I've been taking improvisational theatre classes through a local workshop for the past 8 months or so, and we're moving into a phase where we're writing a show, ultimately for performance 8 weeks down the road. It's a very satirical theatre, accustomed to politically charged topics and absurd extensions of thought. I've got a seed of an inspiration, and I thought that this might be a fun forum to get some additional perspectives while I'm crafting these scenes. And I promise I'll credit AWADboard in my program notes!
The scene for which I seek your thoughts could actually be a series of vignettes, the underlying theme being the potential aversion of catastrophes had certain key women done their jobs. My initial image that stirred this all up is of Eva Braun screeching "ADOLF! Take off those stupid pants, stop marching around like an idiot, and take out the *%@#! garbage!" I trust you see where I'm going with this...
So I'm looking for historical and modern pairs in which the woman has relatively the same name recognition as the man, to which this premise might apply. So far my roommate and I have thought of:
Hitler & Eva Braun
Napoleon & Josephine
Bill & Melinda Gates
George W & Laura Bush
and with local appeal and relevance, Jesse & Terry Ventura
I'd appreciate any feedback! And I certainly hope this doesn't breach board etiquette!
Dear Fiberbabe: I have not seen anything about Melinda Gates to put her in "infamous" class. At the risk of being obvious, how about substituting Bill & Hill Clinton.
Maybe she's infamous by association... and even that is dependent upon where you stand on the Microsoft issue. Maybe an apter description of what quality I'm looking for in the woman is "in a position to keep megalomania in check".
Thank you for making me clarify my thoughts.
As for Hill & Billy, I guess I'm hoping for a sharper blade than that. That knife's been in a few too many rounds of mumbledy-peg, if you get my drift.
What is Justice Clarence Thomas' wife's name?
And maybe John Travolta's wife could have stopped him from making Battleship Earth.
In reply to:
Maybe an apter description of what quality I'm looking for in the woman is "in a position to keep megalomania in check".
In that case, what was Churchill's wife's name?
Perhaps Bob and Elizabeth Dole?
I would suggest Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, but that's pretty much dead now.
And not really a couple, but definitely (in)famous now from Survivor: Richard Hatch and Susan Hawk.
Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev
How about Chancre Jack and Madame Kai-shek
Maybe Jim and Tammi Faye Bakker.
Does Fidel Castro have a significant other?
modern pairs in which the woman has relatively the same name recognition as the man,
------------------------------------------------------
I have tried for 24 hours to resist but I am weak, weak, weak.
Charles and Camilla Parker Bowes!
wow
Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev
Dear tsuwm
In my opinion, the roles were reversed here. He could have kept a better image without her.
In reply to:
Does Fidel Castro have a significant other?
I've been wondering the same thing... no one I've asked has thought so, but no one I've asked has been able to say no definitively, either. Ross Perot stands as a question mark in my mind on the same count.
As for Jim & Tammy Faye - inspired. Thank you. And wow, all I can say is WOW - Charles and Camilla is just the sort of incendiary thought this theatre's audiences appreciate!
Thanks everyone! You're coming up with some fantastic ideas!
If you do go with the option of vignettes featuring more than one couple, how about either a series of encounters - Camilla also having an effect on Hitler, Raisa meeting...? or a complete swapping of partners to extend the absurdist possibilities...?
wsieber opines re Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev
In my opinion, the roles were reversed here. He could have kept a better image without her. perhaps early on, but I don't think Raisa is credited with the Undoing of the USSR...
Since it is histrionic potential you are looking for, why limit choices to infamous? Why not comic as well, like Desi & Lucille?
Like Bill, I thought of famous theater couples-- maybe not infamous, but Stiller and Meyer, and Jessica Tandy/Hugh Cronin jump right to mind. And here in NY, Rudy and (pick one) wife or mistress! Its interesting that a "choir boy mayor" whe objects to people jaywalking openly has affairs!
going back in history-- lots of political couples-- Napolean and Josephine, Jenny Jerome and Randolf Churchhill, and Henry VIII and any one of his 6 wifes-- even mousy Jane Seymore is memorable.
Adam and Eve
Anthony & Cleopatra
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones
if you are including Charles and Camilla
then also
Charles and Di (PS we never, ever call him "Chuck")
Andy & Fergie
William and .... Britney Spears
[no, that was just the tabloids, I think]
George and Gracie (say goodnight Gracie)(I guess she did do her Job)
Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe
Sonny and Cher
(the eighties produced virtually nothing of lasting value)
(I can hear it coming....)
Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love (won't be long now)
(the eighties produced virtually nothing of lasting value)
Hey, I was born in the eighties!
As I said ...I can hear it coming...
I, indeed, stand corrected!...and I'm sure your "significant other" will get a chance to prove me wrong, as well...
...buckets of patience for everyone...
How about Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor?
"Abdicate? Really Edward, don't be so silly. Just set me up in a little pied-a-terre in Belgravia and visit when you can".
we're writing a show, ultimately for performance 8 weeks down the road
Hey, Fiberbabe ... how about letting us know what pairs you decided on? And perhaps a few snippets? You could post them in the Off Word Post Em Here thread which is sinking slowly Sigh.(I tried, AnnaS!)
wow
No problem, wow. My intention is to upload the scene's script to Max's driveway.com
(scratch that... make it myspace.com) account, then notify via this thread when it's available for viewing. Knowing what I know about this theatre (not to mention my potty-mouthed classmates), the script is bound to be brimming with profanity, so here's the early forewarning for our gentler-dispositioned readers... I may refute that assertion later, but I do promise I'll post when the script is complete and ready for public consumption!
Di, Andy, Fergie .... but not Chuck?
What gives?
>but not Chuck? What gives?
Funny isn't it? We just don't ever seem to use that particular abbreviation for Charles. I remember "Dame Edna" interviewing Charlton Heston and making him wear a big hand written badge with "Chuck" written on it, I'd never heard the word used as a name.
It may be that in the North of England (Coronation Street country), everyone is called "chuck",like "luv" it is just an everyday term of endearment. In the Midlands, particularly around Nottingham the word would be "duck". In the North East it would be "hen".
I come to this thread as a sort of Johnny come lately, but it seems that all have overlooked co-megalomaniacs Juan and Eva Peron. Also, and may I be forgiven for a slightly mixed metaphor, Eve and Adam???
jmh, I addressed my three-year-old as "baby ducks" the other day and was promptly corrected: "I'm not baby ducks! I'm Robert!" So much for that endearment...
This is a bit off the original topic (which never, ever happens around here), but I had this lying around and felt this was the opportunity to post it. Brace yourself - these get a bit weird.
If Yoko Ono married Sonny Bono, she'd be Yoko Ono Bono.
If Dolly Parton married Salvador Dali, she'd be Dolly Dali.
If Bo Derek married Don Ho, she'd be Bo Ho.
If Oprah Winfrey married Depak Chopra, she'd be Oprah Chopra.
If Cat Stevens married Snoop Doggy Dogg, hey! it's the '90's!, he'd be
Cat Doggy Dogg.
If Olivia Newton-John married Wayne Newton, then divorced him to marry
Elton John, she'd be Olivia Newton-John Newton John.
If Sondra Locke married Elliott Ness, then divorced him to marry Herman
Munster, she'd become Sondra Locke Ness Munster.
If Bea Arthur married Sting, she'd be Bea Sting.
If Liv Ullman married Judge Lance Ito, then divorced him and married
Jerry Mathers, she'd be Liv Ito Beaver.
If Snoop Doggy Dogg married Winnie the Pooh, he'd be Snoop Doggy Dogg
Pooh.
How about a baseball marriage? If Boog Powell married Felipe Alou, he'd
be Boog Alou.
If G. Gordon Liddy married Boutros-Boutros Ghali, then divorced him to
marry Kenny G., he'd be G. Ghali G.
Nog (Quark's brother on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine") has no other name,
so he uses it twice when getting a marriage license. IF he married
Howard Hughes, and then Pamela Dare, he'd be Nog Nog Hughes Dare.
If Shirley Jones married Tom Ewell, then Johnny Rotten, then Nathan Hale,
she'd be Shirley Ewell Rotten Hale.
If Jack Handy (SNL writer) married Andy Capp, then married Jack Paar,
then moved on to Stephen King, he'd be Jack Handy Capp Paar King.
If Javier Lopez married Keiko the whale, and Edith Piaf married Rose Tu
the elephant, they would be Javier Keiko and Edith Tu.
If Ivana Trump married, in succession, Orson Bean (actor), King Oscar (of
Norway), Louis B. Mayer (of MGM), and Norbert Wiener (mathematician), she
would then be Ivana Bean Oscar Mayer Wiener.
If Woody Allen married Natalie Wood, divorced her and married Gregory
Peck, divorced him and married Ben Hur, he'd be Woody Wood Peck Hur.
If Dolly Parton married Tommy Smothers, then went even further back in
show business and married Mr. Lucky, then divorced and married Martin
Short, then divorced and married football kicker Ray Guy, we could all
nod understandingly when we heard, "Dolly Parton Smothers Lucky Short
Guy."
OOhhhh, Hyla. Thanks for the good laugh
wow
Hmmm.
"Jack, you know how I hate it when the wind blows my hair in that convertible. Why don't you ask the Secret Service to put the top up?"
"Mr. Lincoln, we shouldn't go out on Good Friday. Let's stay home and pop some popcorn." (Mary Todd never referred to him as anything other than Mr. Lincoln!)
"Bill, like Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
"Albert, can't you spend more time working on a theory of why my relatives don't like you?"
"Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, can't you stop being such a revolting S.O.B. for just a little while?" Olga?? Krupshkaya
"Nicholas, you know if you let up on the serfs just a little bit, you'll find they like you a whole lot more." Alexandra
FYI - this seems to be taking shape as a song... Kind of Brecht/Weill, fading cabaret star with a couple of actors providing dramatic voice to the satirical point through short spoken scenes interspersed throughout the song.
Saves me the trouble of having to justify the strange mix of allusions!
Yay!
The downside: It's now not just satire, it's
rhyming satire.
Oof.
since y'all've brought this thread back, i'll mention that it belatedly occurred to me that perhaps Echo/Narcissus could be intriguing.