Don Draper in Tears. Oh No.

Image via Wikipedia

Next dinner party I will raise the question of what *is* soap opera, what is the essential shortcoming that claws it back from the realm of art.

I mean, Romeo and Juliet is pretty soapy, innit, amidst all the gorgeous words? (It's a wine-bright question and fit for our new round table.)

I'm primed to talk the subject because tonight on Mad Men Betty confronts Don about getting into his drawer of secrets last week, and he tells pretty much all -- unless there was a flashback I missed. E. thinks that Betty now has the upper hand in the caste war with her husband, rampant sexism or not.

All pretty soapy, right, all this confrontation and contrition and adultery all around?

E. asked another even more interesting question when all was done: Will Don's loss of domestic power hurt his creativity, to which I added the adjacent possibility that if he actually resolved some of his angst would *that* hurt his creativity?

God knows my own genius feeds on my flagrant neuroses, which also make me quite charming at dinner.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Weekly Reminder - Submit your Romeo and Juliet in the Arts (chictip.com)

My Natural Accent is CP (Corn Pone)

Image via Wikipedia

Image via WikipediaMay write more about the CalShakes 'Romeo & Juliet' we just saw, but here's something while it's fresh in my mind. I stumbled on a review of a recent performance of R&J at the new Globe in London in which the young actor playing Romeo was highly praised. Clicked through to his Royal Academy of Dramatic Art bio and noted that his "natural accent" was described as RP.

A few more clicks and wikipedia tells me:

Received Pronunciation (RP)—also called the Queen's (or King's) English[1] and BBC English—is the accent of Standard English in England.


Let's call this RC, or really cool. RADA's "voice reels" for its young graduates.