THE FRENCH THINK HIM PROFOUND:

No shocks left in Genet's predictable 'Balcony' (HEDY WEISS, February 2, 2005, Chicago Sun-Times)

Jean Genet -- thief, homosexual prostitute, poet-playwright and darling of the Existentialist-driven cafe society of post-World War II French intellectuals -- was all the rage in the late 1960s when his anti-authoritarian, act-out stance dovetailed perfectly with the student protests on the streets of both Paris and the United States.

Genet was something of a punk maestro long before the advent of punk -- a pop anti-hero who understood that performance was the name of the game and that the more in-your-face and transgressive you could be, the better.

The revival of Genet's socio-political psychodrama and gabfest "The Balcony," which opened Monday night in a TinFish Productions staging at the Theatre Building, is a big undertaking for a small company. And the sheer level of its ambition can be seen in the fact that it features a cast of 15 and has two directors -- Jon Frazier and Dan May -- just to keep it all on track.

But if this production demonstrates anything, it is that Genet's drama -- first performed in 1956 -- is no longer shocking. And even if its portrayal of society as a never-ending brothel rife with corrupt priests, judges, generals, police chiefs -- and "insurgents" hellbent on storming the palace -- still possesses a kind of youthful spirit of rebellion and outrage, the whole thing is more predictable than shocking.

What's ever been more predictable than youthful outrage? And what more foolish than taking it seriously?

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 2, 2005 11:08 AM