Monday Night Title Bout (May 24)

Every week, I compose listings about the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm usually disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose to call their work, so I'm reviewing the titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through the link to my listings on Metromix NY.

PROPHECY

Only one title this week, and it's a squib. One word, full of portention yet maddeningly vague. It could serve as the alternate title for Oedipus, you know? Or maybe it's a 1960s jazz piece? Try harder.

Monday Night Title Bout (May 17)

Every week, I compose listings about the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm usually disappointed by what playwrights choose to call their work, so I'm reviewing their titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through the link to my listings on Metromix NY.

DUSK RINGS A BELL
A lovely title but an odd one. If you try to take the image literally (a doorbell at twilight?), it slips away into metaphor (death at the door?). It's even better when you consider the idiom “rings a bell”, in the sense of a vague memory.

JACK'S PRECIOUS MOMENT
Another good title! It specifies a dramatic event, yet that “precious” makes the “moment” so fleeting. Jack, although a common nickname, here has a fairy tale quality that gives the work an archetypal resonance.

NEW ISLANDS ARCHIPELAGO
This title means to peg the story's location (or maybe destination) but it doesn't do much work. The islands' newness does add interest but also confusion: are they “new” islands or the New Islands? The former is exciting, the latter generic. Also, I suspect it's redundant to use both “islands” and “archipelago”. I'd pick “archipelago” since it's more precise yet more unconventional.

PATERNITY
Well, we know the theme of the show! This one doesn't offer much ambiguity, but maybe the execution will show it to have some depth...

YEAR ZERO
Not a bad try, if a little portentous. “Year Zero” suggests an inciting event of historical proportions. But a glance at Wikipedia confirms that it's dreadfully common: three albums, five songs, and two books, plus a few movies about Cambodia―where the phrase refers to revolutionary policies of the Khmer Rouge.

Monday Night Title Bout (May 10)

Every week, I compose listings about the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm usually disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose for their work. So I'm reviewing the titles now. Not the shows (I haven't seen them yet) just the titles. To read about the content of each show, click through the link to my listings on Metromix NY.

THE BILBAO EFFECT
A critical term for how building commissions, especially in out-of-the-way places, select high-profile architects so the work will lure tourists & good press (named for the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain). It doesn't quite have everyday currency, but it's nice & specific. So we know that this show involves architects seeking work and maybe even the tensions between acclaim, aesthetic talent, & money.

KILLING WOMEN
Gerunds are useful tools for titling. Is “Killing” an adjective or a verb here? Are women doing the killing or the dying? A canny writer will make sure that both interpretations fit.

Monday Nite Title Bout (May 3)

Every week, I compose listings about the week's shows for Metromix NY. I'm usually disappointed by the titles that playwrights choose for their work: most of them are't even trying to tempt you into the theater. So I'm reviewing the titles now. And if you want to read my reviews of shows, click here.

THE GLASS HOUSE
I like this title, despite or maybe because it draws on a cliché. It plays on prior knowledge, a tactic that makes you feel smart. And it directs us to that glass house: clever, since the saying itself focuses on the people who live there. And by the final curtain, it will presumably be shattered by the play's conflict.

THE HOUSEWIVES OF MANNHEIM
This formulation―“The X-people of Y-place”―is right after “protagonist's name” in recipes for a title. Here, “housewives” set up the cast and possibly a theme (female domain? feminist emancipation?). Mannheim's a large city in Germany. But is the show about hausfrauen, or are they just mentioned anecdotally?

THE MASTER BUILDER
Like the titles to many classics, The Master Builder is a brand as much as a descriptor. I find it a little unwieldy and portentous―but I suppose that's the intent, given Ibsen's interest in genius & creation. The original Norwegian title, FYI, is Bygmester Solness, which adds the protagonist's name to his title for specificity & subtly alludes to the sun (=Sol; see the play's Icarus theme).

THE METAL CHILDREN
This curiosity could go several ways, an artful ambiguity that the play may (or may not) clear up. Adding “metal” to “children” shows real poetry. It turns children―happy, playful―into mechanized metaphors. Or it's the opposite, maybe “metal” refers to the rock genre: rebellious teens who scare parents with outré iconography.

OLIVER PARKER!
Evidently, her producers convinced Liz Meriwether that Oliver! was a glib, terrible title and that begging confusion with a popular (but awful) musical was counterproductive to finding your audience. The title's been augmented but it's still pretty bad. “Who's Oliver Parker? A nobody―the punctuation is ironic! Har har.”

THIS WIDE NIGHT
Even though it lacks specificity about the show's content, This Wide Night works as a title. It's unique, humble, and interesting: modifying “night” with “wide” makes sense poetically if not literally. And it nails down the action to one night. It's the sort of title that makes me optimistic for the playwright's ability to write.

THROUGH THE NIGHT
I'm conflicted about Through the Night. I enjoy its sense of the movement of time―it's interesting how this “night” feels hurried and full of momentum, whereas the “wide night” above feels reflective, even brooding. But the near-reference to the folk lullaby/carol brings this one a little close to cliché.

THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY
Solid construction but lacking euphony; it's a utilitarian set of words that impart depth and artistry via sheer weight of connotation. And it communicates a sense of irony, though I'm not sure how; maybe “tragedy” implies a fictional nature, which plays both with & against “truth”?

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And on a personal note: happy birthday to Lady Hotspur!