Transmission from Conference Land: The Odd Couple
I meant to post this over the weekend, but…conference brain. Instead, you’re getting it here. *AHEM*…GO SEE THE ODD COUPLE I got interested in Neil Simon’s 1965 theatrical version of The Odd Couple after reading James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure, where he goes back to the play several times when he’s looking for examples to illustrate a particular point. It stood out because The Odd Couple is one of those cultural touchstones, the characters of Oscar and Felix made iconic by the movie version featuring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, or the sitcom with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. And, like most touchstones, it’s been worth smooth and toothless by that long familiarity. This is not the play that James Scott Bell describes in his book. I went and Googled some details of the play and got…intrigued. It sounded smart. It sounded good. Then I discovered it was getting a run at the Queensland Theatre Company, and naturally, I