Blog on stage
: Riverbend, the Iraqi blog, is a play and The Times reviews it… lukewarmly. The problem isn’t the opinions (of course). What the critic complains about is the staging:
While Riverbend has a fascinating voice, this production, adapted by Kimberly I. Kefgen and Loren Ingrid Noveck, never makes the case for her blog as a piece of drama. What is lost is the sense of one singular, idiosyncratic personality, which, of course, is exactly what emerges so vividly from the blog. Instead of building a character, the show includes readings of her words from three women and one man, which adds to the muddled feel.
When not speaking, the actors pace in a triangle or perform synchronized gestures that make them look like backup singers to a 1960’s pop band.
: The Times notes that this is a new form: the blog play. And yes, I imagine that one or more people reciting a blog is not going to be compelling. For that misses the essence of blogging: conversation. How much better it would be to hear multiple voices — and multiple viewpoints — from the Baghdad bloggers: how they see the same scenes differently, how they disagree with each other, and how they link to each other.
: I also wonder whether the producers are paying Riverbend and, if so, whether they have contacted her and have confirmation that she is in Baghdad.
: See also Flickr photos here.
: And from the comments, I learn that she has a book coming from the Feminist Press.
