journal features

I'm still thinking about "War Horse"

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2012.12.18

This time last week I saw the play "War Horse". It's really stayed with me. I understand that its run is coming to a close pretty soon, but I recommend it on the strength of its engaging plot and characters and its fantastic puppetry. The tone is perfect, making the most of spare sets (usually consisting of little more actors in period clothing holding small props), wry British (and German) humour and WWI realism, and a single stretch of fabric is turned into several land-, sea-, and sky-scapes.

Two tricks I learned from speaking with a regular theater-goer at the office: if you know someone who regularly holds season tickets, ask them if they've got coupons; and, go on a Tuesday - without a matinee it means you'll be seeing the lead actors perform, not their understudies.

rand()m quote

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.

—John Gardner