 |  | ||||
|
Wednesday, March 3, 2004 FPC play's director sees relevance in classic taleBy MILLIE LAPIDARIO | News-Journal Staff Writer PALM COAST — In one of the most provocative monologues of the futuristic drama, 18-year-old Stephen Mayhugh delivers his character's hauntingly perverse rationale for burning books. Citing examples like "Little Black Sambo," which offends blacks, and "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which draws the ire of whites, during his portayal of Fire Chief Beatty, Mayhugh pushes the point of Ray Bradbury's classic tale, "Fahrenheit 451." The "Communist Manifesto" irks Republicans, just as "Pride and Prejudice" does women's liberation advocates, according to the character. So, for the people in this world, it's easier not to think. In this world, reading books is a crime and members of the fire department don't put out fires — they arrive on the scene to burn books. This is the world students of Flagler Palm Coast High School's fine arts program create for their theatrical production, which is being done in collaboration with the Flagler County Public Library's Flagler Reads Together program. The show opens Thursday night and continues through Sunday. Mayhugh plays Beatty, the "fire chief" in "Fahrenheit 451" who leads his "firemen" to burn books for a living. He reeks of Beatty's simple and unwavering rejection of literary curiosity with every line. The story unfolds when the protagonist and one of Beatty's firemen, Guy Montag, meets the beautiful, flower-wreathed, inquisitive Clarisse, who asks him if he is happy. Jill Vanderoef, 14, plays Clarisse. Montag, played by 16-year-old Danny Benvenuto, begins to wonder if the people who do read books, those who take risks and keep the few remaining books kept hidden in their homes, are happier than the drones who have chosen not to think. His often silent and depressed wife Millie, played by 15-year-old Tricia Ajram, depends on her interactive television for comfort. Director Mary Beale, like many of the actors in "Fahrenheit 451," worries that the futuristic world Bradbury wrote about in 1953 isn't so futuristic anymore. "People are turning away from books because it takes too long," Beale said. "Our whole society has become like this," she said as she waved her handswildly in the air. Beale describes society's current fast-paced reality as an "instant gratification mode." It keeps people distracted while the real Beattys of the world, which Beale said are often found in politics and some media, dictate what the rest of society should think. "When you think about it, it's not really subtle," Beale said. "That's why it's really frightening." The production has sparked similar discussions among the actors, who say it's hard not to talk about it when they're trying to understand their characters' motivations. Some can pull a line from the script and explore the meaning behind it using their own fast-paced lives. "Fahrenheit 451," named after the temperature at which books burn, has been compared to other futuristic dramas such as George Orwell's "1984," but Mayhugh sees the situation in "Fahrenheit 451" as more dangerous because the censorship is self-imposed rather than forced upon them by one ruler, or Big Brother in "1984." If there's one thing Benvenuto said he has learned from playing Montag, it's never to limit the realm of possibility as Montag had done for so long. Benvenuto said he'll never stop asking himself, "What if?" HICI Special Report — Summer Reading: Challenges, Choices & Censorship |
Copyright © 2008 NIE WORLD (www.nieworld.com). All content copyrighted and may not be republished without permission. The News-Journal has no control over and is not responsible for content on other Web sites. Privacy Policy. |