Translunar Paradise Review
Translunar Paradise takes its inspiration and title from the W B Yeats poem, “The Tower”, about a man wrestling with old age. It’s brought to us by Theatre Ad Infinitum, a Lecoq-trained international ensemble whose, at times, masked players convey the devised story completely without words through movement and mime with the accompaniment of live music.
Counting the seconds, or perhaps willing time to pass quicker, an old man sits alone at a table. He is lost in grief following the death of his wife and has escaped to a land locked within his memories. But just as he is trapped so is she, dragged back by the touch of his mind or his caress of a favourite earthbound object.
These found objects, packed into her suitcase are redolent with the past, each firing off a significant event, which allows the characters to strip away the masks and the years. The actors straighten into their former selves, become sure-footed and agile as they move and dance through reminiscences of syncopated domestic bliss, a choppy tango of discord, a coy waltz of love rekindled or a ballistic, balletic nightmare of war. They share joy and pain through the years, but mainly a deep abiding love. There is aching humour as she spiritually tries to wean him away from his symbolic persistence in putting out two teacups - to have his memories but also to move on.Throughout, the accordionist/vocalist is the third player, providing their tempo, slipping between them to materialise some of the mimed objects and adding simple but effective sound effects.
The use of masks rather than freezing the characters with a botox-like lack of expression allows everything to be communicated in pinpoint movements that pierce the heart. The emotional content is such that it can move the audience to tears without a single word. Just stop and think about that for a second. It’s no cheap trick, but testimony to the care that has been lavished on the production.
Only very occasionally is it difficult to see what a mimed action is defining - but I was sitting at the back. The intrusion of noise from other venues is unfortunate but not uncommon.
The company’s mission was to produce something very special. What they have achieved is a unique work that is powerful, stunning, moving and yes, extremely special. If I see anything better this Fringe I will be extraordinarily surprised.
W B Yeats Poems - News
Translunar Paradise takes its inspiration and title from the WB Yeats poem, “The Tower”, about a man wrestling with old age. It's brought to us by Theatre Ad Infinitum, a Lecoq-trained international ensemble
When I was a boy, there was a book or two of WB Yeats' verse in grandpa's bookshelf. Most of the poems were well beyond me as a kid, but I recall being able to absorb some of the meaning behind The Second Coming and of another one called The Mask,
It's a disastrous overturning of the natural order that would have been seized upon by WB Yeats. In his poem The Second Coming, Yeats foresaw a time when “The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is
The answer can be found in two lines from William Butler Yeats' famous poem "The Second Coming." In it, Yeats' wrote: The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity." Today, Yeats' words are an apt description of the
A close second would be WB Yeats, the 1923 winner of the Nobel Prize whose poetry seemed only to be getting stronger and stranger with age. And, just to mix things up, maybe you decide your third choice is WH Auden. While not as august a figure as
Poetry Review: “Among School Children” by W.B. Yeats - Poetry ...
After a month of high heat and humidity, we woke up yesterday in the North Country to cooler air. Fall is still a month away, but NFL training camps have begun and the Gopher players and their new coaches are preparing for the expanded Big 10 season. Yesterday we could turn off the AC, open windows, and go for long a walk. Yesterday we got a foretaste of the feast to come.
My mind is on Yeats as it is so often during times of seasonal and life transitions. More than any other poet – for there is no poet I have read more or closer – Yeats’ words regularly come to me unbidden. I find myself walking down a quiet hallway and suddenly his words are there keeping cadence with my echoing steps… my breath and heartbeat singing his words.
As I have said on this blog on other occasions, Yeats – more than any other poet – grew greater over time. Most of his best work was done in his fifties, sixties, and seventies. His poetic ear and intellect sharpening, not dulling, with time and experience
“Among School Children” is a poem from later in life and has long been one of my favorites. It’s famous last stanza is familiar to any English major. Occasioned by a visit the famous Irish poet/statesman made to a classroom of children, this is a poem about fame, and aging, and youth, and remembering…. But most of all it is a poem about the true power of art.
Yesterday I stood in my backyard and read this poem out-loud to the day, my breath making sounds Yeats once made, my heart beating in time with his, my bones and soul filled with the same emotion. That is the power of art… of poetry… of Yeats.
Enjoy!
W.B. Yeats: Selected Poems (Poetry Classics): 
W. B. Yeats: Poems [With Earbuds] (Playaway Adult Nonfiction): 
W.B.Yeats: The Love Poems: 
The Poems of W.B. Yeats: A Routledge Study Guide and Sourcebook (Routledge Guides to Literature): 
W.B.Yeats: The Love Poems (Poetry): W B Yeats Poems - Bookshelf
The collected poems of W. B. Yeats
' This volume includes all of his published poetry, from the early lyrics by which he is still best remembered, to the later work which put beyond question his ...William Butler Yeats
Selected works by William Butler Yeats appear alongside original artwork depicting the major themes of the poems.Poems
W.B. Yeats, poems
Yeats's poetry, drama, and prose, authoritative texts, contexts, criticism
This brand new collection, impeccably edited by James Pethica, presentsa comprehensive selection of Yeats's major contributions in poetry,drama, prose fiction, ...Everyday Guide Directory
W.B. Yeats: Poems
An index of poems by W.B. Yeats. ... BROWSE THE POETRY ARCHIVE: [ A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z ] ...
Selected Poems
W.B. Yeats. This is a small selection of Yeats's poetry published by me, Martin Hardcastle. ... Yeats copyright. Go to my poetry page for links to more poems, or ...
Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats
Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. Crossways (1889), poems numbered 1 through 16 ... Parnell's Funeral and Other Poems (1935), poems numbered 304 through 320 ...
Yeats Poems Titles
On Being Asked for a War Poem. On Hearing That the Students of Our New University Have ... William Butler Yeats Seminar Homepage. Department of English ...
Poet: William Butler Yeats - All poems of William Butler Yeats
Poet: William Butler Yeats - All poems of William Butler Yeats .. poetry