Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 plays and he received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer. He was one of the most reliable hitmakers in Broadway history, as well as one of the most performed playwrights in the world. Though primarily a comic writer, some of his plays, particularly the Eugene Trilogy and The Sunshine Boys, reflect on the twentieth century Jewish-American experience.
Rumors: A Farce, c1997, The collected plays of Neil Simon Vol 3, Neil Simon
Rumors is a farcical play by Neil Simon.
In theater, a Farce is a comedy that aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable.
Farce is also characterized by physical humor, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances.
Farces have been written for the stage and film. Furthermore, a farce is also often set in one particular location, where all events occur.
Read this out loud this evening with my husband & son. We had a lot of fun! There were 10 characters in total so we each played several roles. We made up some interesting accents to differentiate between each character!
I'm not getting the love for this, it's not among the better Simon plays to me. It's about a bunch of power couples arriving for a dinner party and instead discovering that their host is bleeding and his wife has disappeared. In the process of trying to find out what has happened, they themselves are taken into a farce of physical injuries, mistaken identities, and a cover-up of events that they don't understand in the first place.
It has moments of cleverness, but it's weakened, like much of Simon's work, by a somewhat outdated sense of gender relationships, a world where men have the occupations and women mainly follow. To me, Simon kept reproducing this outmoded world at a time when better writers were moving forward. Farce is always a great challenge in the theater, but I found this one even more improbable than most. The characters are rather tiresome and not very distinctive. Worst of all, the ending is rather abrupt and not convincing at all.
It's not without laughs and maybe a gifted set of actors could make something of this, but on the page, it's not so great.
Working on this for a community production and made myself read the script in it's entirety to fully understand the piece outside my lines. A good farce is so hard to find isn't it? But a good farce is my favorite -- I am a fan of clever writing. The only reason Simon's work didn't get a 5-star rating from me is because it hasn't stood the test of time in the way I would have hoped. While possible to modernize this 80s piece it is driven by a landline to make so much of the comedy work. I am a fan of a period piece -- imagine the 1980s being considered a period piece! -- so of course the story still works, scrunchies, big hair, gaudy clothing and all, but it is a harder sell for audiences, because, who uses a landline anymore! In fact, who even *talks* on the phone these days. Otherwise a good story that will have you laughing and keep you wondering. A fun little play.
I've never seen this play and only read the script because Darrell foisted it on me. It's hard to believe he's going to do it with his high school kids because there's a lot of swearing and it's a little dated. Reading it, I thought it was ridiculous, but I only laughed out loud once. I'm pretty sure if I saw it, though, I'd think it was funny.
my second show i鈥檝e ever performed in! i acted as officer pudney and the voice of myra, and backstage i was our designated on-book crew member. the read dates that i added were for our first dress rehearsal :)
i am so lucky to have worked with an amazing group of people to bring this story to life. the cast was perfect, the set was gorgeous (one of my best friends built a two story mansion set for us! it鈥檚 genius!), and we made so many people laugh. and that鈥檚 what was worth it! i love making others happy through things like this. i really do. our final show last night was fantastic, and we had a record-breaking audience that just wouldn鈥檛 stop laughing.
but even though i feel as if our production of rumors was good on stage, this is without a doubt one of the weaker plays i鈥檝e read. when we did our first read-through the day after the cast list came out, i found myself cringing at some of the jokes, especially the reoccurring one about the asian american cook. without a strong cast, i have no doubt that i wouldn鈥檛 be able to enjoy this show. the actors make it or break it.
so i just don鈥檛 think farces are for me- when i go to see a show, i like when there鈥檚 at least a teeny bit of emotional weight. you don鈥檛 get that from a farce鈥� it鈥檚 a fun time, but these shows leave me feeling unsatisfied at the end. of course, working to put a show on stage is so rewarding, but these types of shows- there鈥檚 something missing.
i will always feel so grateful for the performance i got to do of this show- neil simon just isn鈥檛 the best playwright.
two stars for the script and an extra star for my emotional attachment!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I read this play in preparation for auditioning for it next month. There are a lot of great lines and actions. I鈥檇 be happy to play nearly any character in the whole script. I am particularly drawn to the character who suffers hearing loss along the way. Temporary and in a comic way. That would be such an interesting thing to portray.
I do like a play that changes your thoughts and attitudes and this one is not that, but it鈥檚 a fun story.
This play was so enjoyable to read and I would love to see it onstage. It was so ridiculous and most of the characters were very stupid which made the whole thing so funny. The situation these characters found themselves in was highly unbelievable but that was the point. The lines were very clever and there was so much chaos. I think this is a play most people enjoy and would be very fun to be a part of.
A wonderful, well orchestrated black farce. The absurdity and jokes pile up throughout, so much so that you can tell you're in experienced hands. The tension between what characters do or don't know creates some truly ridiculous situations that are only possible in high farce. What a fun play this would be to watch live...
I can only rate this 5/5 stars, not because the play was the most amazing play I've ever read, but because I had the best absolute best experience putting on the show. It was deeply funny, and I grew so much as an actress doing it. I loved every second onstage and backstage and rehearsing it, so really, it can never be anything but 5 stars.
Quite a few laugh out loud moments. So easy and fast to read. The dialogue was snappy. I did have trouble nailing down the "present day" that it's supposed to be set in. Car Phones and Disney Channel and Meryl Streep references helped later in the script. The ending wasn't my favorite, but overall the piece was Great.
This play was a great distraction. I was drawn by the humor which made it fun to read. Four couples gather for a party and mayhem ensues. I would love it see it on stage if it comes to my area. If you see it advertised, get tickets. I am sure it will entertain you.
Read this book to get a sense of the fall play for Mask & Bauble. It was a decent, quick read but definitely not as enjoyable as a performance. I would love to see this onstage, as it seems incredible fun and witty, but not a life changing script. Fluffy, really.
A four star read but a five star viewing of the show. It鈥檚 a little outdated in some aspects, but viewing it as a cultural piece rather than a modern story helps a lot with that. This was the first play I ever saw my sister act in and I鈥檝e been laughing at it ever since!
The entire show played out like Clue: The Movie: The Play, which is one of my favorite genres. I LIVE for Cassie and Glenn鈥檚 dynamics >:) and they threw the word Fuckerini in there like it was no big deal but i loved it so much.