If you are in the Cincinnati area and you’re interested in a stage adaption of the Gilgamesh epic, Gilgamesh in Uruk: G.I. in Iraq is playing at the Aronoff until October 7.  Here is the description:

Gilgamesh in Uruk: G.I. In Iraq breathes new life into the oldest recorded story of human-kind and brings it boldly into the present. Spanning ancient Sumeria and modern-day Iraq, this highly theatrical adaptation utilizes multimedia, movement, original music and elements of mask and puppetry to tell the story of the tyrant king seeking his legacy. Ranging from tragic to funny to downright silly, Gilgamesh reminds us that all legacies come with a price and the universal truths of love and friendship give meaning to all our lives in the face of conflict, loss and grief.

I haven’t seen it yet, but the Cincinnati Enquirer wasn’t too taken with the performance, here is a selection from their review:

Bowden and Pugh dare to hurl almost anything into the thick of production – it may be the 3rd Century BC, but there’s always room for a cell phone. Or Doritos. Or a hat with a gnome on top.

At one moment, we’re in the thick of a hilariously earnest 12-Step meeting – one of the production’s most cohesive scenes – the next we’re wending our way across an ancient river.

But too often, these seemingly incongruous influences – declamatory presentation, unsuccessful comic shtick, mini-rituals – are just lobbed against one another and do little but collide. They don’t mesh into the sort of atmospheric production that Pugh seems to be searching for.

“Gilgamesh” is already an intellectually intriguing work. But there’s much needed to grow it into a more effective piece of theater; impactful emotion, judicious editing, funnier humor. And without that growth, it still feels like a work in progress.

I must say, it would be a jarring for me to see Gilgamesh eating Doritos and talking on a mobile phone…

When I opened my email from Jack Sasson with the subject line “[agade] NEWS: Anchor Bible and Yale University Press” I was deeply saddened. The fact that Doubleday, which is an imprint of Random House which is in turn owned by Bertelsmann AG, decided to divest itself of the leading franchise that presents high-level biblical studies research to a semi-popular audience says volumes about their view of the market for these types of books. However, this is exactly what consumers need–thoughtful engagement with biblical studies material. There is plenty of terrible junk out there that major media houses are perfectly happy to keep on their balance sheets (such as the sorry excuse for books called the “Left Behind” series). Here is a summary of my negative reactions to this move:

• As a division of Random House, Doubleday had the biggest mass-market exposure of any publisher of biblical studies related books. Now that Yale owns the series, this exposure will probably dramatically decrease.
• Anchor Yale Bible is a really bad name: its long, uncreative, and cumbersome–I guess the new acronym is going to be AYB which looks more like a fraternity than an academic series
• Yale has a much smaller pocketbook than Doubleday which might limit projects
• Because of the prominence and wide reach of Anchor Bible (even popping up on Barnes and Noble shelves) the thoughtful reach of the field of biblical studies as a whole will shrink

What do you think about this development?