HIS DREAM ISN'T AMERICA'S (via M. Ali Choudhury):

Hate America? Watch this Spacey (Mick Hume, 2/12/05, Times of London)

At the Old Vic the American dream has died. Oh no, not again
America, we are often told, is the obesity capital of the world. To judge by the weight of criticism it now attracts, the part of America that appears to be getting most obese is “the dark underbelly of suburbia”. Knocking the American dream has become a staple of the West’s cultural diet. And nowhere does this vision of an anti-American nightmare seem stronger than among America’s own liberal elite.

The latest example is at the Old Vic in London where Kevin Spacey, Hollywood actor and the theatre’s artistic director, is starring in a revival of Dennis MacIntyre’s National Anthems, a play described as “a searing critique of suburban values and a hard-hitting parable about the American dream”. The direction and acting are fresh and fast, and Spacey especially is as good as ever. But even before the curtain goes up, the giant Stars and Stripes draped across the stage signals that this is to be another caricature of America’s shortcomings and self-delusions.

Who does he think he is, Arthur Miller?

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 13, 2005 5:44 PM