First seen at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last summer, John Collins adapted and directs The Select (The Sun Also Rises), which runs through March 20 as part of ArtsEmerson. ERS and the New York Theatre Workshop co-produced the work.
Collins also staged Gatz at the American Repertory Theater and at the Public Theater in 2010. The Off-Broadway production was praised by critics and was twice extended at the Public. It also found itself among numerous theatrical top ten lists, earning the No. 1 slot on the New York Times list.
While Gatz offered a literal, word-for-word, six-hour presentation of Fitzgerald's text, The Select (which also runs close to four hours) is a dramatic explosion of Hemingway's 1926 novel, that melds text, theatrical avant garde and an evocative soundscape.
According to ERS, "The first world war is over, but some battles still rage on. This is the backdrop for Ernest Hemingway's first major novel, 'The Sun Also Rises,' which follows a group of weary, aimless and frequently inebriated American expatriates on a search for identity, diversion, and redemption. Told with spare and tightly written prose, Hemingway's novel comes to life on a stage littered with liquor bottles and cafe chairs as the story winds its way through France and Spain and lands in the streets of Pamplona where bullfighting and the fiesta are in full swing."
The cast includes Frank Boyd, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Kate Scelsa, Kaneza Schaal, Pete Simpson, Susie Sokol, Lucy Taylor and Matt Tierney. Designing The Select are David Zinn (set and costumes); Mark Barton (lighting); Matt Tierney and Ben Williams (sound); Colleen Werthmann (additional costumes) and Katherine Profeta (dance and movement coach).
For tickets, phone (617) 824-8000, or visit ArtsEmerson. Performances will take place at the Paramount Mainstage, located at 559 Washington Street in Boston, MA.