Listening to the cast read through the script for the first time, I was struck by the power, sensuality, and humor of this play, which explores the tense relationships of strangers brought together by circumstance during the Great Plague of the mid 1600s.

Tomorrow we’ll come back together to begin discussing the dramaturgical research and characters, and by the end of this week the actors will be up on their feet. Based on their first trip through the play together, this promises to be a fascinating six weeks we’ve got ahead of us, and we’ll be sharing the experience here on the blog as we go along.

The photo above, taken by our fantastic photographer Scott Cooper, features Elizabeth Stenholt (Morse) and JP Pierson (Bunce). More photos, including some behind the scenes shots from tonight’s rehearsal, are in our One Flea Spare set on Flickr.

One of my favorite pages so far is a collection of quotes by and/or about Marilyn Monroe, who (despite Miller’s occasional claims to the contrary) is widely seen as a model for the character of Maggie. All of the quotes are worth reading, digesting and ruminating on, but here’s my favorite:

“I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let people fool themselves. They didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t.”
-Marilyn Monroe

Browse through the research by clicking the link on the right, and keep checking back in as we add more…

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Spinning into Butter, from the 2006 Rebecca Gilman season.

First Production

Opened in New York City January 23rd, 1964.

Director: Elia Kazan

Notable Actors:  Jason Robards (Quentin), Barbara Loden (Maggie), Fay Dunaway (nurse), Hal Holbrook (Harley Barnes)

Critical Response:

(Miller on general critical response)  I was soon widely hated, but the play had spoken its truth as, after all, it was obliged to do, and if truth was clothed in pain, perhaps it was important for the audience to confront it uncomfortably and even in anger of denial.  In time, and with much difficulty, I saw the justification for the hostility toward me, I had indeed brought very bad news.

1974 Film

Produced as a television production

Director: Gilbert Cates

Notable Actors: Christopher Plummer (Quentin), Faye Dunaway (Maggie), Brooke Shields (Quentin’s daughter)

Critical Response:

(user comment) Christopher Plummer, Faye Dunaway, Bibi Anderson, all at the top of their game. A truly great production of a deep, complex, understated work of art, by one of the greatest, if not *the* greatest American playwright of the 20th century. Tackles head-on how our lives become entangled in the personal and political turmoil of our families, our selves, and others, all against the backdrop of terrible times and governmental moral bankruptcy. Miller shines a light to help show the way out. Amazing. A shame that this beautiful Gilbert Cates production has not received the acclaim it deserves. It really should be released on DVD. Now more than ever.
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071109/usercomments

1984 Production

Staged at Playhouse 91in New York

Director: John Tillinger

Notable Actors: Frank Langella (Quentin), Dianne Weist (Maggie)

Critical Response:

That success may have come in part because Mr. Langella, Miss Wiest and the director John Tillinger confronted, even embraced, the disquieting nature of the play. Mr. Langella’s Quentin and Miss Wiest’s Maggie emerge less as heroes or victims than as complex beings – wounded and wounding, vulnerable and self-absorbed.
- http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9A0DEFD61339F936A35752C1A962948260

2001 Los Angeles

Produced at The Fountain Theatre

Director: Stephen Sachs

Notable Actors: Tracy Middendorf (Maggie) & Morlan Higgins (Quentin)

Critical Response:

Stephen Sachs has deftly pruned the text and its monologues so that every word falls with maximum effect. Miller uses interjections from other characters to underline the action by recalling who said that to Quentin before and, in this memory play, Sachs sets his people behind screens from which the lines land dead center. Sachs comes up with an underlining of his own by dressing the two women of whom Maggie is jealous in red, the color of sin. He also subtly moderates a play that could deteriorate into shouting, abetted by a fine cast.
- http://www.curtainup.com/afterthefall.html

2004 Revival

Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City

Director: Michael Mayer

Notable Actors: Peter Krause (Quentin) & Carla Gugino (Maggie)

Critical Response:

Here, though, Krause thrives solely on detached annoyance and anger, becoming very one-note (and quickly tiring) onstage. His voice, too, ideal for the close perspective of the screen, lacks the palette of colors necessary to communicate complex emotions (and lengthy speeches) in a Broadway house. Krause also fails to make the vital connections needed to bring Quentin’s character to believable life; the stock market crash of 1929, the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the German concentration camps are all vital in his development, yet are never made relevant here. Everything seems to burst onto the stage – and thus Quentin’s memory – haphazardly.
- http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/AfterFall.html

I’ll post part two, along with some thoughts on what this means in terms of After the Fall, later this week.

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The Rimers of Eldritch, from the 2005 Lanford Wilson season.

Kristy Johnson (left, playing Keisha) is nominated for a Jeff Award for Best Supporting Actress – we’re wishing her all the best for Monday’s award ceremony!