The Select (The Sun Also Rises)

The Select (The Sun Also Rises) is a stage adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises by Elevator Repair Service theater ensemble. It has been performed in several venues. It premiered at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[1] The Off-Broadway production, which ran from September 11 – October 23, 2011 at the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW), earned awards for its sound design. The show directed by John Collins and produced by Ariana Smart Truman and Lindsay Hockaday received the Lucille Lortel Award for being outstanding.[2]

The Select (The Sun Also Rises)
2011 NYTW Off-Broadway promotional poster
Written byElevator Repair Service
Place premiered2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Original languageEnglish
SubjectRomance & Adventure
GenreDrama
Setting1920s France & Spain

Details

It was performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in 2010,[3] the Arts Bank in Philadelphia in 2010,[4] at ArtsEmerson in Boston in 2011,[1] the NYTW in New York City in 2011,[5][6] the 2012 Dublin Theatre Festival,[7] and McCarter Theatre in Princeton in 2012.[8] The work, named for a bar at which the protagonists gather,[9] features a bullfight on stage.[8] The show is faithful to the original ill-fated romantic triangle between Americans Robert Cohn and Jake Barnes and Brit Lady Brett Ashley that was set in Spain and France. This work is like much of the Elevator Repair Service's other performances in which "the cast recites parts of the book verbatim while also drolly enacting dance, drama and mayhem onstage". The show was notable for its unusual cacophony, which is controlled by the performers rather than sound technicians.[9]

The Off-Broadway production began previews on August 19, 2011 and officially opened on September 11. It was scheduled to run until October 9 and was extended until October 23.[10]

A production at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., opened on February 18, 2017 and will run until April 2.[11]

Cast
  • Frank Boyd as Harvey Stone, Harris, others
  • Mike Iveson as Jake Barnes
  • Vin Knight as Count Mippipopolous, Braddocks, Montoya, others
  • Kate Scelsa as Frances, others
  • Kaneza Schaal as Georgette, the concierge, the drummer, Belmonte, others
  • Pete Simpson as Mike Campbell, others
  • Susie Sokol as Pedro Romero, others
  • Lucy Taylor as Brett Ashley
  • Matt Tierney as Robert Cohn
  • Ben Williams as Bill Gorton, Zizi, others

Awards

Matt Tierney and Ben Williams won the 2012 Obie Award for Sound Design[12][13] and the 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Sound Design.[14][15] David Zinn was nominated for the Lortel Award in Outstanding Scenic Design.[14]

Critical commentary

Lyn Gardner of The Guardian, while noting its length, praised the performance in Edinburgh describing it as "theatrical open-heart surgery on Ernest Hemingway's first major success" done with "surgical expertise and a droll, playful humour" that is too long at nearly four hours.[3] Erik Piepenburg of The New York Times says that although words are important to this performance, so are sounds.[9] When Ben Brantley of The New York Times saw the 2010 Philadelphia performance, he praised the presentation of the alcoholic consumption and continuous party atmosphere saying "This alcoholic element is what has been conjured so persuasively" and the show is "a wood-paneled temple to drinks past, present and future".[4] However, upon seeing the 2011 Off-Broadway performance, Brantley says "...it never entirely wraps its mind around the style and essence of the book that inspired it".[6] The Village Voice's Helen Shaw describes the show as "a gleefully drunken, offhandedly contemporary animation of Hemingway's hardboiled classic".[5] Adam Hetrick of Playbill described the performance as "a dramatic explosion of Hemingway's 1926 novel, that melds text, theatrical avant garde and an evocative soundscape".[1]

Notes
  1. Hetrick, Adam (March 15, 2011). "Elevator Repair Service's The Select (The Sun Also Rises) Dawns in Boston March 15". Playbill. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  2. New zealans Fest. "The Sun also Rises" (PDF).
  3. Gardner, Lyn (August 15, 2010). "The Sun Also Rises". The Guardian. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  4. Brantley, Ben (September 16, 2010). "For Whom the Glass Is Always Half-Empty". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  5. Shaw, Helen (September 14, 2011). "The Select (The Sun Also Rises) Guzzles Hemingway: Elevator Repair Service brings its adaptation to New York Theatre Workshop". The Village Voice. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  6. Brantley, Ben (September 11, 2011). "A Lost Generation Drinks Up, Always on Jake Barnes's Tab". The New York Times. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  7. Hetrick, Adam (July 26, 2012). "Dublin Theatre Festival Plans DruidMurphy, Works by Wooster Group, ERS and More". Playbill. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  8. "McCarter Theatre Center Presents ERS' THE SELECT (THE SUN ALSO RISES), 10/26-11/4". Broadwayworld.com. October 17, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  9. Piepenburg, Erik (September 11, 2011). "A Push-Button Hemingway Soundtrack". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  10. Hetrick, Adam (September 20, 2011). "Elevator Repair Service's The Select (The Sun Also Rises) Extends at NYTW". Playbill. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  11. Pressley, Nelson; Pressley, Nelson (May 2, 2016). "DC Theater 2016-17: An early user's guide". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  12. Healy, Patrick (May 21, 2012). "'4000 Miles' and Its Lead Actors Win Obie Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  13. Shaw, Helen (May 16, 2012). "The 2012 Obie Award Winners". The Village Voice. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  14. "2012 Lucille Lortel Awards Winners - ONCE, CHERRY ORCHARD & SONS OF THE PROPHET Win Big!". Broadwayworld.com. May 6, 2012. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  15. Healy, Patrick (May 6, 2012). "'Once' and 'Sons of the Prophet' Win Smaller-Show Honors". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
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