Friday 2 April 2010

the diary of a teenage girl

OK, so I don't really 'do' theatre, and there's probably little to no chance of it coming over to the UK so I don't know what I'm getting so excited about, but Phoebe Gloeckner's amazing graphic novel 'The Diary of a Teenage Girl' has been adapted in to a stage play in the US. Wowzer!

The basic premise: 'It’s San Francisco in the 1970s. Fifteen-year-old Minnie has just started an affair with her mother’s boyfriend. Shit.'

Oh, and I love this touch: C. Andrew Bauer’s video designs cleverly incorporate Ms. Gloeckner’s drawings. A small exhibition of Gloeckner originals in the lobby pays further tribute to the unblinking honesty that inspired this heartfelt production.

"When you enter the building, you're treated to an unexpected exhibition of original art by Phoebe Gloeckner -- and I promise you, this alone is worth the price of admission. The selections draw heavily from the comics and illustrations found in Diary, including some of its most memorable pieces -- a dalliance between Minnie's best friend Kimmie and her ersatz boyfriend Monroe on the beach literally made my jaw drop, while I laughed aloud at seeing the book's memorable rear-view portrait of Monroe and Kimmie arguing in the buff. But one of "Minnie"/Phoebe's comics from her teenage years was also on display, as were several of her astonishing illustrations from J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition, including that infamous fellatio cross-section. Throughout, it's almost awe-inspiring to see how much more frequently white-out is used to erase lettering mistakes or alter word-balloon placement rather than fix the art itself; Gloeckner's line appears to flow fully formed from her brain to the page. I was hard pressed to pull myself away from them to enter the venue proper, or to leave and catch my subway at the end of the night." (from: this rad review)

How I wish I was in New York to see this :(

1 comment:

keepsakes said...

That book is a big favourite of mine, too. Let's not give up hope of it coming over here!