every scene contains comic overtones, even though the teachers feel that traditional methods and subjects are like a sinking ship that's also torpedoing their chances for tenure.
Some bemoan the fact that once-revered philosophers like Plato, Two and a Half Men 1-7 dvd (http://www.nibdvd.com/Two-and-a-Half-Men-Seasons-1-7-DVD-Box-set-p-663.html), Torchwood seasons 1-2 dvd (http://www.nibdvd.com/Torchwood-seasons-1-2-box-set-p-835.html), Aeschylus, Homer and St. Augustine are being tossed aside because their complex, dated ideas just don't resonate with this empowered new generation of kids. Other teachers eagerly adapt their teaching style to try to engage bored students. "They always sit up when the subject is sex, Torchwood complete box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Torchwood-seasons-1-2-box-set-p-835.html), 30 Rock dvd series (http://www.nibdvd.com/30-Rock-Seasons-1-4-DVD-Box-set-p-653.html)," a confident instructor named Hal (Bjorn Dupaty) tells his despairing colleague Tim (Wilton Yeung.)
Two alternating casts of The Bats, members of the Flea's young resident company, enthusiastically portray either junior college instructors or students. Each handles four or five roles in neatly structured scenes that gently overlap into one another.
In the section titled "Dante, Ally McBeal complete seasons (http://www.nibdvd.com/Ally-McBeal-DVD-Complete-Series-1-5-Box-set-p-37.html), Psych 1-4 (http://www.nibdvd.com/Psych-series-1-4-box-set-p-793.html), Desperate Housewives complete seasons (http://www.nibdvd.com/Desperate-Housewives-Seasons-1-6-DVD-Box-set-p-647.html)," Holly Chou is effervescent as a mid-term replacement instructor who becomes comically enraptured by the romantic ideals of her more seasoned colleague, Psych complete box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Psych-series-1-4-box-set-p-793.html), Angelina. Maren Langdon gives a lovely performance as bohemian Angelina, who is happily and openly conducting a "scandalous" affair with "a major scholar in the History Department, Gossip Girl series 1-3 (http://www.nibdvd.com/Gossip-Girl-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Boxset-p-649.html), Chuck complete seasons (http://www.nibdvd.com/Chuck-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Box-set-p-661.html)," played by Yeung. Both were married to others when they fell in love while teaching Dante together. The pair is so steeped in their erudite subject matter that they dramatically compare their own rather mundane lives to scenes from Dante's epic works.
Dupaty is very funny in "The Bible, How I Met Your Mother seasons 1-5 dvd box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/How-I-Met-Your-Mother-Seasons-1-5-DVD-Box-set-p-659.html), Girlfriends box set 1-7 (http://www.nibdvd.com/Girlfriends-Complete-Seasons-DVD-Boxset-p-728.html), Gossip Girl 1-3 dvd (http://www.nibdvd.com/Gossip-Girl-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Boxset-p-649.html), Scrubs dvd box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Scrubs-DVD-Complete-Seasons-1-8-Box-Set-p-627.html), a brief scene about an instructor who feels increasingly embattled with his students, Supernatural dvd series (http://www.nibdvd.com/Supernatural-Seasons-1-5-DVD-Boxset-p-642.html), as various student religious groups have complained to the dean about each section of the Bible that he tries to teach. He gets weepy while discussing the Epistles of Paul, because he loves Paul's "warmth," even though the Course Committee has just suggested that Paul be skipped entirely on the grounds that he's anti-Semitic.
Expert direction by the Flea's artistic director, Jim Simpson, keeps the vignettes lively, while helping the actors create distinct personalities for each character. Typical of Gurney, 30 Rock collection (http://www.nibdvd.com/30-Rock-Seasons-1-4-DVD-Box-set-p-653.html), The Big Bang Theory dvd box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/The-Big-Bang-Theory-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Box-set-p-662.html), Gossip Girl dvd box set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Gossip-Girl-Seasons-1-3-DVD-Boxset-p-649.html), there's no real high-blown drama until late in the semester, when a former student, Ross, Brothers And Sisters dvd set (http://www.nibdvd.com/Brothers-And-Sisters-1-4-dvd-p-636.html), How I Met Your Mother 1-5 dvd (http://www.nibdvd.com/How-I-Met-Your-Mother-Seasons-1-5-DVD-Box-set-p-659.html), (played with restraint by Raul Sigmund Julia,) who's apparently had a mental breakdown, physically confronts his former literature teacher. The escalation of danger feels out of step with the rest of the play, Taxi dvd 1-5 (http://www.nibdvd.com/Taxi-Complete-Seasons-DVD-Box-Set-p-720.html), but the director and cast defuse it with humorous overtones. Betsy Lippitt gives one of several thoughtful performances here, as a teacher who distracts Ross by humorously quoting Shakespeare to calm him down.
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Even if you never saw a slide-rule, you'll enjoy this often-amusing look at the ups and down
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