{"id":247141,"date":"2014-04-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-time-full-of-complexity\/"},"modified":"2014-04-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T07:00:00","slug":"a-time-full-of-complexity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-time-full-of-complexity\/","title":{"rendered":"A time full of complexity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlene Baldridge | Uptown News<\/p>\n

So much changes. So much stays the same. That is especially true of J. B. Priestley\u2019s 1937 \u201cTime and the Conways,\u201d beautifully produced at the Old Globe Theatre through May 4.<\/p>\n

The first and final acts of the ten-character play are set in 1919, just following World War I. The middle act takes place in 1937, on the brink of World War II. Mother Conway\u2019s body and the trembling of her hands are evidence of time\u2019s passing; so is the darkening of upholstery as well as darkening of attitudes among her children: One is dead and the others have failed to achieve their youthful promise, romantic or artistic, and the dreams they held in 1919 did not materialize. Furthermore, just like hope, money for upkeep of Mrs. Conway and the family estate has dwindled until the situation is dire.<\/p>\n

\"Lee<\/a>
Lee Aaron Rosen as Robin Conway and Sarah Manton as Joan. Photo by Jim Cox.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To know all this, to see how decisions made in Act I affect everyone and everything in Act II, and then to return to 1919 aware of what will befall, provides a devastating yet somehow wistful view of life and time. The play was written by Priestly, a literary master, (1894 \u2013 1984), influenced by J. W. Dunne\u2019s book, \u201cAn Experiment with Time\u201d and the poet Robert Blake.<\/p>\n

\"Kim<\/a>
Kim Martin-Cotten as Mrs. Conway. Photo by Jim Cox.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The experience is delivered by a young director, Rebecca Taichman, who sets it jewel-like in a production that features astonishing visual concepts by scenic designer Neil Patel, costume designer David Israel Raynoso, and lighting designer Scott Zielinski, all interconnected by Matt Hubbs\u2019 subtle sound design, which contrasts post-war optimism and youth with the deflation of midlife and deluded old age. As said by Kay, the dreamer\/aspiring writer among the Conway progeny, \u201cJust as if \u2014 now and then \u2014 we could see \u2014 round the corner \u2014 into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play opens on Kay\u2019s 21st birthday and all the siblings are \u201coff-stage\u201d in a room to the side of the party, creating a three-act charade as entertainment, and pulling costumes, mustaches and wigs from their widowed mother\u2019s trunk.<\/p>\n

\"Kim<\/a>
Kim Martin-Cotten as Mrs. Conway, Rose Hemingway as Hazel Conway and Amanda Quaid as Kay (Photo by Jim Cox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mrs. Conway (Kim Martin-Cotten) is former amateur-level actor\/singer and a master manipulator. Kay (Amanda Quaid) is an aspiring novelist who\u2019s already torn up her first \u201cputrid\u201d book. The others are Carol, the youngest (Leanne Agmom); Hazel, the family beauty (Rose Hemingway); Madge, a teacher and socialist (Morgan Hallett); Alan, a shy, quiet clerk who stammers (Jonathan Fielding); and Robin, just demobilized from military service (Lee Aaron Rosen). Other characters are the family solicitor, Gerald (Leo Marks); Joan, Hazel\u2019s best friend (Sarah Manton); and Gerald\u2019s friend, Ernest Beevers (Max Gordon Moore), who seeks entre to the family by marriage.<\/p>\n

The production of this work calls us back to a theatrical era in which we had the time and patience to indulge a piece so full of characters and convolution and rife with subtlety and elegance. Bravo to the Globe for helping us to remember what we have lost.\"TheaterInfo\"<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlene Baldridge | Uptown News So much changes. So much stays the same. That is especially true of J. B. Priestley\u2019s 1937 \u201cTime and the Conways,\u201d beautifully produced at the Old Globe Theatre through May 4.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":247142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"A time full of complexity","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}