I Am a Camera John Van Druten , Christopher Isherwood I Am a Camera
John Van Druten , Christopher Isherwood
I Am a Camera John Van Druten , Christopher Isherwood In the words of the Herald-Tribune, the play "looks at life in a tawdry Berlin rooming house of 1930 with a stringently photographic eye. For the most part, it concerns itself with the mercurial and irresponsible moods of a girl called Sally Bowles. When we first meet her, she is a creature of extravagant attitudes, given to parading her vices, enormously confident that she is going to take life in her stride. She is fond of describing herself as an 'extraordinary interesting person,' and she is vaguely disturbing. As we get to know her, as we watch her make frightened arrangements for an illegal operation, seize at the tinseled escape offered by a rich and worthless American playboy, attempt to rehabilitate herself and fail ludicrously, we are more and more moved, more and more caught up in the complete and almost unbearable reality of this girl. [The author has] placed a character named Mr. Isherwood on the stage He serves both as narrator and as principal confidant to Sally Bowles. He is the camera eye of the title, attracted to Sally, yet dispassionate about her." Though Sally is the chief point of interest, the plight of the Jew in Germany in the early '30s is brought within focus in a few touching scenes.
I Am a Camera Details
Date : Published February 2nd 2004 by Dramatists Play Service (first published January 1st 1952) ISBN : 9780822205456 Author : John Van Druten , Christopher Isherwood Format : Paperback 90 pages Genre : Plays, Fiction, Drama, Theatre, Cultural, Germany
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Susan says preferred reading Isherwood's Berlin Stories
Robert says
Read with Portland Playreaders
Cary S says
Starts slow, and gradually captures your attention...
Maggie says
Inspired by a recent local performance of “Cabaret”, I revisited this 1951 stage adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s “The Berlin Stories”, which later turned into the original musical “Cabaret”, which later became the movie, which then became a SECOND version of the musical (the version I recently saw) incorporating a few of the new songs written from the film. So, to recap:
As far as “I Am a Camera” (the 1951 stage drama) goes, it suffers from the same problem of many other "Berlin Stories" evolutions– trying to make either of the two main characters likeable. Mostly this stage play reads a bit stale and artificial. I especially disliked how the narrator/ protagonist starts most of his scenes with monologues talking to himself, about himself, and about what has happened since the lights went down on the last scene; in essence, he is reading aloud his mental diary to bring you up to speed. Not the most creative or believable way of communicating information, in my opinion. It definitely reads as a pre- Strasberg 20th century script (that's right, I just dropped a super-snobby theater term -- it's ok, I hate me too). I might recommend this play for history geeks or thespians. I am both a history geek and a thespian, and even I was pretty bored.
Bobby Sullivan says
I think I liked it better than CABARET.
Anthony Faber says
The play that was made of Isherwood's "Berlin Diaries" and was later transmografied into Cabaret. Nothing new if you read the book.
Cassandra says
I enjoyed reading this a great deal, and I think it would be quite effective on stage in a rather traditional way, but as a translation of Isherwood's work it suffers by comparison. Goodbye to Berlin gives impression, atmosphere, vision, character -- but no answers, nothing simple, just people living, well or poorly, in the midst of great change or chaos which they cannot comprehend. Isherwood wrote as the 30s was happening, he did not know what would come of it, he saw things occur and described them with skill and put them in tension with one another to try to give the feel of life at the time, but he did not have any answers.
This, however, is a play, and very much of its time in how it gives answers and settles situations. The reader of Isherwood's stories knows what will come, of course, but he did not; van Druten, however, wrote in 1951, and his knowledge of what it all means permeates the pages, and every character is brought in and woven together to make a static picture: Life Before The War or perhaps even Life Before Hitler. I cannot quite get it into words, but it left a bad taste in my mouth, because to make it a simple progression -- (view spoiler) -- you end with parallel arcs, parallel processes, and it is neat and tidy and no longer art, just a well-crafted story about people moving through things in clockwork patterns.
None of which will keep me from watching the film, if I can find it, or Cabaret. But it disappoints me. I do not know that there is any better way to turn an impressionist semi-novel into theatre, but this one I do not like.
Nicole says
John Van Druten, even in mid-century America, has no time for your heteronormativity, Cabaret. His version adamantly demands the relationship between Sally and Chris be platonic and I am so onboard for that. I think his central relationship of two people really living on top of each other and loving each other rings authentic. I also consider Van Druten one of the the most under appreciated writers of women in theatre; I am a huge fan of the Isherwood original, but it is difficult to overstate the way that Van Druten has really created the Sally Bowles that lives in our joint memory. He also doesn't steal her political interest away from her: the real Sally Bowles was a political activist, not an apathetic mess. Schneider is a little unsubtle, but Clive is sorely missed in Cabaret, for me personally. It's also the only version that really takes a critical look at Chris (who is underwritten in Cabaret). Anyway, I think it's a perfect companion to the Berlin stories, Christopher and His Kind, and Cabaret.
Deb Oestreicher says
Inspired to read this because we recently saw an outstanding production of Cabaret. Very readable and interesting to trace the adaptation process from Isherwood's Berlin Stories, to this, to the musical. Jackie says
This play is kind of a wild ride, if you've read The Berlin Stories and seen Cabaret and have never been on an actual wild ride. It's more fascinating than it is good, when compared to those two. It's interesting to see the bridge, but on its own I wouldn't be particularly into this play. caro🤟 says the lengths that van druten went to to imply isherwood was gay without explicitly saying it were hilarious. overall a very fun play if you’ve read goodbye to berlin.
Diana Polansky says
"I Am A Camera" by John Van Druten is a lovely adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's short story, "Sally Bowles". The play fine tunes the focus on struggling international artists flopping around like out of water fish in Pre-WW2 Germany - with the metaphor of a camera watching but not really participating until buttons are pushed - using emotionally distant language that is somehow poignant. This play, "Berlin Stories" (including "Sally Bowles"), and "Cabaret" all compliment each other - but they also stand alone.
Greg Kerestan says
In "I Am a Camera," we see the midpoint of evolution for the fictional character of Sally Bowles. Born from a fictionalized version of several real people in Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories," she takes center stage here as an antiheroine, before evolving into the self-destructive deconstruction of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype so well-known from the stage and film versions of "Cabaret." This is an interesting play, well-written and well-adapted from the "Berlin Stories." It is a more faithful but less fully-formed adaptation than "Cabaret," which diverges from the plot of the original novel but more accurately captures its feel and tone.