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isabelleverdino 's review for:
Venice Preserved
by Thomas Otway
Another play I read for my LIT 337 class. We had lots of thoughts about this. We think that Otway was much more interested in the relationship between Jaffier and Pierre than he was with Jaffier and Belvidera's characters. Jaffier and Belvidera spent all of their interactions speaking past each other; following the same rhetorical style of asking rhetorical questions and speaking about themselves in the third person (with a hefty dose of extended metaphor). Jaffier and Pierre's scenes flew back and forth conversationally with action and energy and emotion. To be honest, we said that if Otway committed to this homoerotic subtext, it would be a bit of a more successful companion to Brokeback Mountain.
As it is, Otway couldn't see or decide what would make a good play. The safe plot and the risky side are combatting the entire way through. Aquilina and Pierre are more stable, complex, and interesting characters but were delegated to a subplot. There were a few interesting parts, but not many. I just wish so badly he had fully committed to the plot he was obviously interested in telling.
As it is, Otway couldn't see or decide what would make a good play. The safe plot and the risky side are combatting the entire way through. Aquilina and Pierre are more stable, complex, and interesting characters but were delegated to a subplot. There were a few interesting parts, but not many. I just wish so badly he had fully committed to the plot he was obviously interested in telling.