THE CONDUCT OF LIFE

All I can say is, brace yourself! This is not your average feel-good play. In fact, it's the opposite. But sometimes you need that reminder that guess what? There is some fucked up shit in this world so we better be grateful for what we have and conduct our lives the best way possible. The production is flawless & the acting is amazing. Definitely the best show I've seen yet!... full review

DARK SUBJECT MATTER LEAVES US IN THE DARK Inspired by Theater of the Absurd, Cuban expatriate María Irene Fornés (b. 1930) cut her teeth during the Off-Off-Broadway avant-garde movement. She may have nine Obie Awards to her credit, but this feminist playwright’s deliberately dark and opaque style willfully obfuscates her narrative, which keeps the meaning in her scripts, often rife with unpleasant, complex characters and murderous violence, ambiguous at best. Since many of her one-acts are short—and perhaps due to the in-your-face off-putting situations—you are more likely to see her work at Fringe Festivals than in regional theaters. A textbook example of Fornés’ fascinating but ultimately alienating work resides in her 1985 The Condu... full review

The Conduct of Life by Maria Irene Fornes. Review by Mayank Keshaviah. ***This review first appeared on www.stageraw.com*** http://stageraw.com/2014/06/11/conduct-of-life-thistle-and-weeds/ In an unidentified country, ambitious military officer Orlando (Robert Homer Mollohan) wants to “achieve maximum power.” His sensitive wife Leticia (Karina Wolfe) wants to “be a woman who speaks in a group and have everybody listen.” But she won’t stand up to him, even once she becomes aware of Nena (Emily Yetter), the young girl that Orlando keeps and rapes in the basement. Orlando’s colleague Alejo (Jeremy Mascia) impotently wonders if “anybody can change anything.” He, too, fails to speak up against the torture he and Orlando perpetrate against th... full review

The LA based theatre company, The Vagrancy, known for its socially relevant work, is the daring force behind this powerful rendering of The Conduct Of Life, the Obie-winning play by the celebrated Cuban-American playwright Maria Irene Fornes whose work often focuses on poverty and feminism. The Conduct Of Life explores the dark side of human interaction in an unspecified Latin American police state where sexuality meets violence, the personal meets the political and the wife meets the mistress. Actually, the long-suffering tortured wife meets her husband's raped and beaten prisoner. Everybody serves somebody in this chilling world, which bears too striking a resemblance to what lurks beneath our own, thanks to director Sabina Ptasznik’s lase... full review

Much like Friends Like These, The Conduct of Life shows the progression from victim to perpetrator. It depicts that a victim who is pushed too far can all too easily turn violent. As such, the play contains explicit depictions of rape and violence and is NOT suitable for children. See the rest of the review at Examiner.com. ... full review

Originally posted in Bitter Lemons: "Fringe Femmes" | “Conduct of Life” by Maria Irene Fornes | “There’s something malignant in the world.” Oh, yeah, there is. In Maria Irene Fornes’ award-winning 1985 Conduct of Life, mounted in a stunning Hollywood Fringe revival by The Vagrancy, it’s not just the terrifying, animalistic soldier Orlando (Robert Homer Mollohan) – although he’s the one who, ironically, makes the statement. It’s also the frightened, prey-like characters who surround him and are complicit in his ongoing brutality, made worse under the cover of normalcy. Director Sabina Ptasznik doesn’t miss a nuance or opportunity for an explosion in this powerful production; she and her five superb actors mine the rich material for ... full review