“Listen to her! Listen to how she spits on her mother’s grey hairs! Oh, may you live to have your own daughter tear and trample on you as you have tra“Listen to her! Listen to how she spits on her mother’s grey hairs! Oh, may you live to have your own daughter tear and trample on you as you have trampled on me. And you will: you will. No woman ever had luck with a mother’s curse in her.�
We’ll never fully understand our parents� sacrifice. No matter how much we try.
“Everybody dislikes having to work and make money; but they have to do it all the same.�
The Country House research. My character Walter is a director, and he has opinions on this play. The parallels of this play with The Country House� you’re a clever guy, Donald Margulies.
This play, written in 1893, first performed in 1902. I'm impressed. Prophetic, empathetic, and tragic. Very, very funny. But that ending is brutal.
First Shaw. Have to read Candida and I'll cover both of the Shaw plays talked about in The Country House. Very excited for that now!
“Your love’s a pretty cheap commodity, my lad.�...more
“I happen to know that God is alive and well and living in Gary, Indiana. He’s a black steelworker with seven kids who works the night shift pouring o“I happen to know that God is alive and well and living in Gary, Indiana. He’s a black steelworker with seven kids who works the night shift pouring off slag.�
Mean, caustic, hilarious. Eric Bogosian wrote some delicious, DELICIOUS monologues. You can just chew on those words. Truly so many awesome, vicious monologues.
“Lemme put it this way, Barry Champlain is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.�
Inspired to read because my friend and old roommate Steve took an acting class after I started � he was also inspired by my decision and wanted to give it a gander. He told me he prepared a monologue from this play; I wasn’t familiar, but with a gift card to the Drama Book Shop that he gave me for Christmas, I picked up a Bogosian collection as a sort-of homage.
“I’ll bet you’re really an actor or something, right? I’m always fascinated by people with goals.�
Enjoyed reading this. Distinct characters who are ju“I’ll bet you’re really an actor or something, right? I’m always fascinated by people with goals.�
Enjoyed reading this. Distinct characters who are just bored enough to try and do something a little reckless. My goodness, the fallout from this is kinda messy.
I'm reading some plays that my classmates were casted in for rehearsal projects. Wow, it’d be a lot of fun to be Matty. Insane dialogue from his character, and I can’t wait to watch Camillo get into it.
“Tell me you’re not really going to be a priest.� “I promise to not be a good one.�
The non-linear progression of the story � a choice! And yeah, pretty interesting. Feels quite conducive to be filmed; does this exist as a film? Could be excellent for a film.
The dialogue is the best part. It’s actually quite funny.
“I’m not going to settle for some mindless drudgery just to be comfortable.� “So you’ll go on letting mommy pay the bills?� “Artists have always been supported.� “You’re not an artist.� “I have the temperament.�...more
“Being a playwright, darling? A playwright? Acting isn’t demoralizing enough, you choose playwriting?�
Read this play twice this weekend. Jumping from “Being a playwright, darling? A playwright? Acting isn’t demoralizing enough, you choose playwriting?�
Read this play twice this weekend. Jumping from being nineteen years old in This is Our Youth in my Scene Study class to being sixty-six years old with a bum knee in this play for my spring rehearsal project. First time we’ll be working on a full-length production at Stella, and I’m very excited to get to work with my cast and director! Think we have a good group, genuinely.
At my core, I relate the most to Elliot. He has this air of bitterness and sadness to him that’s me on my worst days (but I won’t lie, there’s at least a moment every day where I embody Elliot, lmao). But he’s such a great character and you want to give him a hug. Of course, Anna, is such a marvelous character.
“Do you think it’s easy telling your child the truth? Do you? Shall I pretend your play was a work of genius? Is that what you want? Lies? I can lie; I pretend for a living. Marvelous! Absolutely brilliant! All it was, was a childish attempt to get back at me! To embarrass me!�
Frankly, all of the characters in this play are much older than us actors playing them. We’re all in our 20s (I’m the oldest actor at the senior-citizen age of 29 years old), but we’re playing 70, 66, three of us are in our 40s, and then of course Juliana gets to play 21.
You can tell the Chekhov influence right off the jump! The arc and the yearning and the fact that everyone’s an artist (or related to one). All the jokes on actors. It’s inside baseball, this play, but it’s fun. There’s much to mine, and I'm excited to approach as an actor.
Desire is the root of all suffering. This play supports this 100% valid claim. These strange happenings that we have no control over, and the ways we’re inextricably attached to each other, no matter how disjointed and dysfunctional. Family will disappoint you time and time again. And love shows and reveals itself in the weirdest of ways sometimes.
But we gotta keep going.
I’m gonna read this a few more times, obviously, and then I’ll be acting in it for four performances in May. God, I hope I can be convincing as Walter. But like Walter’s resolve in the third act when he tells Elliot “what he really thinks,� I believe I’ll have to just decide to be Walter, and choose to believe that my choices are the right ones. It's taken him 66+ years to get somewhere near this resolve; maybe driving the Porsche softens the blow of whatever emptiness he feels inside. But he found Nell. We choose what we want to believe, sometimes. The pain doesn't leave you.
“What should I regret? The work on stage I didn’t do? Not a chance. Starvation is not a virtue.�...more
“Spend a lifetime with them and you might get a moment of insight into their pain� until then, allow them their grandeur in silence.�
A genius play. Th“Spend a lifetime with them and you might get a moment of insight into their pain� until then, allow them their grandeur in silence.�
A genius play. Thank you to Fran, who told me I should read this and said, “you’d be a good Ken.� And I’m flattered, but also, the role does seem suited for me, if I may say so myself: I’m definitely going to add his last monologue to my arsenal � it’s so dang good!
“You know, not everything has to be so goddamn IMPORTANT all the time! Not every painting has to rip your guts out and expose your soul! Not everyone wants art that actually HURTS! Sometimes you just want a fucking still life or landscape or soup can or comic book! Which you might learn if you ever actually left your goddamn hermetically-sealed submarine here with all the windows closed and no natural light � BECAUSE NATURAL LIGHT ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!�
Never have I stopped to write down more lines or quotes than this play, I think. The dialogue is so good, and the sentiments so profound. Rothko is such an interesting man; a true “artist� for all the good and the bad that entails.
“I AM HERE TO STOP YOUR HEART, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?! I AM HERE TO MAKE YOU THINK! I AM NOT HERE TO MAKE PRETTY PICTURES!�
Like the ideas they discuss from Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy, two things can be true, and opposing ideas and practices can still be inextricably linked. I agreed with Rothko, I agreed with Ken. Both are usually right, in a way.
“All my life I wanted just this, my friend: to create a place� A place where the viewer could live in contemplation with the work and give it some of the same attention and care I gave it. Like a chapel� A place of communion.� “But� it’s a restaurant.� “No� I will make it a temple.�
Ugh. So good! There's so much to say, but all I'll tell you is: read the play. I'd love to watch a staging of it -- can only imagine how beautiful the lighting design can be; and the whole conceit of watching the actors stare right into the audience (where we suspend our disbelief that they are looking at whatever current painting that Rothko is working on) would be so tremendous. Seeing how they're stirred looking at these paintings, but we get to see it. We're the painting -- the audience. I'd love to see that, and I'd also love to help that creation.
“How do you know when it’s done?� “There’s tragedy in every brush stroke.�...more
“Doubt requires more courage than conviction does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place and doubt is infinite—it is a passionate exe“Doubt requires more courage than conviction does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place and doubt is infinite—it is a passionate exercise.�
I knew from reading John Patrick Shanley’s introduction to the play, which I included an excerpt of above, that I was in for a real treat. Had been meaning to watch the film for a long time now, but in a way, I’m glad this was my introduction to the work. The ideas are right there, and just READING the play, and creating voices in my head � it adds to this layer of doubt.
“If I could, Sister James, I would certainly choose to live in innocence. But innocence can only be wisdom in a world without evil. Situations arise and we are confronted with wrongdoing and the need to act.�
If I heard Father Flynn explain his side, or if I heard the conviction from Sister Aloysius, maybe I’d be like Sister James and be so easily swayed. I’m left with this interesting layer of doubt � this Catholic guilt and doubt that I already possess.
Wonderfully-written. As a bonus, this play is actually quite funny. I read this entire play at a coffeeshop earlier today and let out a few good chuckles. Some satisfying bits with bloody noses, blindness, and coworker nonsense (even if they’re all nuns � we’re all only human and not divine nor immaculate).
The last couple scenes � the Mrs. Muller meeting� wow. I gasped at a reveal, which I guess is how we’re supposed to react. You think you know, you think you know. There’s layers and nuance to all of this. A lot to chew on, genuinely.
“When you take a step to address wrongdoing, you are taking a step away from God, but in His service.�
Loved reading that the original cast of the show said in interviews that the second act starts when the audience leaves the theater. This was so quick to read, and I saw that it translates to about 90 minutes of theater. Makes a lot of sense! Father Flynn’s sermons can take awhile; and boy, I’m sure there are a lot of meaningful pregnant pauses. Wow. Great stuff.
Father Flynn would be a difficult character to play� but I’d love to do it. I know it takes place in the 1960s, but hey, the next Pope might be Filipino! And I was born in the Bronx. Maybe we can manifest this for a revival in 20-25 years....more
“This morning I watched one of my patients die before my eyes.� “But you’re not a doctor, Ivan.� “Then I am all the guiltier. Oh, Alyosha, how can you l“This morning I watched one of my patients die before my eyes.� “But you’re not a doctor, Ivan.� “Then I am all the guiltier. Oh, Alyosha, how can you look at this barren untranslatable Russian idiom around us, and still believe in God?�
With my fairly pedestrian and elementary knowledge of Russian Drama and literature (and let’s face it, it’s really just purely Russian Drama at this point), I can say I thoroughly enjoyed this irreverent, nonsensical play spoofing so much from Russian art as well as just contemporary Western art as well.
Laughed a lot while reading. Would imagine a lot of great bits are visual � Constance during her long, strange translations of scenes from Russian to English, and the ‘yes, and� that seems to play out with the characters she’s telling stories of but changing circumstances (from “whorehouse� to “warehouse�).
Mary Tyrone Karamazov killed me. Mary’s already ‘not there� at times in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, but how she’s used in this play, just deliriously referring to her sons as characters from a completely different play� a wonderful bit. Got me every time.
“Mama, I’m going to be a pop star!� “Edmund, stop saying that! It’s just a summer cold!�
My first Durang. He won the Tony for Best Play with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and I feel like I’ll visit the play quite soon. Beyond Therapy I’d love to read next and will do it soon. He’s from New Jersey! I can hear it with the dialogue. Feels so New Jerseyan....more
“Well, you see, there are some people whom one loves, and others whom it’s almost more fun to be with.�
Torvald is not John Proctor. Torvald is in fact“Well, you see, there are some people whom one loves, and others whom it’s almost more fun to be with.�
Torvald is not John Proctor. Torvald is in fact Reverend Parris.
Urgent and all-encompassing; I can imagine the immense ripples this play had when it originally premiered in the late 1800s. The sacredness of marriage held under a microscope; the agency of women, or at the very least, an examination of how their voices are silenced by the men in their lives.
“I know what despair can drive a man like you to.�
Some wonderful exchanges of dialogue and some iconic monologues. Nora is one of the best characters of the form.
The secondary plot of Mrs. Linde and Krogstad had some of my favorite sentiments and wonderfully counterbalances the suffocation of Nora and Torvald’s dollhouse relationship.
“I must work if I’m to find life worth living. I’ve always worked, for as long as I can remember. It’s been the greatest joy of my life � my only joy. But now I’m alone in the world, and I feel so dreadfully lost and empty. There’s no joy in working just for oneself. Oh, Nils, give me something � someone � to work for.�
I got a used copy from the Strand Book Store. But I didn’t even consider that maybe I should’ve held out for the Amy Herzog version. Alas, I can always visit that one later.
Wonderful, essential text. Torvald’s bipolar and honor-driven monologues in Act III are quite great; his character is ‘justified� because of his flawed worldviews and societal expectations; can absolutely imagine Arian Moayed KILLING this role. And it goes without saying that Jessica Chastain was undoubtedly marvelous as Nora....more
“Do you like being� an actor?� “No, sir.�
Reading this right after Waiting for Godot, lord. Waiting for the end to come�
“Don’t you see?! We’re actors - “Do you like being� an actor?� “No, sir.�
Reading this right after Waiting for Godot, lord. Waiting for the end to come�
“Don’t you see?! We’re actors - we’re the opposite of people!�
This one I found funnier than Waiting for Godot, and I do appreciate how it extends the life (but in a way, offering zero new information about them) of Hamlet’s “friends� Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Their quest is nonsensical and devoid of meaning without Hamlet himself. Their entire purpose is for Hamlet. And the way they get written off by Shakespeare in the original text, well� we need to know what could have been going through their heads on that boat ride to England.
Absurd, funny, and quite sad. Its musings on life, on art, on the futile exercise of acting, on what’s “real� and what’s “not,� and of course, on death, really fired off my imagination.
I suppose I’d have found this play on my own at some point, but reading it so close to my birthday got me confronting my mortality once again. ...more
“Yes, now I remember, yesterday evening we spent blathering about nothing in particular. That's been going on now for half a century.�
I had a very viv“Yes, now I remember, yesterday evening we spent blathering about nothing in particular. That's been going on now for half a century.�
I had a very vivid dream about school after reading this (helps when you finish reading Waiting for Godot at 2:30am, and you drift away while thinking about absurdism and the meaning of life), and this dream I think enhanced my opinion of this play. The play CONTINUED, so to speak. And I woke up loving this play � kinda crazy.
Which, I must say, Waiting for Godot MUST be enhanced by reading with another person; especially the playfulness, silliness, and speediness of some of the dialogue between Didi and Gogo. That being said, I did enjoy reading this a lot � this play about “nothing� and “everything.� There were moments that were giving me pause; or I realized it was a little boring to read, because a lot of the magic comes from the intentional, meaningful silences (can imagine audiences howling with laughter at the brutal mundanity of Didi and Gogo's predicament and pleasant suicidal ideation).
“Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! (Pause. Vehemently.) Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for once the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us! What do you say?� (Estrogon says nothing)
If The Myth of Sisyphus was a pure absurdist comedy, and you had to endure (suffer) with a friend, you get Waiting for Godot. Trying to get ideas for plays and scenes to perform with one partner, and this one for many reasons has a few really good moments....more
“But listen � Would you be morally offended if I kissed you for just a second?� “Well, I mean, what’s the rush?� “No rush. I’d just like to get rid of t“But listen � Would you be morally offended if I kissed you for just a second?� “Well, I mean, what’s the rush?� “No rush. I’d just like to get rid of this knot in my stomach.� “Oh � Sure, I mean � Whatever’s expedient.�
Lonergan knows how to write some dialogue. This was a lot of fun to read, and it was a delight to follow these three horny, conflicted, emotional young adults. My classmate Aidan suggested this play to potentially use for our next scene in Scene Study, so I had to do my homework.
And we may do something from this! We have some time to read more and decide, but I do think we’d have some fun as Dennis and Warren (he being Dennis; I being Warren). Kinda works out, because both have this coked-up energy, but Dennis is taller/stronger (albeit unambitious), and Warren is the shorter/anxious/grieving one. They’re both kinda stuck with each other.
"I'm like the basis of your personality... I'm like a one-man youth culture for you pathetic assholes. You're gonna remember your youth as like a gray stoned haze punctuated by a series of beatings from your fuckin' Dad, and like,ÌýmyÌýjokes."
There’s only three characters here. And Warren is really the only connective tissue of the three, but all are so fun to follow and experience their world views. Warren perhaps because of inaction and a certain lack of agency he finds himself thrust (stuck) with these characters, but his arrested development is wondrous to unpack, or at least learn from.
“Not much happens,� but so much happens. Hubris, modernity, and grief are the main motivators and obstacles of this story; these are experiences that shape our youth (I mean, that title, ba dum tsssss) and it’s never easy.
Lonergan’s monologues always sound / seem so out-of-breath; but they’re frequently very funny, even if they come from a pained place. No wonder his plays have a lot of repeat actors (Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin)....more
"Hear my soul speak: The very instant that I saw you did My heart fly to your service, there resides To make me slave to it, and for your sake Am I th"Hear my soul speak: The very instant that I saw you did My heart fly to your service, there resides To make me slave to it, and for your sake Am I this patient log-man."
I'm playing Ferdinand in the Ferdinand/Miranda scene (Act 3, Scene 1) for my Shakespeare class with my classmate Piti. This scene is definitely my favorite scene of the play, and it's a lot of fun to play with. Ferdinand is Grade-A simp-of-the-year.
“When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers for the name of king? To cabin! Silence! Trouble us not.�
Not my favorite Shakespeare to read. Definitely would be aided by WATCHING it. That Act 1 set piece would be crazy as well; seeing the actual tempest (storm) happening on the boat. And then all the ensuing fallout of that.
“Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think.� “It sure brings it out in people.� “The little there is belongs to people who have experienced some sorrow.�
Revis“Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think.� “It sure brings it out in people.� “The little there is belongs to people who have experienced some sorrow.�
Revisited this play yesterday at the Drama Book Shop because I was going to watch Kowalski, a new play about the tango between Marlon Brando and Tennessee Williams ahead of the production of A Streetcar Named Desire â€� in which Brando is supposed to meet Williams to audition for Stanley Kowalski. And since I’m writing this Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ review after, I can say with full confidence that I loved Kowalski!
“I was—sort of—thrilled by it.�
And I’ll be seeing Paul Mescal prowling about in March with the new transfer of A Streetcar Named Desire � very excited for that (and for Patsy Ferran!).
“I don’t want realism. I want magic! [Mitch laughs] Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell truth, I tell what OUGHT to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!—Don’t turn the light on!�
I’ve seen� most of the movie? But I was in high school and I barely remember it.
Holy moly. A tremendous read. The dialogue is so dang good, and the characters are all such wonderful creatures. All of them are on different parts of the spectrum of accepting their life how it is.
Is this all it was ever going to be? Two dingy rooms, separated by a curtain? Is this too common?
Desire � oh, desire. We know it’s the root of all suffering. To want is to suffer. A streetcar named suffering, wouldn't that be a title. But this is all relative, as someone like Stella can look past her meager circumstances because of the MAN that is Stanley Kowalski. He’s described as a brute, and that’s kind of what he is; he’s a man, and men are animals. We all are animals, no? And we can’t explain our animalistic impulses.
“But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark—that sort of make everything else seem—unimportant.�
Blanche, Stella, Stanley, and Mitch are incredible, fully-realized characters. Love them all, and Tennessee Williams made them real, made them disgusting, made them beautiful. Absolute masterpiece. Several moments from this play permanently lodged in my brain....more
“What I’ve realized, Kostya, is that, with us, whether we’re writers or actors, what really counts is not dreaming about fame and glory� but stamina: “What I’ve realized, Kostya, is that, with us, whether we’re writers or actors, what really counts is not dreaming about fame and glory� but stamina: knowing how to keep going despite everything, and having faith in yourself—I’ve got faith in myself now and that’s helped the pain, and when I think to myself, ‘You’re on the stage!� then I’m not afraid of anything life can do to me.�
I’ve now read the four essential Chekhov plays, and, in a way, I’ve “read� this one before with Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird (a sort-of adaptation), which will forever have a place in my heart as the play that I used to audition for Stella Adler, kickstarting this new phase of my life. But as I was reading The Seagull, specifically this Tom Stoppard version of the play, I kept thinking to myself, “man, this is THE Chekhov play, isn’t it?�
“You know, I’ve lived a pick-and-choose sort of life, plenty of variety, I’m not complaining, but let me tell you, if I’d ever experienced that transcendent feeling artists get in the moment of inspiration, then I believe I would have had nothing but contempt for my physical life and everything that goes with it and I’d have left the earth behind me and soared away into the skies.�
Maybe it’s where I find myself in my life, but the musings and dialogue of this play, and its characters� I love it all so much. There’s a caustic brutality that all these characters inadvertently inflict on one another, and it all comes from art, love, or the lack of (good) art and the absence of love. These characters ‘suffer,� but it’s technically not the greatest suffering imaginable � just broken hearts, unfulfilled dreams, and cuckolding right in front of your eyes.
“Loving without hope—waiting years on end for something, you don’t know what� Better off married and forget about love, I’ll have new troubles to blot out the old ones—and anyway, anything for a change. Shall we have another [drink]?�
It’s a comedy � or at least this was Chekhov’s original intention. As Stanislavski and other directors and ensembles tackled the piece over the years (after it was originally booed at its first performance in Russia), the play has taken on another life and identity of its own, and it’s viewed as tragic, dramatic, with such a sadboi central performance in Konstantin.
“Now promise me there’ll be no more (pulling an imaginary trigger) chk-chk! when I’m gone.�
It proves it comes down to performance and interpretation, because yes, this play is SO melodramatic. Characters� choices truly are justifiable, but sometimes you just need to slap them across the face to knock some sense into them. But someone needs to slap ME across the face sometimes, too; I get the struggle of all of these characters. Their musings are beautiful, and I think Tom Stoppard’s version of the text captures sentiments so tenderly that I found myself nodding along with and empathizing with on every page.
“Hm� here you are talking about fame and fortune and some interesting, brilliant life I’m supposed to be having, but I’m afraid these sweet thoughts mean no more to me than sweet cakes, which I never eat.�
Gosh, that Shakespeare in Central Park creative team? I didn’t realize that THIS version I picked out at the Drama Book Shop was the version that was directed by Mike Nichols, with Philip Seymour Hoffman (!) as Konstantin, Meryl Streep as Arkadina, Natalie Portman as Nina, Christopher Walken as Sorin, Kevin Kline as Trigorin� the entire cast is divine, and it made reading this play a little easier, just imagining in my head each of them performing.
Konstantin is just a little sadboi and I love him so much. I just know I can play Konstantin or Con in SFB one day; frankly, I possess the energy and can be convincing as a pouty, woe-is-me, pathetic creative. But I love all of these characters so much; poor Konstantin, poor Masha, poor Nina, poor Arkadina, poor Dorn� poor everybody....more
“Quite a difference between now and then, don’t you think? And two or three hundred years from now, people will look at the way we lived and they will“Quite a difference between now and then, don’t you think? And two or three hundred years from now, people will look at the way we lived and they will be horrified and they will laugh. Our world will seem bizarre and complex and hilarious. Oh, those people will have some life. That will be some life. What a mood I’m in. I want to live, goddamn it.�
I haven’t read a Tracy Letts play yet, but as I was reading this version of Chekhov’s Three Sisters (and the whiplash I felt after reading Mamet’s The Cherry Orchard just before), I felt immediately that I need to rectify the Letts issue. Absolutely loved this in the same vein as Annie Baker’s Uncle Vanya.
“Life will always be hard and mysterious and have the occasional happy day. A thousand years from now, people will still say “life is hard� and they’ll still be afraid to die.�
However, you can only read so much Chekhov in a row. It almost becomes darkly funny reading about all these bored, unfulfilled, depressed, and repressed white people... who don't do much but complain. But I only jest, because the characters are valid for thinking what they think, and Chekhov does a brilliant job of putting words to what we feel, and offering the right perspective to� deal with what we’re dealing with.
“…every day, I can feel my strength, my youth, fading by degrees. The only thing that gets stronger is the dream.�
I’m grateful for reading these Chekhov plays, truly. Especially Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters � I will be coming back to these a lot, or at least regurgitating (botching) the sentiments of these plays. I saw a movie with friends after reading The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters back-to-back, and then we grabbed drinks; found myself talking about the essence of these plays. Now the characters in all of these plays for the most part kind of end their storylines on a ‘downbeat,� but I think the romantic thing to take away from these plays is that we can take the lessons learned and apply them to our next actions; to our next goals.
In the end, all of these characters want MORE, and while some of their circumstances deny them from ever achieving or reaching those goals or desires, I still think the idea of ‘hoping� for the better days or ‘dreaming� for those better days is the fuel to make you� fucking do something! Sometimes I get frustrated with these characters for just sitting around and moping, but given the intensity of their desires, you can’t blame them. I understand these characters, and I think that’s what Chekhov is best at! Because he’s writing about you and me, perhaps not on our best days. But it’s the human condition distilled....more
“I love this house. And without my orchard, what is my life? And if they must sell it, let them sell me, too. My darling. My son drowned here � take p“I love this house. And without my orchard, what is my life? And if they must sell it, let them sell me, too. My darling. My son drowned here � take pity on me.�
Nothing like constantly needing to flip back to the list of characters as I went through the first act, trying to remind myself “who is who.� I know this is typical of Russian literature and drama. "Who is complaining now?" Lol.
“Who are you? Nietzsche?�
Quickly setting the scene, this play is about a family who needs to sell their estate, which includes a treasured cherry orchard, due to debts too large to get by in this cruel world. The characters come and go, musing about work, society, money, and how these rigid, ‘soulless� entities affect the things that really matter, like love, family, connection.
Loved characters like Lyubov and Trofimov; despite Lyubov’s debt, her instinct is to help strangers. She gets lambasted for giving away GOLD to someone who begged and she quickly shames herself for doing so; reckless, maybe, but her heart is in the right place. Trofimov I connected with because of hyper-specific monologues that sounded like ME.
“Trust in me. Anya, I am not yet thirty. I know I am young, and I am still a student but I have seen much � endured much. Hunger� Summer and winter� I have been sick. Worried� wondering� Everywhere. Day and night, I felt it. I� and it is coming� Throbbing in me. Happiness. I see it, Anya.� “The moon is rising.� “Yes. The moon is rising. And a better time is coming. A happier time. Nearer, nearer� Perhaps we will live to see it. And if we do not it does not matter. Others will after us.�
I realized after I read both The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters back to back, “oh, every Chekhov play must be about the same exact thing.� But the beautiful thing is that these are representations of life. They’re not sexy, they have the real-life anxieties and worries, and they express the desires that sit inside all of us; maybe we’re not happy now, but we have hope that one day, even if just in our dreams, we can feel that joy.
Appreciated David Mamet’s version of this play; to tell you the truth, this is my first “Mamet� if this even counts. Something about his version that I didn’t find as easy to read as Annie Baker’s Uncle Vanya or Tracy Letts� Three Sisters, but maybe that’s just The Cherry Orchard itself? Who knows. I’d have to compare by reading someone else’s version of the play....more
"Why should you want to exclude from your life all unsettling, all pain, all depression of spirit, when you don't know what work it is these states ar"Why should you want to exclude from your life all unsettling, all pain, all depression of spirit, when you don't know what work it is these states are performing within you? Why do you want to persecute yourself with the question of where it all comes from and where it is leading? You well know you are in a period of transition and want nothing more than to be transformed. If there is something ailing in the way you go about things, then remember that sickness is the means by which an organism rids itself of something foreign to it. All one has to do is help it to be ill, to have its whole illness and let it break it out, for that is how it mends itself."
Beautiful. Absolutely marvelous. As Rilke says himself in his letters to Franz Kappus, he read and re-read the correspondences Kappus made to him; so I myself will read and re-read Rilke's letters to Kappus. They are chock full of inspiration, even if Rilke himself wasn't in much of the mood to inspire at all times. Wisdom through pain; wisdom through seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. But it's wisdom nonetheless, and very much worth digesting and sitting with. For anyone with a desire -- perhaps the burden -- to create, to make art, to make sense of this ridiculous world we live in.
“There is nothing less apt to touch a work of art than critical words: all we end up with there is more or less felicitous misunderstandings.�
Found myself laughing in agreement with the sentiments Rilke was expressing; at times I felt closer to Rilke, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. Reading how Rilke was acknowledging Kappus' deep sadness and solitude, perhaps there are many moments where I've felt like Kappus himself. That he reached out to Rilke in the first place is beautiful in and of itself, and as a result, ten wondrous letters that will outlive us all, enchanting wayward souls for millennia.
Rilke talks mostly about 'why do you want to write?' Will you die without expressing those thoughts? If so, then dive in. But you can apply this to any form of art, really. 'Why do I want to act?' Why do I want to create? Will I die if I don't unleash these thoughts or feelings? I really think I might. I probably have a problem, but I've found that art can save me, and I've witnessed it save others; these letters are proof of that saving-ability for at least Rilke and Kappus, despite the wells of sadness that come from the doubt, that come from the loneliness that deep examinations of art and creation require.
Lean into your everyday life, what makes you special and different than others (even if it's not much). Take refuge in what is unique to you. Because you're you. Thank you, Rilke. Thank you, Kappus.
"And if I have anything else to say to you it is this: do not think that the person who is trying to console you lives effortlessly among the simple, quiet words that sometimes make you feel better. His life is full of troubles and sadness and falls far short of them. But if it were any different he could never have found the words that he did."...more
“We can’t not believe in something. We can’t stop believing. We just end up dying if we stop. Just end up dead.�
Within the first five pages of reading“We can’t not believe in something. We can’t stop believing. We just end up dying if we stop. Just end up dead.�
Within the first five pages of reading this, I already thought to myself, “where has Sam Shepard been my whole life?� Thank you again to my acting technique teacher Josh for recommending Shepard to me. True West was brilliant, and Buried Child, which won the Pulitzer for Drama in 1979, was just as amazing.
Gobsmacked with the writing in this beautiful play, with such subtle brutality. I thought to myself, “man, every play I’m reading is the same,� but it’s just poetic that I decided to pick three plays to read in recent months that are soul siblings � Long Day’s Journey Into Night by O’Neill, Death of a Salesman by Miller, and now Buried Child by Shepard. Three essential American plays, and with themes and characters that’ll stay with me forever, and that will inform all future art! Because everything does come back to family, to dreams.
“He’s not my flesh and blood! My flesh and blood’s buried in the backyard!�
That ending! Holy cow. I was a tad confused, but I got the soul of what was communicated. I absolutely respect how subtle the writing is; the words do so much, and with all the dialogue in the play, there are a few pointed, crucial lines that change EVERYTHING. The last couple pages, I had to stop and just visualize what I think the stage would look like with everything happening. Who’s being acknowledged, who’s not being acknowledged. How much of this� is real? There’s a casual surrealism that is quite lovely (and scary) that I’m curious how it’d be staged.
“I don’t want to talk!� “You don’t wanna die do you?� “No, I don’t wanna die either.� “Well, you gotta talk or you’ll die.� “Who told you that?� “That’s what I know. I found that out in New Mexico. I thought I was dying but I just lost my voice.�
Maybe watching the play would actually make it a little less vague. Because there’s a huge event that I didn’t immediately pick up on until finishing and reflecting and reading some takes on the play. I knew that the “buried child� was important to a couple characters (and why they were resented or loved), but the big, uh, twist or reveal. It was beyond me. I still was quite shaken by the play without realizing, but fuck, man. Heavy stuff.
Thinking of Vince, Shelly, Dodge, Tilden, Halie, Bradley� six characters with such rich backgrounds and objectives that they’re each after. They all dreamed of something. And none of them are getting it. You may think it’s the hope or dream that kills you, but hope most importantly sustains (as The Iceman Cometh emphasized). You gotta dream. You gotta have something to look forward to.
Loving Sam Shepard. I have a book of seven plays by him, and I’ll just keep at it! They were organized like this for a reason....more
“Don’t b a pussy. Life without riskisdeath. Desire,like the world,is am accident. The bestsex is anon. We liv as we dream,ALONE. I’ll make u cum like “Don’t b a pussy. Life without riskisdeath. Desire,like the world,is am accident. The bestsex is anon. We liv as we dream,ALONE. I’ll make u cum like a train.�
Lol. In the context of the play, the above is an online chatroom that two of the characters, uh, participate in. But there’s a lot of truth in its crudeness! Which is what this play is about: the reckoning with the truth, with the impulses and desires that rage within us. Knowledge of the truth, of this perversion that exists within us (maybe some with more intensity than others), does not bring us “closer� together. In this case, it’s like what that Chevy Impala band said, “the less I know the better.�
“Deception is brutal, I’m not pretending otherwise.�
The dialogue is quick, it’s sharp, it’s biting, it’s hilarious. There’s a cruelty that exists, and these characters are trapped in this vortex where they’re consciously or unconsciously pulled toward each other. All of this chaos started with a fated (cursed?) car accident, and over several years, the characters bump into each other over and over like the end of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.
“Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off. But it’s better if you do.�
Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco mined so much of their HITS from this play. Can only imagine the fellas all sitting around, watching the Mike Nichols movie, and� taking the wrong things from the film, lol. Oh, the early-to-mid 2000s�
“You’re a man, you’d come if the tooth fairy winked at you.�
Yes, I’ve also seen the Nichols film, and that was my first exposure to Closer. It was a lot of fun to read the play; which was quite faithfully adapted from what I remember. This semester at Adler, there’ve been a few scenes from this play assigned for our Scene Study class. Technically I haven’t been assigned a scene, but there’s a possibility I can sub in to replace a classmate who may or may not be asked to leave -- whatever happens, I wish him the best; I love the guy. I’m just taking the initiative to read this play in the event that I’m asked to play Larry.
“He spends hours staring up my arsehole like there’s going to be some answer there. Any ideas, Anna?�
It’s a great scene, and let’s be honest, not really a character I could / should play, but for ONE scene, I can embody the carnal beast that is Larry. He has some delicious, piercing slashes of dialogue that he hurls at Dan.
“Everyone wants to be happy.� “Depressives don’t. They want to be unhappy to confirm they’re depressed. If they were happy they couldn’t be depressed any more, they’d have to go out into the world and live, which can be� depressing.�
The beats and silences do a lot of work, but this is verbal warfare. Not many monologues or diatribes; there’s such a music to the dialogue that makes it so quick to read. Usually just different variations of the two-person combos that can engage among the four-person cast. The truth will not set you free in Closer. But we need to know the truth, even though all evidences suggests it won’t help any of us.
“What’s so great about the truth? Try lying for a change � it’s the currency of the world.�
“Get a lot of men in here, crying their guts out?� “Occupational hazard.�...more
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