Turns out Ray Bradbury, whose fiery vision of a future filled with book burnings chilled the world 60 years ago, calls himself “the world’s greatest lover of life.”
During this politically rancorous period in history, when the 90-year-old “Fahrenheit 451” novelist is as timely as a Timex, Bradbury’s advice to the world is not, as he was recently quoted as saying, to start a revolution.
“It is to behave much like I do,” he wrote to The Denver Post last week in an e-mail. “Be in love with life, and with the fact that you were born, and the fact that you create the future. We all create the future day by day, by leaving the past behind.”
Bradbury’s name was often invoked during the recent furor over a Florida pastor’s threat to burn the Koran, regardless of the civil unrest it might unleash. And in response to the right’s current campaign to paint President Barack Obama “as some kind of alien threat,” Newsweek’s Aug. 28 cover story called the president our era’s “Illustrated Man.” Its opening words referenced Bradbury’s 1951 sci-fi classic about a man who has been painted head-to-toe with tattoos by a time-traveling witch. And nothing he tries — burning, sandpaper, acid or knife — will remove them.
Back in 1987, long before the Sept. 11 attacks and the Islamophobia that has followed, Bradbury opined that “the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”
Whether he likes it or not — and he doesn’t — the dumbed-down future Bradbury imagined in “Fahrenheit 451,” where critical thinking is outlawed, has in some ways come to pass — the declining educational system, the deterioration of the English language and a public that prefers quick-synapse entertainment distractions over reading.
But he’d just as soon not talk more about it. Because even at 90, Bradbury sees himself as forever 12 years old, a boy who marvels at the moon.
He’s far more Dylan Thomas than “Fahrenheit 451’s” book-hating Captain Beatty.
Bradbury welcomed Aurora Fox producer Charlie Packard into his California home this summer to talk about another of his classics. Tonight, the Aurora Fox is opening the regional premiere of Bradbury’s own stage adaptation of “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” His 1962 good versus evil fantasy thriller is about the nightmare that befalls two 13-year-old boys when a traveling carnival comes to their Midwestern town just in time for Halloween.
Bradbury fielded several more questions about his life, and that stage project.
Q: How do we reconcile a cautionary tale like “Fahrenheit 451” with a man so plainly in love with life?
A: I don’t know why, but I’ve always felt and been optimistic, even in difficult times. The way I think about life is that we are the future, each and every one of us. I am the future, and I create the future every day of my life. You are the future, and every hour that you live, you are creating the future. So against all the evils in the world, we exist because I believe that we make the future. When the dictators disappear — and they will — we will still live and create our future.”
Q: I presume that in 1962, you never imagined “Something Wicked” could ever be adequately presented on a live stage, with all its fantasy and horror elements. With all the new tricks, do you think live theater can do it justice now?
A: I think the most important thing about staging any play is to have fun with all of the elements. Theater has come so far over the years, but there is still something very unique and wonderful about local theaters. Of course, there are always limitations, but if you can remember to just let go and have fun with whatever you’re doing, then, I believe, you’ll be successful.
Q: The character of Mr. Dark is often described as malevolent and mysterious, but who is he, really?
A: To me, Mr. Dark represents all the evil of the world. Those types of characters are always great to write, and much of my inspiration came from books, history and church, where we learned of Lucifer, as well as my own imagination and fears.
Q: This battle between good and evil seems to draw on everything from Cain and Abel to “Peter Pan” to “The Picture of Dorian Gray” to “The Wizard of Oz.” What was your inspiration?
A: I was raised on movies from a very early age, and as I grew I fell in love with books, with theater and with all different kinds of religion. (I was raised as a Baptist.) I think all of these elements helped in shaping this story in one way or another.
Living life day-to-day filled with love and joy and laughter, well, it’s the only way I know of truly being alive.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Something Wicked this Way Comes”
Dark fantasy. Presented by the Aurora Fox Theatre, 9900 E. Colfax Ave. Written by Ray Bradbury. Directed by Charles Packard. Starring Jude Moran. Through Oct. 31. 7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Subndays starting Oct. 10. $20-$24. 303-739-1970,
Watch the Aurora Fox’s promotional video
This weekend’s best bet: “Angels in America: Part 1”
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Denver’s little Vintage Theatre — capacity 63 — is taking on one of the most sweeping of plays: Tony Kushner’s two-part, six-hour treatise on life and death in the 1980s. The story follows two couples: Louis Ironson, who is living with his AIDS-stricken lover, Prior Walter; and Joe Pitt, a Republican law clerk living with his Valium-addicted, agoraphobic wife, Harper. Starring Haley Johnson, Kurt Brighton, James O’Hagan-Murphy and Vintage artistic director Craig Bond. Part 1, “Millennium Approaches,” plays 7:30 p.m. Fridays and 2:30 p.m. Saturdays, starting tonight. Part 2, “Perestroika,” plays 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays beginning Oct. 9. $18-$23 ($30 for both when purchased together). Through Nov. 6. 2119 E. 17th Ave., 303-839-1361 or
This weekend’s best bet: “Night of the Living Dead”
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Flesh-eating zombies return to the Bug Theatre for a third consecutive Halloween season as George Romero’s 1968 classic film “The Night of the Living Dead” is told like it was never meant to be seen: live and on stage. Seven people find themselves trapped in a farmhouse surrounded by flesh-eating ghouls. A unique aspect of the live staging is that all the action taking place inside the farmhouse is on the stage, while the action outside the house is projected onto an overhead screen. 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. $12-$15. $3 off if dressed in full zombie makeup and costume. Through Oct. 31.Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St., 303-477-9984 or .
This weekend’s other theater openings
“Always … Patsy Cline” This ubiquitous little musical revue chronicles the true-life friendship between Patsy Cline and a Houston housewife who meets the star at a concert, then corresponds with her until Cline’s untimely death. Songs include “Walkin’ After Midnight” and “Crazy.” Through Nov. 7. Union Colony Dinner Theatre, 802 9th Ave., Greeley, 970-352-2900 or
“Apparition Palestine” Now in their 10th year, the Allied Witches stage a political tragedy each October to mark the beginning of winter. Through Oct. 31. Mercury Cafe, 2199 California St., 303-294-9258 or
“Bang Bang, You are Dead” William Mastrosimone (“Extremities”) wrote this examination of the culture of school shootings in the wake of four successive tragedies from Colorado to Arkansas. He wrote the first draft after his son’s classmate wrote a message on a chalkboard threatening to kill his teacher and fellow students. Through Nov. 7. 73rd Avenue Theatre, 7287 Lowell Blvd., Westminster, 720-276-6936 or the73rdavenuetheatre
“The Clean House” Thunder River opens its 16th season with Sarah Ruhl’s uncommon comedy about a maid who hates cleaning and dreams instead of creating the perfect joke. And a doctor who leaves his heart inside one of his cancer patients. And a woman who keeps her house in order, but whose life is a mess. Through Oct. 15. 67 Promenade, Carbondale, 970-963-8200 or
“Doubt” Sister Aloysius, a 1960s Bronx school principal played by Elizabeth Dowd, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects young Father Flynn (Stephen Weitz) of improper relations with one of her male students. Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. By John Patrick Shanley. Through Oct. 23. Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-440-7826 or
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“Something Wicked This Way Comes” Ray Bradbury adapted his award-winning novel into this live fantasy thriller that explores the conflicting natures of good and evil, modesty and vanity, need and want. Two 13-year old boys, rebelling against the constraints of youth, have a harowing adventure when a nightmarish traveling carnival comes to their Midwestern town just before Halloween. The carnival’s leader is the mysterious “Mr. Dark” (played by Jude Moran), who bears a tattoo for each person he has lured into a deadly devotion to the circus. Aurora Fox, 9900 E. Colfax Ave., 303-739-1970 or and here’s –>
“Werewolves of Poverty Gulch”The Thin Air Players present this all-new melodrama set in turn-of-the-century Cripple Creek, where a timid physician must summon the courage to become a hero as his town is being torn apart by villainous highwaymen. Through Oct. 31. Butte Theatre, 139 E. Bennett Ave., Cripple Creek, 719-235-8944 or butteopera
Complete theater listings
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The Running Lines blog
Catch up on John Moore’s roundup of theater news and dialogue. This week we tackle a reader’s question, “Are you too soft on the Shadow Theatre?”
