Written by Matthew Lewis when he was only twenty, THE MONK tells the tale of Ambrosio, a saintly friar in 17th century Madrid whose path to God and Heaven is clear until one day Fate challenges his piety with a beautiful witch who leads him into temptation. Twisted into his own tale is the troubled romance of Raymond, a young cavalier, and Agnes, the beautiful heiress he falls in love with only to lose on the night of their elopement. Joining forces with her brother, the gallant Don Lorenzo, Raymond seeks to free her from the convent where she has been imprisoned by her jealous guardian, while Don Lorenzo pursues his own love of the innocent Antonia, whom destiny has marked as the ultimate temptation for Ambrosio. Tragic, comic, outrageous, passionate, sweeping, romantic, horrific and scathingly critical of the Catholic Church, the novel launched its young author to instant stardom (he was even nicknamed "Monk" Lewis) and has remained in print for three centuries. Cited by Stephen King as one of the most influential horror novels of all time, the book has been newly adapted for the stage by Bay Area journalist and critic Nirmala Nataraj and this fall No Nude Men Productions will bring the show to life under the direction of indy theater veteran Stuart Bousel. It opens October 10, 2008 at the Exit Stage Left in San Francisco, California and runs every weekend until November 22.
Music
The production will feature original music by Lisa Fowle, the mad genius behind Dragonfly Sound and a designer/composer with credits as diverse as "Fight Club", "Toy Story 2", "Liberata Me" and "The Brothel." In addition to that, the director and adapter would like to thank Jocelyn Pook, Loreena McKeenit, Calexico, Rasputina and numerous others for providing great background music during the early inspirational meetings for this show.
Movies
There are currently two film versions of THE MONK: the 1972 Italian film directed by Adonis Kyrou and featuring Franco Nero in the title role, and the 1990 Spanish film directed by Francisco Lara Polop and featuring Paul McGann as the Monk (and Sophie Ward as Matilda, interestingly enough). Both movies are fairly low budget and ranked at only average in execution. Polop's version was released in English as "Seduction of a Priest", which pretty much sums up this version's literary merits.
Television
Verdi had wanted to do an operatic adaptation of the book but was dissuaded on the grounds of its scandalous content.
Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière attempted to film a version of "The Monk" in the 1960s, but the project was halted due to lack of funds. Buñuel's friend, the Greek director Adonis Kyrou, used this script as the basis for his 1972 film version "Le Moine", which boasted an international cast with Franco Nero in the title role. The film also starred Nathalie Delon, Eliana de Santis, Nadja Tiller and Nicol Williamson. In 1990 a film adaptation of The Monk was produced by Celtic Films. It starred Paul McGann as the title character, and was written and directed by Francisco Lara Polop.
Books
A bit of critique on the original novel from WIKIPEDIA:
"The Monk" is remembered for being one of the more lurid and "transgressive" of Gothic novels. It is also the first book to feature a priest as the villain. In this respect it would serve as a model for such future works of literature as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Featuring demonic pacts, rape, incest, and such props as the Wandering Jew, ruined castles, and the Spanish Inquisition, "The Monk" serves more or less as a compendium of Gothic taste. Ambrosio, the hypocrite foiled by his own lust, and his sexual misconduct inside the walls of convents and monasteries, is a vividly portrayed villain, as well as an embodiment of much of the traditional English mistrust of Roman Catholicism, with its intrusive confessional, its political and religious authoritarianism, and its cloistered lifestyles. The American fictitious anti-Catholic libel, "The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk," borrowed much from the plot of this novel. Despite the critics' comments on its crudeness and lack of depth, it proved to be one of the most popular novels of the Romantic Period and is among the many Gothic works referenced in the Jane Austen satirical gothic novel "Northanger Abbey."
Heroes
Anyone who has ever said, "I have this crazy idea for a play and virtually no budget... let's do it."
The Monk's Details
Status:
Single
Here for:
Networking, Friends
Hometown:
The Exit Stage Left In San Francisco
Religion:
Catholic
Zodiac Sign:
Scorpio
The Monk's Companies
No Nude Men Productions San Francisco, California US Upcoming Show Exit On Taylor
10/10/2008-11/22/2008
The Monk is waiting, silently, for his moment to come. Posted at 5:45 PM Feb 6, 2008 view more
About me: NO NUDE MEN PRODUCTIONS presents * THE MONK * written by NIRMALA NATARAJ, based on the novel by Matthew Lewis * starring RYAN HAYES * CASSIE POWELL * MARGERY FAIRCHILD * PAUL RODRIGUES * ALISON SACHA ROSS * JAMES TINSLEY * LISA SWANSON * RANA WEBBER * NATHAN TUCKER * CHRISTOPHER P. KELLY * MEGHAN E. KANE * and RIK LOPES * designed by GREGORIO de MASI * LISA FOWLE * CODY RICHELLE * JAMES TINSLEY * managed by MARTIN SCHWARTZ * directed by STUART EUGENE BOUSEL
Opening at THE EXIT STAGE LEFT in SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA on OCTOBER 10, 2008 and playing Friday and Saturday until NOVEMBER 22. Tickets $10 first weekend, $15-20 subsequent weekends. E-mail ambrosioandmatilda@gmail.com for information/reservations. ALL SHOWS BEGIN AT 8 PM.
Who I'd like to meet: Theater & Literary Folks, Reporters and Critics, Producers, Audience Members, Actors, Designers, Saints and Angels, Devils and Demons, Ghosts and Gods great and small.
I opened a facebooksite the last days. Feel free to visite it. Here you find older songs and a lot of artwork. Welcome! Peter NEW: PK-Projects Facebook-Site
I saw "The Monk" on Nov. 7, went home and wrote a post about it on my blog. And here is what I wrote: Wow, this was insane. But really good! For the duration of the play I was inside the minds of people who were experiencing insanity, or something like it. Or at least that’s what it felt like. The play was constantly shifting points of view, and realities, and what was going on wasn’t always clear. But that was part of the pleasure of being in the audience. “The Monk” was full of surprises, right up until the very end. So I can’t really say what the story was, not right now, right after I’ve left the theater and haven’t had time to really unravel it and read the program notes and the souvenir comic book I bought afterwards. The thing that is most in my mind right now is that this was a tale about telling tales – and it was very well told.
The cast was really talented, and well directed. They were able to weave in and out of all these complicated things that were going on, but at no point did I lose interest. Quite the opposite – I was fascinated by it. This is the third production I’ve seen from “No Nude Men,” and I’m really impressed with how they put on a show. I loved their updated versions of “Love’s Labors Lost” and “Hamlet.” “The Monk” was, at times, spooky, mysterious and funny, which makes it a perfect play to see around this time of year. Halloween is over, but it gets dark earlier and the nights are longer, and it’s the season for ghosts, murder and magic. It was also a good neighborhood to see it in: the second act of the story takes place in catacombs and tombs and underworld labyrinths, and when I walked outside afterwards I felt like that’s where I was.
Whew. I’ve only been doing this blog for a couple of months, and I usually wait a few days to write and post my comments after I see a new play. But it seems like a gut reaction is appropriate for “The Monk,” so I’m going to go ahead and put this online less than an hour after seeing it
can't believe opening night is upon us. i know you've all been working hard. i love the flyers, posters and the graphic novel. kudos!!! ps...can i have my boy back in seven weeks? it was really just a loan...
