La Bête: And, Wrong MountainGrove Press, 2001 - 312 pages David Hirson's La Bete and Wrong Mountain are widely regarded as two of the most controversial and original American plays produced on Broadway in the past decade. Critics have compared Hirson, who is known as a rebel, to Joe Orton, Tom Stoppard, John Osborne, Charles Ludlam, Maxwell Anderson, and even Prokofiev. Written in rhyming iambic-pentameter couplets, La Bete recounts the arrival of a vulgar street performer, Valere, into an elite company of veteran actors. The battles between Elomire, the troupe's leader, and Valere provides the basis for an antic comedy questioning the divide between art and entertainment. Popular acclaim eludes Wrong Mountain's protagonist, Henry Dennett, an aging poet, until he makes a bet with a successful playwright, Guy Halperin, that he can write a play and have it produced. Dennett triumphs, but he is left wondering whether he has spent his entire life climbing the "wrong mountain." "David Hirson is a gutsy, loopy, genuinely original writer who revels in extremes of intellectual virtuosity and pop-culture savvy." -- Linda Winer, Newsday |
From inside the book
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Page 8
... BEJART You carry on as if we had a choice ! ELOMIRE We do ! BEJART No ! ELOMIRE Bejart , listen to my voice : Our patronage , you say , requires that we Add one more player to our company ; The rationale for this escapes me quite ( Bejart ...
... BEJART You carry on as if we had a choice ! ELOMIRE We do ! BEJART No ! ELOMIRE Bejart , listen to my voice : Our patronage , you say , requires that we Add one more player to our company ; The rationale for this escapes me quite ( Bejart ...
Page 11
... BEJART I don't remember now ; ( But he gradually begins to remember . ) It was a pantomime . . . he had a ... ( Squinting in disbelief at the memory . ) Dressed up as Anne of Austria ... BEJART Amen . ELOMIRE BEJART Amen ? What did you II.
... BEJART I don't remember now ; ( But he gradually begins to remember . ) It was a pantomime . . . he had a ... ( Squinting in disbelief at the memory . ) Dressed up as Anne of Austria ... BEJART Amen . ELOMIRE BEJART Amen ? What did you II.
Page 12
And, Wrong Mountain David Hirson. BEJART Amen . ELOMIRE BEJART Amen ? What did you say that for ? I thought you'd finished . ELOMIRE No. BEJART ( Fed up with the histrionics . ) May we get up !? ELOMIRE " DEAR GOD ... ” BEJART I'm ...
And, Wrong Mountain David Hirson. BEJART Amen . ELOMIRE BEJART Amen ? What did you say that for ? I thought you'd finished . ELOMIRE No. BEJART ( Fed up with the histrionics . ) May we get up !? ELOMIRE " DEAR GOD ... ” BEJART I'm ...
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Common terms and phrases
Actors ADAM Anne appears ARIEL artist audience Audio become begins BEJART believe Bête Blue BRIE Broadway called CATHERINE character Cheyenne CLAIRE CLIFF Company completely continues course critics Dennett don't Dorine Duncan ELOMIRE Elomire's exits expression eyes face fact feel final fool give hand head hear Henry idea identity imagine It's JESSICA kind least LEIBOWITZ less light listening Lithia live look lord MADELEINE MARQUISE-THERESE Maurice mean mind never night nods PARC Pause perhaps person Peter play playwright poem poet PRINCE production question reflection scene seems sense shakes silence simply sort sound speak stage stand success suddenly sure takes talent talking tell Thank that's theatre there's thing thought troupe true truth trying turns VALERE voice What's Winny wonder writing Wrong Mountain York you're