a moving and lively work, martyna majok's cost of living was awarded the 2018 pulitzer prize for drama. confronting disability, class, privilege, and a moving and lively work, martyna majok's cost of living was awarded the 2018 pulitzer prize for drama. confronting disability, class, privilege, and the legacy of the past (and, by extension of all of that, also our sociopolitical economic system), majok deftly portrays the hardships and yearnings of four very different people, each forced into difficult and challenging circumstances.
cost of living focuses on the immediacy of its characters and the tolls of their respective hardships. majok doesn't moralize overtly, but instead contends with individual lives, their emotional states, and their desires and (in)abilities to connect with another human being. while the ending feels a little contrived, cost of living is a potent, powerful play. ...more
with its inaugural performance in february of 2018, the white card is the first published play from claudia rankine, author of the award-winning 2014 with its inaugural performance in february of 2018, the white card is the first published play from claudia rankine, author of the award-winning 2014 poetry collection, citizen: an american lyric. rankine's unflinching new work was her "way to test an imagined conversation regarding race and racism among strangers."
set in two scenes (a year apart), the white card features five characters (4 white, 1 black) and boldly considers issues of white privilege, representation, elitism and exploitation, subjugation of experience, and entrenched racial division. although the white card may lack in dramatic, theatrical prowess (its dialogue feels a little forced, its characters thinly sketched), it does succeed in bringing important, necessary conversation to the forefront.
despite all the segregation, the tragedy is we are on the same side. we've always been here together, shipwrecked here together.
tracy letts (pulitzer prize-winning playwright [august: osage county]) is quite adept at mining human failings and psychological underpinnings. mary ptracy letts (pulitzer prize-winning playwright [august: osage county]) is quite adept at mining human failings and psychological underpinnings. mary page marlowe is a convincing glimpse into the life of its titular character. set over seven decades, letts's play skips through different eras of mary page's life — moving forward and backward in time. while mary's life is thinly sketched (given its brevity), we're treated to several singular moments from childhood onward. as mary struggles to discover herself, we, too, are left yearning to understand both her and her often conflicting impulses. letts injects mary page with a believable humanity, rounded out as it is by the requisite faults, foibles, and failures. mary page marlowe offers a glimpse into the days of an average woman, one whose life is peppered by the very instances we seldom have the chance to discover in the people we encounter every day.
ohhh, sweetheart, you're so sensitive. you're gonna have to toughen up some, mary page. the world is a mean old place.
reimagining the stories and characters of cinderella, snow white, and sleeping beauty, robert walser's fairy tales forms a triptych of playful, poeticreimagining the stories and characters of cinderella, snow white, and sleeping beauty, robert walser's fairy tales forms a triptych of playful, poetic pieces that were not necessarily ever destined for the stage (despite the swiss writer's love of theater). these short, lyrical pieces, often barbed and quite amusing, find the familiar characters re-cast in more animated roles: snow white offering a merciful reprieve, sleeping beauty miffed at having been roused from her slumber, and a masochistic cinderella that revels in her stepsisterly abuse. a fourth piece, about mary & joseph (and their reluctance upon learning the fate of their progeny) rounds out the collection.
walser, gifted, imaginative, and however enigmatic, was adept writing in many forms. these dramolettes, far from disposable, are charming and entertaining as standalone pieces, but work quite well when read in sequence. despite having been written over a century ago, they remain melodically modern. short yet fanciful, they'll appeal most of all to walser completists or fanatics of all things fairy tale.
(from "thorn rose, the sleeping beauty")
court poet:
if i were alseep, no verses would have to be labored over. i'd still be lying on my ear and dreaming of nothing but fame. now i'll wrestle around for rhymes, earning nothing but ingratitude. i would rather he had kept to his cuckoo nest or somewhere else that suited him and let us sleep. this was no masterpiece on his part.
*rendered from the german by poets/translators danielle pantano and james reidel...more
outside mullingar is playwright/screenwriter/director john patrick shanley's new work for the stage. shanley's creative range is clearly a wide one, aoutside mullingar is playwright/screenwriter/director john patrick shanley's new work for the stage. shanley's creative range is clearly a wide one, as in addition to the pulitzer, tony, and obie-winning doubt, he also penned the screenplays for both moonstruck and joe versus the volcano (directing the latter, as well). outside mullingar spans five years in the lives of two irish neighbors, as they navigate family, farming, death, and romance. at turns funny, sad, and poignant, shanley's play exudes ample sincerity, sentiment, and spirit.
life holds its miracles, good erupting from darkness chief among them.
~from shanley's 2013 new york times essay, "the darkness of an irish morning" - which serves as the play's introduction and perhaps its origin story, as well.
the newest stageplay from pulitzer prize-winning playwright tracy letts, killer joe revisits family drama and dysfunction - setting it this time in a the newest stageplay from pulitzer prize-winning playwright tracy letts, killer joe revisits family drama and dysfunction - setting it this time in a trailer park outside of dallas. letts, as with august: osage country, exhibits an impressive command of dialogue and vernacular. noirish in theme, violent in the end, yet tinged with a delighting dark humor, the plot of killer joe, sadly, does not seem all that far-fetched. compelling on the page, it's likely captivating on the stage. letts is a fine dramatist; surely one of the more important figures currently at work in the american theatre today.
your casserole smells nice. i think you got a good scald on it. i wish i had a funny story about blind dates or casseroles, but i don't. maybe one will come to me later. maybe not.
i'm generally dispassionate towards film adaptations, but matthew mcconaughey looks spectacularly sadistic!
the background of eugene o'neill's exorcism is perhaps more compelling than the play itself. his final one-act play (published in 1919 and first perfothe background of eugene o'neill's exorcism is perhaps more compelling than the play itself. his final one-act play (published in 1919 and first performed a year later), exorcism is the tale of a thwarted suicide attempt - informed by o'neill's own failed try some seven years earlier. suicide was seemingly ever-present in the playwright's life: his drug-addicted mother had made an attempt, his grandfather may have taken his own life, and both of his sons would later succumb by their own hand.
performed for a single two-week run in the spring of 1920, o'neill sought to destroy all copies of the play following its production (though for personal or professional reasons it remains unknown). some ninety years later, a single extant typescript was found by the widow of screenwriter/producer philip yordan - friend of o'neill's second wife, agnes, who presumably gifted the one-act to him decades before (with the original packaging featured on this edition's endpapers). while the nobel laureate never again wanted the play to see print, it does make for an intriguing addition to his larger body of work.
in a foreword by his fellow playwright, edward albee makes the case that exorcism could well have been included as a scene in o'neill's play about pipe dreams and frustrated aspirations, the iceman cometh. exorcism also features an informative introduction by louise bernard (curator or prose and drama for the yale collection of american literature's beinecke rare book and manuscript library).
she was pretty, but she looked - there were all the weak sins of the world in her face - she looked like a painted clown with the black on her eyes and the greasy rouge on her lips - like a clown, you understand, a pitiable clown - and yet loathsome - oh, unutterably! and then, if she was that - what was i? and all of a sudden she turned over on her back and began to snore - more gross than a pig! and it seemed to me that suddenly everything i had ever done, my whole life - all life - had become too rotten! my head had been pushed under, i was drowning and the thick slime of loathing poured down my throat - strangling me!
though written around the same time (1941-43), long day's journey into night was first performed upon the stage some nine years after its sequel, a mothough written around the same time (1941-43), long day's journey into night was first performed upon the stage some nine years after its sequel, a moon for the misbegotten. the former, eugene o'neill's autobiographical masterpiece, takes place about a decade prior to moon's drama.
jim (or "jamie" in journey - both based on o'neill's real-life older brother), now older, cynical, and nearly beaten by life, has all but succumbed to his alcoholism. still plagued (emotionally, that is) by the death of his mother, jim is consumed by guilt and shame. as a fitting and imperfect (if unrequited) complement to jim's character, josie - the tall, well-built, and tough-talking 28-year old irishwoman - is the daughter of phil hogan, jim's lessee. while much of the story revolves around hogan and josie's farm, and the threat of it being sold by jim - the unspoken love between josie and jim (and their myriad conflicting feelings) provides for the play's real upheaval.
while perhaps not as arresting as its predecessor, a moon for the misbegotten is still an accomplished and affecting work of theater. o'neill was quite adept at parsing the nuances of human relationships - often exposing the many ways things forever left unsaid, unacknowledged, or otherwise unaccounted for erode the individual and all those around them (via addiction, indifference, pipe dreams, or emotional unavailability). in o'neill's nobel prize citation, the swedish academy notes "the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." over six decades since his passing, o'neill remains one of the finest playwrights of any generation.
you can take the truth, josie - from me. because you and i belong to the same club. we can kid the world but we can't fool ourselves, like most people, no matter what we do - nor escape ourselves no matter where we run away. whether it's the bottom of a bottle, or a south sea island, we'd find our own ghosts there waiting to greet us - "sleepless with pale commemorative eyes," as rossetti wrote.
my first thought upon concluding the first of manuel puig's stage plays, under a mantle of stars (bajo un manto de estrellas), was "what the hell was my first thought upon concluding the first of manuel puig's stage plays, under a mantle of stars (bajo un manto de estrellas), was "what the hell was that?!" the argentine author and playwright, best known for his novel (and, later, stage adaptation), kiss of the spider woman, has created with his play a strange, affecting, and simultaneously disturbing and droll theatrical work. sharing qualities with the absurdist works of pirandello and pinter (and proximity on an alphabetized bookshelf), puig's play is surreally emotional and at times both harrowing and hilarious. there's an element of schadenfreude ever-present, as our curiosity is tempered by compassion and confusion.
as the nameless characters devolve ever further into their troubled psychologies, we're privy to the power of memory, tragedy, denial, and unresolved feelings. like a dreamscape gone terribly awry (for the reader, that is), under a mantle of stars is both frightful and foreboding. while a careful read is indeed rewarding, seeing puig's drama performed upon the stage must be a singular and rather unforgettable experience.
it doesn't matter who he is, it matters how he is.
*translated from the spanish by ronald christ (vargas llosa and a book about borges and his fiction, the narrow act)...more
although it's been well acknowledged that the best drama is more fully realized upon the stage as opposed to on the page, mamet's plays reiterate thisalthough it's been well acknowledged that the best drama is more fully realized upon the stage as opposed to on the page, mamet's plays reiterate this point greatly. driven by his trademark stylized dialogue, romance is surely more engaging and hilarious when performed live. this farcical, fast-paced, and provocative play takes aim at so many common taboos and prejudices: religion, homosexuality, the middle east peace process, domestic relationships, and the notion of justice. moments of unadulterated absurdity, irrational characters, and an abundance of profanity lend romance its distinctively mametian allure. certainly not for the puritanical or humorless....more
having won a wide array of prestigious theatre awards (including both the tony for best play and the pulitzer for drama), as well as the adoration of having won a wide array of prestigious theatre awards (including both the tony for best play and the pulitzer for drama), as well as the adoration of theatergoers and critics alike, there seems little for august: osage county left to conquer. tracy letts’ black comedy is a fantastic work, and as impressive as it reads on paper, it must be truly disarming to witness performed upon a stage. a family drama somewhat reminiscent of eugene o’neill’s long day’s journey into night (though considerably more contemporary in nearly every aspect), august: osage county portrays the rawness, pathos, humor, and tragedy of a large oklahoma family.
letts’ dialogue reads as if it were composed from literal transcriptions of an all-too-likely american household (think okie “american beauty”). while enduring familial bonds are evident (and increasingly tested), the dysfunction and disharmony that marks the family’s interactions are bewildering. fierce and forceful conversations abound, yet despite the urgency of events, humor is never far off.
for what august: osage county may lack in originality, it surely makes up for in fervor and effect. tracy letts is a fine dramatist (and apparently a fantastic stage actor, as well), and his plays will deservedly attract both attention and accolades for many years to come.
*though film adaptations of successful plays can often be hit or miss, august: osage county is to be made into an upcoming movie (with meryl streep cast as lead matriarch violet weston). ...more
playwright and director neil labute is well-known for his harsh dialogue and devastatingly honest characters. the mercy seat, labute’s post-9/11 stageplaywright and director neil labute is well-known for his harsh dialogue and devastatingly honest characters. the mercy seat, labute’s post-9/11 stage drama, features both. set in new york city the day following the september 11th attacks, the play centers not upon the tragedy’s aftermath, but, instead, upon two city residents and their own self-imposed domestic troubles.
with the scope and repercussions of the horrific attacks not yet fully known, ben and abby find the nature of their adulterous relationship coming to a head. ben, husband and father, considers using the tragedy for his own selfish end: abandoning his wife and children (whom will, of course, believe he perished when the towers came crashing down) in favor of running off with abby, his boss and lover. despite the candor and cruelty with which the play’s only two characters address each other, there are a few brief moments of humor. labute’s dialogue is both frenzied and believable, and the characters quite convincing. the mercy seat is an engaging work, and while it has been nearly a decade since that fateful tuesday morning, the play’s themes of self-absorption still ring relevant.
from the preface:
in the mercy seat i am trying to examine the “ground zero” of our lives, that gaping hole in ourselves that we try to cover up with clothes from the gap, with cologne from ralph lauren, with handbags from kate spade. why are we willing to run a hundred miles around simply saying to someone, “i don’t know if i love you anymore”? why? because nikes are cheap, running is easy, and honesty is the hardest, coldest currency on the planet…
now i have written a play about two new yorkers who face down one another and their own selves on a long, dark morning of the soul. i hold the mirror up higher and try to examine how selfishness can still exist during a moment of national selflessness. ...more
twenty-two years after his death, the collected writings of the great miguel piñero are finally back in print. best known for his award-winning play stwenty-two years after his death, the collected writings of the great miguel piñero are finally back in print. best known for his award-winning play short eyes, the influential nuyorican poet, playwright, and actor had a short, yet remarkable life. emigrating from his native puerto rico to manhattan's lower east side (loisaida) when he was four, much of piñero's life was marked by repeated criminal convictions (his first coming at the age of eleven). by his mid-twenties, piñero had served prison time for armed robbery and drug offenses, and in 1972, while held at sing sing correctional facility, he wrote his first poem. as a participant of a writing workshop during his incarceration, he wrote short eyes, an unabashed and powerful drama about prison life and inmate hierarchy, though would not see it performed in a proper theater until the year after he was paroled in 1973. short eyes would go on to a broadway stage and garner numerous accolades including six tony nominations, an obie award, and a new york critics' circle award for best american play.
outlaw: the collected works of miguel piñero is a gorgeous volume compiling all of the late writer's literary output. in addition to the eighteen poems that comprised his sole poetry collection, la bodega sold dreams, outlaw features twenty previously unpublished poems (a dozen from the bodega cycle, as well as eight others). each of the ten plays piñero completed before succumbing to cirrhosis in 1988 are also included herein (short eyes, the three works originally featured in the sun always shines for the cool, and the six short pieces found in outrageous one-act plays.) for those unfamiliar with piñero's writing or the often contrasting complexities of his life, two outstanding introductory essays (one on his drama, the other on his poetry) provide a scholarly context to the thematic elements and cultural relevance of his work.
although piñero's oeuvre, to some, may seem too small to warrant serious attention, his influence on hispanic drama and poetry cannot be understated. employing densely idiomatic language to illustrate a subculture alien to many (if not most), piñero's writing is startlingly honest and astute, surely anything but subtle. his poems and plays convey the grittiness of urban living (rife with the drugs, crime, sex, prostitutes, pimps, and violence he knew all too well) with an unapologetic clarity that would make many a high-class, insular city dweller entirely uncomfortable. his work deftly considers the hazards, hypocrisies, temptations, exploitations, offenses, affronts, and indignities that he and other marginalized individuals are forced to endure on a daily basis. the shimmering opulence of manhattan may not have reflected quite as far as the lower east side, but its degrading and demeaning aftereffects surely did. piñero was more documentarian than activist, and his helplessness in the face of oppression (be it racism, capitalism, the prison system, etc.) did little to stifle his creative charge. as a chronicler of the street life that claimed so many, piñero's writing stands as refutation of a society that so effortlessly sweeps so many to the gutter. although much of piñero's work is bold and provocative, his anger and frustration never seem all-consuming, even yielding to unexpected moments of humor and empathy.
that a young, puerto rican thief, junkie, and ex-convict went from maximum security prison to award-winning playwright and guggenheim fellowship recipient is itself an intriguing drama. as the definitive biographical account of his life has yet to be written, this collection must serve as the sole evidence of the brilliant, tragic, and troubled talent that was miguel "mikey" piñero. outlaw is a long overdue and much deserved collection, one that shall rightly allow the import and intensity of his creativity to endure.
from francois villon to jean genet, miguel belongs to a tradition of writers whose devious and renegade lives paradoxically result in the most painstaking devotion to the truth and rigor of their craft. all dramatists of real value must sooner or later confront what for them is truly dangerous, either within themselves or in the outside world. that we the audience feel that danger and understand something of what it is about is often what makes a play important and durable. if the life of miguel seems illusive and troubling, one can only applaud what is so candidly engaged here by his art, where very little is stolen or borrowed and a great deal is revealed. in this sense miguel piñero is as blessed and as straight a writer as they come. ~joseph papp (from the afterword)
Seekin' the Cause
he was Dead he never Lived died died he died seekin' a Cause seekin' the Cause because he said he never saw the cause but he heard the cause heard the cryin' of hungry ghetto children heard the warnin' from Malcolm heard the tractors pave new routes to new prisons died seekin' the Cause seekin' a Cause he was dead on arrival he never really Lived uptown... downtown... crosstown body was round all over town seekin' the Cause thinkin' the Cause was sellin' the white lady to black children thinkin' the cause is to be found in gypsy rose or j.b. or dealin' wacky weed and singin' du-wops in the park after some chi-chiba he died seekin' the Cause died seekin' a Cause and the Cause was dyin' seekin' him and the Cause was dyin' seekin' him and the Cause was dyin' seekin' him he wanted a color t.v. wanted a silk on silk suit he wanted the Cause to come up like the mets & take the world series he wanted... he wanted... he wanted he wanted to want more wants but he never gave he never gave he never gave his love to children he never gave his heart to old people & never did he ever give his soul to his people he never gave his soul to his people because he was busy seekin' a Cause busy busy perfectin' his voice to harmonize the national anthem with spiro t agnew busy perfectin' his jive talk so that his flunkiness wouldn't show busy perfectin' his viva-la-polocia speech downtown... uptown... midtown... crosstown his body was found all over town seekin' a Cause seekin' the Cause found in potter fields of an o.d. found in the bowery with the d.d.t.'s his legs were left in viet-nam his arms were found in sing-sing his scalp was on Nixon's belt his blood painted the streets of the ghetto his eyes were still lookin' for jesus to come down on some cloud & make everything ok when jesus died in attica his brains plastered all around the frames of the pentagon his voice still yellin' stars & stripes 4 ever riddled with the police bullets his taxes bought he died seekin' a Cause seekin' the Cause while the Cause was dyin' seekin' him he died yesterday he's dyin' today he's dead tomorrow died seekin' a Cause died seekin' the Cause & the Cause was in front of him & the Cause was in his skin & the Cause was in his speech & the Cause was in his blood but he died seekin' the Cause he died seekin' a Cause he died deaf dumb & blind he died & never found his Cause because you see he never never knew that he was the Cause....more
though long revered throughout latin america, when mario benedetti passed away in 2009, the great uruguayan novelist, poet, playwright, and journalistthough long revered throughout latin america, when mario benedetti passed away in 2009, the great uruguayan novelist, poet, playwright, and journalist was little known to the english speaking world. few, quite unfortunately, of his over seventy-five works are available in translation. what has been published in english, however, is simply breathtaking (his blood pact and other stories may well be the finest collection of short stories i've ever read). with a new collection of his stories (the rest is jungle and other stories) set to be published this july, perhaps the late benedetti will find favor with a newer audience.
now over thirty years old (and finally available in english), pedro and the captain is a haunting, searing exploration into the psychology of torture. as with all timeless works, the play's harrowing subject matter is sadly as relevant now as when it was first conceived. no stranger to political repression himself (he was twice forced into exile), many of benedetti's works were once banned in his native land.
as he writes in the prologue, pedro and the captain "isn't a confrontation between a monster and a saint, but rather one between two men, two flesh and blood beings who both have their points of vulnerability and resistance. for the most part the distance between the two of them is ideological, and this perhaps holds the key to their other differences- the moral, the spiritual, the sensitivity to human pain, the complex terrain that lies between courage and cowardice, the lesser or greater capacity for sacrifice, the gap between betrayal and loyalty." as all of the play's physical torture takes place offstage between scenes, the conflict evolves solely through the dialogue. while a mere reading of the script is distressing enough, seeing it staged must be utterly arresting.
pedro and the captain is a powerful work that speaks to the unspeakable. by offering a glimpse into the hearts and minds of both men (the play's only characters) and foregoing the abstract terms with which torture is usually portrayed, the subject is made unavoidably personal, and to great effect. the reader, left to face torturer and tortured alike, is able to consider this abhorrent practice free of the usual ideological posturings. yes, torture is reprehensible and illegal, but rather than offer mere moral pronouncements against it, benedetti has created a stirring work of art that is much more thoughtful than it is reactionary. ...more
poet, memoirist, essayist, and playwright, it seems the talented nick flynn knows no literary boundaries. alice invents a little game and alice alwayspoet, memoirist, essayist, and playwright, it seems the talented nick flynn knows no literary boundaries. alice invents a little game and alice always wins is a slim, three-act play of urban surreality inspired by a combination of moments experienced by flynn and by the political climate and policies of bush-era america. with only four characters and a single, mostly unchanging setting, the plot revolves around the peculiarity of the characters' situation and the uncertainty of their relationship with one another. flynn's first dramatic work does indeed resemble, in part, the plays of the late harold pinter, nobel laureate and political activist, whom he mentions in the afterword. without flynn's illuminating afterword, where he traces the play's origin and outlines many of the thematic elements he was striving to convey, some of the overall effect of the work may have been tended towards obfuscation. while drama is undoubtedly a difficult medium to work within (and comes with the risk of alienating those without any real interest or background in theater), flynn's first attempt is a bold, serious effort. as with many plays, there are certain benefits to seeing it produced upon the stage, but in the case of alice invents a little game and alice always wins, even a solitary reading offers one a rewarding experience.
from the afterword: sometimes, when the phrase "alice invents a little game and alice always wins" was rolling around in my head, before the writing began, i imagined alice to be a metaphor for america, and her game like a game of musical chairs, with the idea that the music was about to end. musical chairs always seemed the prototypical capitalist game, creating a sense of desperation and competition among friends. who is it that gets to take away one chair each time, and where do the chairs go, and who lifts the needle from the vinyl? that was an idea i had in the initial drafts, but in the end the alice in the play does not seem like the one who lifts the needle from the vinyl, or the one who takes away the chairs. in these pages, she is as bewildered as everyone else, if slightly more accepting of that bewilderment, which gives her whatever power she may have. she is, perhaps, simply one of the many who found a way to live without a chair, so to speak, earlier than the rest of us....more
the third and final of steinbeck's "play-novelettes" (after of mice and men and the moon is down), burning bright is a brief, yet remarkably powerful the third and final of steinbeck's "play-novelettes" (after of mice and men and the moon is down), burning bright is a brief, yet remarkably powerful exploration of pride and paternity. steinbeck considered the work an experiment, "a combination of many old forms." in the foreword he outlines his reasons for attempting this synthesis, well aware of the format's inherent obstacles: "the difficulties of the technique are very great. the writer whose whole training has lain in the play is content to leave physical matters to his director or set designer and has not learned to use description as a fiction writer does. on the other hand, the fiction writer has been trained to let his description pick up his dialogue, and he tends to depart from the tight structure of the theater. if a writer is not accustomed to seeing his story before his eyes, his use of this form is not likely to be successful." while the form itself is, perhaps, not as potent as either of its parts alone, steinbeck's endeavoring to craft a new literary structure is both brave and admirable.
burning bright bears many similarities to greek drama, though lacks its depth and brilliance. as a morality play, steinbeck succeeds in conjuring a situation wherein individuals struggle with the bounds of propriety and duty. his focus on overcoming the work's structural constraints, however, undermines the overall effect of the ethical dilemma he directs the reader to consider. to be fair, this cannot be an easy format to write within, and perhaps because of that, the book (as well as the stage play) was met with a rather cool reception. nonetheless, this work further demonstrates steinbeck's commitment to exploring human compassion when confronted with hardship. he is neither sanctimonious nor reductive, but seemingly content to craft a tale that illustrates the essence of the ongoing human drama. this is not steinbeck's strongest outing, yet that is no reason to forsake it altogether. like any intriguing work of art, burning bright raises more questions than it ever attempts to answer.
it is the race, the species that must go staggering on. mordeen, our ugly little species, weak and ugly, torn with insanities, violent and quarrelsome, sensing evil- the only species that knows evil and practices it- the only one that sense cleanness and is dirty, that knows about cruelty and is unbearably cruel.
our dear race, born without courage but very brave, born with a flickering intelligence and yet with beauty in its hands. what animal has made beauty, created it, save only we? with all our horrors and our faults, somewhere in us there is a shining. this is the most important of all facts. there is a shining.
as powerful as any play pinter has written, ashes to ashes, while exploring the familiar themes of memory, violence, and the past, is an extraordinarias powerful as any play pinter has written, ashes to ashes, while exploring the familiar themes of memory, violence, and the past, is an extraordinarily distinct work. pinter has mentioned in an interview that he was inspired to write ashes to ashes after reading a biography of albert speer, adolf hitler's chief architect, later known as "the nazi who said sorry." while the play does not deal directly with the third reich, it certainly alludes to it, particularly during the one-act's conclusion. pinter is quite deft at drawing parallels between interpersonal violence and international brutality....more
party time and the new world order are two of pinter's more overtly political works. as his career progressed, the british dramatist became less reticparty time and the new world order are two of pinter's more overtly political works. as his career progressed, the british dramatist became less reticent about infusing his plays with ideological belief. written as the first gulf war was beginning, these two works are some of pinter's most scathingly critical. both plays, however unfortunately, are perhaps even more relevant now then when they were first staged in the early 1990s.
party time points the finger at bourgeois disinterest amid the suffering of others. the callous unconcern towards anything unrelated to material indulgence and perceived security is thoroughly indicted. pinter alludes to the similarities between personal indifference and that of nations. .
the new world order is unsparingly scornful and entirely devoid of equivocation. the play is a single scene long (apparently staged in under ten minutes), and contains but three characters. only two of the characters engage in dialogue, as the third is a blindfolded prisoner. the new world order, brevity notwithstanding, is an utterly disturbing and horrifying portrayal of the moments before torture is employed to extract politically-sensitive information. "well, you're right. you're right to feel pure. you know why?... because you're keeping the world clean for democracy." harrowing in its ongoing pertinence....more
pinter may very well have the most distinct voice in all of modern drama. old times, like many of the english playwright's mid-career works, examines pinter may very well have the most distinct voice in all of modern drama. old times, like many of the english playwright's mid-career works, examines the role of memory as it relates to the past. richly layered with subtlety and ambiguity, the play muses on the often disparate recollections that shape the present. it seems pinter's works would be most engrossing if seen performed upon the stage.
"there are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened. there are things i remember which may never have happened but as i recall them so they take place." ~anna...more
originally staged in 1960, the caretaker confirmed pinter's renown as a playwright. with little more than three actors and a single room, the caretakeoriginally staged in 1960, the caretaker confirmed pinter's renown as a playwright. with little more than three actors and a single room, the caretaker illustrates an eccentric piteousness that eventually devolves into frustration and indifference. with wry humor and idiomatic genius, pinter veers towards the inscrutable just long enough to disperse with the expectations one may have in regards to contemporary drama. there is a dissociation between pinter's characters that leaves the reader feeling slightly uneasy or ambiguous about what would otherwise be obvious allegiances. absent a comfortable veneer, one is thrust more acutely into the play, and thus finishes more affected (in spite of criticisms that pinter makes his works incomprehensible for his notable lack of plot and contrivance).
the dumb waiter is considerably more amusing than the caretaker, though no less absurd. a one-act play, the dumb waiter is rife with the latent violence that marks so many of pinter's works, and leads the reader to ponder notions of identity and fidelity (themes explored in greater depth throughout pinter's oeuvre). comparisons of pinter to beckett are perhaps most apt in this play, as the dumb waiter does indeed elicit traces of waiting for godot, although there are obvious dissimilarities between ben & gus and vladimir & estragon....more
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