![]() The stage adaptation of Fear and Loathing, by Lou Stein, has been around since 1982, but it’s been staged only once before, in London. Thompson, who came to prominence in the 60s for his chronicle of the Hell’s Angels, has come to personify irreverent, on-the-edge journalism, and his work gleefully deflates the pretentious and skewers the status quo–setting a standard for Cusack and his fellow actors. He exposes the puritanism and racism that have plagued this country for so long.” Thompson also “foresaw the emergence of the right wing, from Nixon to Bush,” marvels Cusack. Yet he shows you the reality–what the power structure really is. That’s what’s so great about Thompson he takes us on a surrealistic trip to Las Vegas, the bone marrow of the American Dream turned nightmare. But deep inside they want a purpose, they want the truth. Some friends of mine have gone corporate. Too many people today don’t give a fuck, you know. They ask: What is capitalism? Democracy? They shake us from apathy. “They’re interested in getting hold of the truth. To Cusack, Thompson belongs in a pantheon of great political writers alongside George Orwell and Noam Chomsky. Gonzo and armed with a mind-boggling variety of drugs, on an early-70s road trip to Las Vegas, that neon-lit mecca of blatant capitalism. The story follows the counterculture icon, accompanied by his Samoan wrestler attorney Dr. Thompson’s psychedelic road saga Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, directed by Cusack and Pink, probably qualifies as both politics and spectacle. New Crime’s current production, a version of Hunter S. They also use a live band to punctuate the comic timing. ![]() We want theater to be fun and passionate.” The New Crime style has “touches of the Kabuki,” says Cusack, “and there are definite influences of Brecht and Weill.” Among New Crime’s hallmarks are the masklike makeup worn by the players and the funky, distorted, mostly black-and-white sets that pay homage to German expressionism. “I don’t believe in denying an audience entertainment. Critic Anthony Adler, writing in Chicago magazine, said New Crime “gave me back my faith in theater as a political discourse.” But Cusack says the group tries not to be preachy. Three of the four plays New Crime has put on over the past three years–subversive lampoons of pre-Nazi Germany, the French Revolution, and Red Brigade Italy–reveal its founders’ political bent. We think it describes us as cultural outlaws and pioneers.” Coming up with the name was easy, recalls Cusack: “New Crime is a term for video piracy. Zealous believers in the theater’s power to change people’s consciousness, the trio quickly organized a collective of like-minded actors and called themselves New Crime Productions. Back in Chicago, Cusack and Piven convinced another Evanston Township High School buddy, Steve Pink, to join them in introducing the commedia approach to Chicago. Thoroughly converted, he went to Paris to study the Theatre du Soleil–the originator of the commedia revival–at work. It was a revelation–a total contrast to the boring movie I was doing at the time. “Me and my friend Jeremy Piven went to see the Actors’ Gang,” headed by actor Tim Robbins. John Cusack says he first encountered a modern version of commedia dell’arte–the satirical, seemingly improvisational form of entertainment popular in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries–several years ago in Los Angeles. ![]()
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