Blood on the Cat's Neck

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Blood on the Cat's Neck or Blood on the Neck of the Cat is an absurdist[1] 1971 play originally written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.[2] It was first produced in Nuremberg under the title Blut am Hals der Katze. It is sometimes subtitled Marilyn Monroe vs. The Vampires.[1] In translation, it has been revived several times, including a six-month stint at the Trap Door Theatre in 1996 and then the Mercury Theater in Chicago.[3]

The Chicago production of the play at the Trap Door Theatre under director starred , , , , , , Michael Garvey, Bob Rusch, and others.[4] It was performed again in 2013 to mark the 20th anniversary of the theatre.[5] Clive Mantle also once starred in a production of it.[6] More recently the play has been put on in an production at the in which starred as Phoebe the alien as a "voluptuous blonde in a torn dress", Danny Bowes as the cop, and as the mistress.[1][2] in 2017 at Baran theater This play was directed by Mohsen Moeini in Iran.[7][8]

Plot[]

The play visits the question of how an alien from space might view humanity; the alien in the play is an attractive woman named Phoebe Zeitgeist, an alien vampire[3] taken from a 1960s comic book. In this play, she is surrounded by horrible people at a cocktail party and learns how to speak from them.[2] The play has three sections: an opening section in which the main characters give monologues that reveal themselves; a second section in which Phoebe speaks one-on-one with these characters, picking up certain phrases from them; and the final section, in which Phoebe, using her limited vocabulary, repeats back "their aphoristic and self-justifying slogans",[3] with the other characters divided over whether she is smart or drunk.[2]

Reception[]

of the Chicago Reader described it as a "darkly sarcastic, gloriously messy absurdist play about an alien [...] who comes into the world naked and guileless and learns to play all our dangerous games."[4]

Kerry Reid of the Chicago Tribune says that Fassbinder's dark world view is shallow, but still fresher than the similar worldview of more recent filmmaker and playwright Neil LaBute.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Torn Space takes on bizarre, unhinged 'Blood on the Cat's Neck'". Buffalo News. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d "Blood on the Cat's Neck". Nytheatre.com. 13 November 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d "Alien vampire and cruel humanity at Trap Door". Chicago Tribune. 27 November 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Blood on the Cat's Neck". Trapdoortheatre.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  5. ^ "American Blues Theater Remounts Its Acclaimed 1940s Radio-Play Version of Fran". Daily Herald, Arlington. 22 November 2013.[dead link]
  6. ^ "Clive Mantle". Film Reference. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  7. ^ "تیوال نمایش خون درگلوی گربه". www.tiwall.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  8. ^ "Blood on the Cat's Neck Coming to Baran". financialtribune.com. 29 July 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
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