The Rise of General Arthur
"Here begin the terrors. Here begin the marvels."
from "The Rise of General Arthur"
National Press For The Rise of General Arthur
"...Low has a hell of an ear for language. Those are some downright beautiful sentences he's uttering up there, and if they sound too written, and inextricably bound to those pages he's turning so carefully, well, big deal: the guy gives good aural."
-Glen Weldon, Washington City Paper
"With a control over the rhythm and pacing of his words that rivals
Saul Williams, Low paints a beautiful and sometimes not so beautiful picture
of the reality of an American soldier fighting for something he doesn’t
claim to understand."
-Katelyn Coyne, Indianapolis
Fun City Finder
"...an ambitious attempt to transpose the Arthurian legend to present-day
Iraq. Low is a polished, charismatic performer..."
-Robert Trussell, Kansas City
Star
Local Press for The Rise of General Arthur
"This is a production that rises and falls on the effectiveness
of the words, and the performer who speaks them. low knows this story
well, and loves it well. He wants to do it justice, so he upped his game
this year to do so. I wasn't sure in reading earlier drafts of this script
how this kind of dense text could work onstage. But low has rewritten
and recrafted it into a sleek, compelling story - a story of honor, and
mission, and loyalty, and a quest that always seems to lead the hero onward,
to the next adventure."
-Matthew Everett, Twin Cities
Daily Planet
"The physicality of this show is subtle and perfect - it isn’t
quite choreography, but that’s the word I’d like to use. It
is here that low’s training in mime and physical performance really
helps his audience to follow his quick-moving and multi-layered text.
In the stream of words, low’s straightened finger or sidelong glance
is the beacon towards meaning."
-SWF, FringeFamous
"low is a charismatic storyteller, with a sense of humor, a feel
for pacing and vocal interpretation."
-Graydon Royce, Star Tribune
Audience Praise for The Rise of General Arthur
"This is not merely a transplanting of Arthurian legend, it's a transformation. low's lyrical words and characterizations perhaps put me most in mind of King's Dark Tower - something both common and epic; strange yet familiar."
"This is the tale of a hero ...who begins with certainty, falls into doubt, and yet continues onward in the face of doubt because to lose his raison d'etre would be to lose his life. Now I know why we fight. A powerful story, masterfully told, with great compassion and considerable style."
"Inside all the twisted dreams, mad prophecies and dense images, low invites us to really do that pondering, to revisit the past and wonder if everything we 'know' to be true - about Arthur, about Merlin, about our first military venture in Iraq, about honor, about quests, about anything, really - is really true. If you allow yourself to be open to the mystery of it, it can be deeply unsettling and moving."
About the Show
The fifth century meets the twenty-first as Lance-Corporal Pellinore is shipped off to Baghdad. It's King Arthur's story...as you've never heard it before.
Set against the backdrop of the first Gulf War, this military drama uses the body of medieval legend surrounding the early days of King Arthur and his knights to explore the nature of idealism in the face of armed conflict. Comparing and contrasting the contemporary and classical language of martial heroism, this wholly unique blend of scholarship and performance art promises to be a controversial and thought-provoking event.
WARNING: contains profanity, gunshots, and some violent imagery.
This show was nominated for Outstanding Spoken Word Performance in the 2009 Minnesota Fringe Festival by FringeFamous.
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