It has been too long since I posted and I am sorry about that. I had another play done earlier but apparently it did not get posted. Still it has been too long since the last time I read a play. I just finished one. It was a very, very, difficult play to read. It is called Daytrips and it is by Jo Carson and like the last play, Judevine, It is from New American Plays 2 and was published in the Early 1992. The play was written in 1988/89.
I did not like this play. I wonder now, having read two plays in this book, whether the things I dislike most about these last two play are things that were either popular in the the late 80's/90's or that the editor of the book just happens to like these things. Both Judevine and Daytrips have the same major problem. at least as read. This play, Daytrips, has extensive production notes explaining that the style of the play is fairly splintered. This play is essentially the story of a woman. Patricia who helping with her elderly mother who is suffering from alzheimer's disease and also visiting her even more elderly Grandmother who doesn't have full blown alzheimer's but is a difficult and prickly personality.
The play is non-linear and at first I thought this may be a technique to help give the audience a sense of the memory loss that is central to the problem of alzheimer's. I don't think that was the case when I finished as the main problem of the play shifted to the grandmother. The play shifts from dream and forward and back in time somewhat but it is ultimately a cluttered mess.
The biggest problem with this play, like Judevine, is too much narrative. There is a character who is called Narrator and that character describes much of what goes on. We don't get to see it just hear about it. But this Narrator has a split function. She is also Pat's inner voice or some meta-version of the character Pat. There four actors in the show and two of them are playing Pat or some variation of her. Rose, the Grandmother and Rhee, the mother, make up the other two actors. The character of Rhee is also divided in two (but thankfully played by one actor) Rhee who is affected by the disease and Irene who is not. In some scenes Rhee talks and others Irene talks. Also sometimes the Narrator takes on other characters, a nurse, a pharmacist, etc., etc.
As mentioned before the play is non-linear and thus the scenes aren't linked clearly from one another and are often as long as three exchanges. That gives a very stuttery stop/start feel to the play. The play has too many scenes. Only a few of these would be interesting to watch and work together to tell a story. The point of the play is to show you how difficult Pat's situation of dealing with these two crazy people. She dreams of and is obsessed with stories about people in similar situations who kill their charges.
There is far too much telling and not enough showing. This is further aggravated by the fact that both Narrator and Pat narrate. To further the confusion at one point in the script the author would like all the actors to switch roles (but only if it works after rehearsing it). I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that in a play about 44 pages long at the 32 page mark. The play isn't meant to have a set and takes place in many different environments that are described, as well as dreams.
The point of the play seems to be to relieve the guilt of Pat. This play is not good. I will have another play read sooner.
I did not like this play. I wonder now, having read two plays in this book, whether the things I dislike most about these last two play are things that were either popular in the the late 80's/90's or that the editor of the book just happens to like these things. Both Judevine and Daytrips have the same major problem. at least as read. This play, Daytrips, has extensive production notes explaining that the style of the play is fairly splintered. This play is essentially the story of a woman. Patricia who helping with her elderly mother who is suffering from alzheimer's disease and also visiting her even more elderly Grandmother who doesn't have full blown alzheimer's but is a difficult and prickly personality.
The play is non-linear and at first I thought this may be a technique to help give the audience a sense of the memory loss that is central to the problem of alzheimer's. I don't think that was the case when I finished as the main problem of the play shifted to the grandmother. The play shifts from dream and forward and back in time somewhat but it is ultimately a cluttered mess.
The biggest problem with this play, like Judevine, is too much narrative. There is a character who is called Narrator and that character describes much of what goes on. We don't get to see it just hear about it. But this Narrator has a split function. She is also Pat's inner voice or some meta-version of the character Pat. There four actors in the show and two of them are playing Pat or some variation of her. Rose, the Grandmother and Rhee, the mother, make up the other two actors. The character of Rhee is also divided in two (but thankfully played by one actor) Rhee who is affected by the disease and Irene who is not. In some scenes Rhee talks and others Irene talks. Also sometimes the Narrator takes on other characters, a nurse, a pharmacist, etc., etc.
As mentioned before the play is non-linear and thus the scenes aren't linked clearly from one another and are often as long as three exchanges. That gives a very stuttery stop/start feel to the play. The play has too many scenes. Only a few of these would be interesting to watch and work together to tell a story. The point of the play is to show you how difficult Pat's situation of dealing with these two crazy people. She dreams of and is obsessed with stories about people in similar situations who kill their charges.
There is far too much telling and not enough showing. This is further aggravated by the fact that both Narrator and Pat narrate. To further the confusion at one point in the script the author would like all the actors to switch roles (but only if it works after rehearsing it). I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that in a play about 44 pages long at the 32 page mark. The play isn't meant to have a set and takes place in many different environments that are described, as well as dreams.
The point of the play seems to be to relieve the guilt of Pat. This play is not good. I will have another play read sooner.
RSS Feed