Botticelli (play)

Botticelli is a one-act play written by Terrence McNally, initially broadcast on television in 1968.

Productions

Botticelli was first broadcast by Channel Thirteen in New York City on March 14 and 15, 1968, on the television show New York Television Theatre. Botticelli was one of three one-act plays, under the overall title of Apple Pie (the other two were Tour and Next), which focused on the Vietnam War. It was directed by Glenn Jordan and starred Kevin O'Connor and Roy London.[1]

Botticelli was presented on stage at the outdoor Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, California in July and August 1986. [2]

Overview

During the Vietnam War, two soldiers wait in the jungle to kill an enemy Vietcong fighter. While they wait they play the game of Botticelli. The enemy appears and the soldiers kill him, all the while continuing to play the game. The civilized and cultured nature of the game contrasts ironically with the brutal indifference of war.[3][4]

Critical response

George Gent, in his review for The New York Times wrote that Botticelli was the "most successful in purely dramatic terms" of the three plays. He further commented that the play shows a "chilling comment on the inhumanity of war."[5] Toby Silverman Zinman in her book McNally: A Casebook wrote that Botticelli shows McNally's "virtuosity as a playwright", but that "the target is again neither sufficiently sharp nor compelling."[6]

Peter Wolfe points out that "McNally's early work features many recurring elements: the Vietnamese war of Botticelli (1968), Witness (1968) and Bringing It All Back Home (1969)."[7]

References
  1. Roberts, Jerry. "Terrence McNally" Great American Playwrights on the Screen, A Critical Guide to Film, TV, VIdeo, and DVD, 2003, Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN 1557835128, p. 372
  2. Shirley, Don. "'Botticelli,' 'summer' At Botanicum" Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1986
  3. Caron, Erin Toth. "McNally" Vietnam War Drama 1966-2008: American Theatrical Responses to the War and its Aftermath, University of Southern California, May 2010
  4. "Synopsis of 'Botticelli', a play by Terrence McNally" dramalist.com
  5. Gent, George. "TV: Chilling View of War: Terrence McNally's 'Apple Pie' Offers Three Original Dramatic Vignettes", The New York Times, March 15, 1968, p. 79
  6. Zinman, Toby Silverman. " 'Botticelli' " Terrence McNally: A Casebook, Routledge, 2014 (first published in 1997), ISBN 1135595984, p.28
  7. Wolfe, Peter. "Chapter Three", The Theater of Terrence McNally: A Critical Study, McFarland, 2013, ISBN 1476612587, p. 55

Further reading
  • Terrence McNally : 15 short plays, Terrence McNally, Smith and Kraus, Lyme, NH, c1994, ISBN 1-880399-34-2
  • Apple Pie: Three Short Plays by Terrence McNally, Dramatists Play Service, Inc., October 1, 1968, ISBN 0-8222-0061-9
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