Theater of the New Ear

Venue: UCLA Live (September 14-16, 2005)

“Theater of the New Ear” was a double-bill “sound play,” a concept dreamed up by compose Carter Burwell, who wrote the score for Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Charlie wrote one half of the double-bill, the Coen Bros. wrote the other – their play was called “Sawbones.” “New Ear” was performed in New York, London and LA, with actors reading their lines from behind a desk on-stage, accompanied by an orchestra and a foley artist making sound effects – just like the old-style radio plays, before a live audience. Charlie Kaufman’s play, “Hope Leaves the Theater,” follows a middle-aged woman, dissatisfied with her life and relationships, watching a play-within-the-play – and then leaving the play, catching a bus and heading home for some cyber-sex. Actors step in and out of character, there are references to Charlie himself, and the play is as self-referential/meta as anything Charlie’s ever written.