Rules for Good Manners in the Modern World
By Jean-Luc Lagarce
Translated by Andrew Berg & Marion Schoevaert
Directed by Zeljko Djukic
Chicago - November 2004
(US Premiere)
New York City - August 26 - August 28 2005 - Castillo Theatre
(NY Premiere)
Featuring
Ensemble : Jennifer Byers
Ensemble : Dalia Cidzikaite
Ensemble : Kate Martin
Scenic Design : Natasha Djukic
Costume Design : Natasha Djukic
Lighting Design : Keith Parham
Properties Design : Helen Lattyak
Stage Management : Shannon Evans
Dramaturg : Matthew van Colton
Artistic Director : Zeljko Djukic
REVIEWS
"In an astute staging, scored (in part) to the Shostakovich waltz, Djukic introduces us to a gimlet-eyed chronicler of pretense and privilege well-known in other parts of the world, and only now getting known here."
- Chicago Tribune (Full Review)
"Unlike anything else in town, and in this town that means something. The late French playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce wrote "Rules" as an arch, supremely codified how-to lesson in social niceties. In the drolly assured T.U.T.A. American premiere, director Zeljko Djukic uses three women, two as mimetic backup for the woman delivering the spiel. Leisurely but precise, it's a piquant comic experience."
- Chicago Tribune (Best production of the week)
"For starters, the Chicago-based T.U.T.A. (the Utopian Theatre Asylum) has more of a European aesthetic than most of the companies in this city, with a Bosnian-born director (Zeljko Djukic) and set and costume designer (his wife, Natasha Vuchurovich Djukic) as leaders of the creative team."
"Director Djukic never misses a beat, even though Lagarce's "Rules" -- almost a musical score -- is no easy piece to play."
- Chicago Sun-Times (Full Review)