But inherent in the gambit of structuring the piece so that it can be executed by two actors is the removal of much of the danger and surprise that is the lifeblood of farce.
Displayed amid the biological specimens, rugs, china, furniture, and valuable photographs were paintings executed by other actors, including ones by Edward Askew Sothern and Joseph Jefferson.
Given as input a sequence of actions executed by the actor, the observer has to map this observed sequence to the plan currently followed by the actor and ultimately to its goal.
It is strange to see this executed by young, contemporary actors such as Gosling and Stone; yet they do it so well that they almost convince you it is new and cool.
During 65 minutes of faintly oblique dialogue and highly choreographed movement executed by both the actors and the camera, this ethereal, wounded soul mourns, visits a psychic and decides that the beautiful Hippolyte bears an uncanny resemblance to her dead lover.
This process interoperates diagnostic and coordination, feeding them directly into the establishment of response protocols, including protocols for risk communication, which are in many instances executed by the same actors that provided diagnostic information, by virtue of their capacity for rapid, two-way communication with populations.
There is some excellent work out there, to be sure, but it is work executed by a handful of actors.
One of the most bizarre acts in the "Follies" lineup is executed by film and TV actor Michael Carbonaro, who, let's just say, knows his way around a can of shaving cream like no one else.
Opera companies have tried to update the work over the years: casting only actors of Asian descent or, as executed by Monty Python's Eric Idle, in 1987, transposing the story to twentieth-century Britain.
