Licensed to Thrill
Films every Monday evening
July 3—August 21, 7:00 pm
Cubberley Auditorium (School of Education)
Free admission!
Licensed to Thrill focuses on the period's fascination with rakes, libertines, and sexual liberation, featuring post-film discussions led by Stanford faculty and the Stanford Summer Theater company.
7/3: STAGE BEAUTY (2004, dir. R. Eyre)
The “second sex” takes center stage when the restored monarch Charles II lifts the ban on female performers.
7/10: RESTORATION (1995, dir. M. Hoffman)
Enamored of the King's mistress, a naïve doctor finds himself embroiled in a battle between science and superstition.
7/17: THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT (1982, dir. P. Greenaway)
A young English noblewoman barters sex for service.
7/24: THE LIBERTINE (2005, dir L. Dunmore)
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester—the most notorious of Restoration rakes—provides the subject of this film.
7/31: CYRANO DE BERGERAC
(1990, dir. J. P. Rappenau)
Moving to France, we follow the adventures of a man known for his nose as well as his wit (and rapier).
8/7: VATEL (2000, dir. R. Joffe)
The steward Vatel frenetically prepares for Louis XIV's arrival at a country chateau.
8/14: CASANOVA (2005, dir. L. Hallstrom)
An urchin castaway grows to become the most famous lover in Italy in this delicious fable of lies told, virtue lost and love found.
8/21: RIDICULE (1996, dir. P. Leconte)
A young man learns that sharp wit is the key to open any door at Versailles.
Licensed to Thrill is part of the Stanford Summer Theater (SST) 2006 Festival "WICKED WIT: Rakes and Rebellion in the Revolution" featuring theatrical productions of Amy Freed's
dazzling brand new satire "RESTORATION COMEDY," (July 27 - August 13, Thursdays through Sundays at 8 PM) and Moliere's darkly comic "DON JUAN," (August 17 - 27, Thursdays through Sundays at 8 PM; no performance on Sunday, August 20). Join us in examining contemporary mores through the theatrical lens of the Restoration, when men and women matched their wits (and wigs), where decolletage exposed flaws in even the best of arguments, and outlandish artifice challenged nature to reveal itself for all it was worth.
To rival the deviance and delights of the period, SST
inaugurates its own form of theatrical debauchery: Pay what you like for any performance! SST is now priceless!