Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

by Tom Stoppard

1966

What happens to minor characters when they're not on stage in a drama? Well, for the hapless Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of "Hamlet," they're stuck in a theatrical limbo, an empty stage on which they wonder what their purpose is. Sure of nothing, not even their names, with only fragments of memory as to their task of delivering Hamlet to England, they encounter the play's dramatists, who give them only cryptic answers, and only every now and then the main characters of "Hamlet," who sweep past them, engrossed in their own roles.

It's a little bit "Waiting For Godot," a little bit "Six Characters in Search of an Author," and a little bit "No Exit." Ros. and Guild. have, for the preponderance of the play, only themselves to talk to, annoy, console, and baffle in turn, and in this case it does turn out that hell is other people. But this play is brilliant in its own right, with its meta-textural humor, surrealism, and frank contemplation of death. I'll tell you one thing, though. Death is not being on a boat. Possibly, however, at times it is not-being on a boat. 

five stars

Three Plays: Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives

by Noel Coward
1941, 1925, 1930
This volume included a humorous intro by Edward Albee.

"Blithe Spirit." I hadn't read any Coward before, and had a notion his work would be laugh-out-loud funny, like Wodehouse's, but I found this play, although extremely literate and witty, wasn't as risible as that. It concerns a man whose first wife, after a seance, reappears to plague him and his second wife. Then the latter dies, too, remanifests, and his life becomes somewhat exasperating. A jolly good plot and all, but I can't help feeling that it could have been more exuberant, if, say, it had detailed the catfighting of the two dead women, or spent more time on them deciding after death that they were pals and that Charles, the hero, was the cad. And the ending was too sudden and – a glaring omission– totally unexplained. An enjoyable, witty play, and one with clever innuendo, but I don't see its "classic" reputation, as it seems so flawed.

"Hay Fever." This one was, I thought, funnier than the first, but perhaps less witty. It concerned a very bohemian, theatrical and artsy family that bordered on the dysfunctional without actually ever going beyond mere theatrics, instantly forgetting all strife moments after it begins. The family's guests for the weekend are all horrified. It was funny, but it all lead up to a reaction – such as the guests plotting a kind of revenge on the family that used them as theatrical foils – that never came. I suppose in 1925 the personas of the family were novel enough to carry the play. Also flawed, but also comic and fun.

"Private Lives." About a divorced couple who both remarry and happen to meet again on their simultaneous honeymoons, and then run off together. They fight horribly, and seem to cause their respective second spouses to quarrel just as horribly, and seem to find it amusing. Rather an unpleasant little work, but mildly amusing in parts.

three stars

A Sense Of Detachment

by John Osborne

John Osborne is a writer totally unknown to me. This drama was a very weird, and not very admirable, example of his work. It begins with the characters talking to the audience, Pirandello-like. They have nothing but contempt for the play, the audience, and each other. There are two plants in the audience who help ridicule the cast, and the cast note that the plants are "tired plot devices." The second part takes off: while the Grandmother reads very graphic descriptions of porn films from a brochure, the rest of the characters recite eloquent and dated love poetry. Then the Chap and the Girl, both denying love and falling in love, embrace each other. That's about it. I'm sure the play would be better visually, as there are very specific notes as to what is to be played on the screen behind the players and what music is to be played. It's interesting that the stage notes, in mentioning the audience, say twice "if there are any left." Well, it's a different play, if not that original, which this kind of thing really should be.

two stars

Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You & The Actor's Nightmare

by Christopher Durang

"Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You": I'm hesitant to call it only my second reading, since I was in it at 12 and probably read it dozens of times, but for simplicity's sake I will.  Coming back to it after a decade, I see that this is a very brave play, poking fun at the long-standing traditions of some fairly humorless people.  It flings homosexuality, abortion and single mothers into the fray, almost as a sidebar to the main controversy, rape and cancer in a world which a good God is supposed to rule.  Of course, it is a comedy, and it's very funny too, although much less so after the appearance of Diane and the others.  Sister Mary shooting Diane is absurd, but not that comic (the shooting of Gary, on the other hand – "I've sent him to Heaven!" – manages to be funny).  This is one of the best black comedies ever, guaranteed to offend: the best kind. 

"The Actor's Nightmare": I found a lot more meaning to this play this time than my first reading (and viewing) at age 12.  I had thought of it as just a surreal, extremely funny play, which it is, but there's also the fact that George has deep guilt about not going to a monastery, which figures into his torment.  In addition to being a send-up of the trappings of the theater and actors' airs, it's a comment on the Catholic Church's use of guilt as a power tool.  Mainly, though, it was a great comedy.  I laughed out loud reading it.

[Read twice – actually, heard and performed in dozens of times]

No Exit and Three Other Plays

by Jean-Paul Sartre

"No Exit," translated by S. Gilbert.  Three strangers, locked in a room.  Can't really say anything about this brilliant allegory without revealing too much.  It should be very widely read.

"The Flies," translated by S. Gilbert.  A reworking of the Orestes/Electra story.  I liked it better than Euripides'.  Sartre made the characters multi-faceted and real; he also added Zeus as an adversary of Orestes who feeds on remorse.  Orestes' refusing to repudiate his crime, create his own freedom and deny Zeus & nature, was very existential, I thought.  Plus, perhaps, the killing could be identified with the workers' violent revolt which creates their own justice maybe.  Anyway, a great, complex play, that also works as an anti-Nazi or anti-occupation message.

"Dirty Hands," translated by Lionel Abel. It was about an intellectual who yearns to act for the Communist Party, and is manipulated by them to such an extent that the man he is supposed to kill sees it all and even tries to reveal it to him.  There’s a great, well-crafted argument scene about the process of power-taking and political machinations between the intellectual (Hugo) and his target (Hoederer).  In the end, Hugo is convinced he acted for the right reasons, despite the party's re-writing of history.  Like Sartre’s Orestes, he too refuses to repudiate his crime and makes his own destiny.  A great, great play.

"The Respectful Prostitute," translated by Lionel Abel. It’s a short, very chilling, scathing attack on American corruption and racism.  I don’t remember it from my previous reading as being this powerful, but it is – a nasty little piece of work.

[read twice]

five stars

The Devil And the Good Lord And Two Other Plays

by Jean-Paul Sartre

"The Devil and the Good Lord," translated by Kitty Black. I loved it. Goetz is one of the inscrutable characters of literature: why does he act the way he does? Is he pretending to be Good just to do Evil more? But though the play is enigmatic, the message is clear. It doesn't matter if God is alive or dead, if we try to do absolute Good or total Evil. No matter what, we're all equal in that we're buffeted by the winds of fate regardless of what we might want to bring about.

"Kean," translated by Kitty Black. Apparently based on a Dumas play. I don't really know what to make of it. It's a fine comedy and refreshingly (for Sartre) non-communist, with a happy ending. It seems to be a satire of class relations and antiquated gender relations, with a little bit of Shakespearean object-of-desire switching thrown in for comedy. On top of that, it's a comment on the artificiality of almost all relations in life.

"Nekrasov," translated by Sylvia & George Leeson. It was a very cunning and biting farce on politics, journalism and the nature of man. A swindler pretends to be a Soviet official/defector: the consequences are far-reaching, realistic, and work to further the causes of the powers that be, despite what Georges, the crook, wants. Another great play.

four stars

Euripides V: Electra, The Phoenician Women, The Bacchae

by Euripides
405-410 BC
translated by Emily Townsend Vermeule, Elizabeth Wyckoff, William Arrowsmith

"Electra": Very good, though not as good as Sophocles' work. I thought Electra was a self-pitying, hypocritical whiner, and apparently that's just what Euripides wanted me to think. Orestes wasn't so bright either. The intro really clued me in to Electra's sexual frustrations, envy of Clytemnestra and jealousy/hatred of her mother's lover Aegisthus. Electra & Orestes' shock at everything still being bad, even after killing their mother, was well done – it brought the point home dramatically: No one's in the right, no one's all bad or good, and violence rarely solves things, even in god-sanctioned "justice." A powerful piece.

"The Phoenecian Women": It was very good, holding my interest despite my familiarity with the plot. The character development, again, didn't quite hold up to Sophoclean standards, but the drama and dialogue were superb. The ending (when Creon takes charge) was especially gripping. Oedipus played a minor role, but his lines were pure poetry, with quite a bit of clever use of "light" and "dark" metaphor (he being blind and all).

"The Bacchae": Before I read the insightful intro by W. Arrowsmith, I was going to pan the play, but now I see the meaning and message of the play that I missed (although I still think character development is lacking). I now see the conflict between Pentheus and Dionysius is central as person vs. person, not merely hubris vs. a god. And what I thought was disorder and sloppiness – Dionysius' transformation from the traditional Olympian in disguise to something like a force of nature – I now see is intentional. I did like the way, minutes after the reader's sympathy has shifted from Dionysius to the torn-apart Pentheus and Agave, the Chorus also shows its humanity by ceasing its ecstatic reveling at Pentheus' death and pitying Agave, gently helping her regain her sanity. A good play, and even though this is my second read, perhaps it bears even further investigation.

[read twice]

four stars

Sophocles 1: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone

by Sophocles
440-430 BC
translated by David Grene, Elizabeth Wyckoff, Robert Fitzgerald


"Oedipus the King": Fascinating, and amazingly human, amazingly visual. I could practically picture the emotions flitting over Oedipus' face when Jocasta was telling the story of his birth without realizing what it meant to him. Oedipus blamed himself & everyone else, but took control of his life only when he gouged out his eyes. Creon, meanwhile, started out innocent & obeisant but was eager to give orders at the end. A thrilling psychological drama. One subtle part that really shows Sophocles' talent was how it just hinted that Jocasta knew (or more than suspected) the truth long ago, and just hoped quietly that things would stay the way they were. Now that's brilliant psychological writing.

"Oedipus At Colonus": Another wonderfully modern play. This edition had stage notes (Fitzgerald's?) that were irritatingly superfluous due to the superb and already explicit dialogue. But the play itself was wonderful: not quite as psychologically intense as the first, but as dramatic as the plot (the exile suddenly becomes crucial to his homeland) allowed.

"Antigone": Very good. The conflict arises from hubris (Creon not wanting to obey Antigone, "a girl", or Haemon, "a young boy", or even Teiresias – "to yield is dreadful") opposed to humble piety (Antigone's unlawful but just burial of her brother). Although last in series, Sophocles wrote this one first, & the drama does not have as tense & terribly inevitable a build-up as Oedipus the King.

five stars

First And Last

by Michael Frayn
1989

A screenplay about an old man who walks across the length of England.  It was fairly funny in the way screenplays can be, through description of visual humor.  It was also kind of touching, although I think it attempted too much psycho-drama for its length.

The Importance Of Being Earnest

by Oscar Wilde

Farcical play about mistaken identity and class relations.  Funny, witty, light escapism. Has the usual Wilde epigrams and lofty generalizations about "life." 

five stars