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| re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 07:50 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 07:45 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
| In reply to: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night - sergius 06:22 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
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| Had this discussion recently with someone about problems in finding fresh ways into drug/alcohol pieces. Addiction narratives constructed on the addict trajectory arrive with a built-in problem: addicts are inherently narcissistic and selfish. They seek little, other than sustained addiction. Strong protagonists generally take action to serve a goal. The goal need not be positive to the audience (i.e. Night, Mother i.e. its a worked-out strategy, in every way positive to the heroine) but a driving force. Self-destruction that brings everyone down can be lacking in drama, (often) leave redemption attached to the third act, or at least 2nd half. As you note bout this piece. Generalizing, we wait for a reversal in every story. With addiction, there are two general reversals, rehabilitation or death. (AA actually says the same thing.) A play like Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba has so many other issues and a backstory attached to the addiction cycle, the story is layered. But watching any addict on stage or screen is a test of patience, isn't it? I am drawn to this play, because the voice sounded fascinating; but will probably wait to read it. | |
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| re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night | |
| Posted by: winters 09:59 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
| In reply to: re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night - Delvino 07:45 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
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| Please explain: 'addicts are inherently narcissistic and selfish' I read this as a generalized statement about addicts. Am I correct in this? |
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| re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night | |
| Posted by: Delvino 11:47 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
| In reply to: re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night - winters 09:59 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
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| You read me correctly. Shorthand, but on a theater board, about plays' characters, craft-specific. The addict-as-a-character in an addiction-generated story -- the topic here -- driven by the disease in the dramaturgy, self-presents as inherently narcissistic. Addiction is a destructive disease; loved ones and relationships, career, self-care, all ebb and fall away to serve the narrow, insidiously selfish disease. Of course the people underneath the addiction are human, and potentially (or proven) loving and lovable as anyone else. But we're talking about dramatizing the disease's grip: when it's operative as story-determining, other goals tend to disappear. That can create a narrow set of behaviors in a story, unless the story's canvas is a larger one. This piece, by its very title, makes it a story of the addict-as-protagonist. And my post responded to the initial one about the resulting narrow focus. The original post explicates the problems with a play in which the reveal of other aspects of the character are possibly too late for the audience to fully invest (my words). I opine that such is the dilemma in stories in which the addict's acting out is the foreground story. It's being forced to watch denial and self-justification. I don't find the behavior compelling anymore. This is not about moral judgments; it's about the challenges of dramatizing a disease that doesn't invite audience patience and investment. I stand by that. |
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| re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 12:46 pm EDT 10/30/17 | |
| In reply to: re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night - Delvino 11:47 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
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| Most dramas about addicts focus on how they become addicts or how they recover from addiction. I think you are right that addicts in the grips of active addiction are hard to make dramatically compelling, because the focus of their action is too narrow. It has been done, but rarely. |
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| re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night: Text questions | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 08:19 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
| In reply to: re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night - Delvino 07:45 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
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| I pretty much agree with the first post. And there is some very sloppy writing as well ... In Act One, after one of the group sessions, our heroine is accused by a fellow rehab patient of inventing the biography she presented in 'Group'. 'That;s the story of Hedda Gabler' he says. It apparantly was. Her response (she;s an actress in every day life, we saw her in 'The Seagull' in the opening scene) is 'I'm an actress. No, I'm a Seagull'. He says (I believe) 'I don't know that reference'. If one picks up a paraphrase of Hedda Gabler one likely knows The Seagull. But lets pretend he 's only read one play ever (or I may have misheard the line). In Act Two, our heroine calls out the same guy, who is (spoiler) now working at the clinic, asking why all of his references are to cartoon characters ... "Haven't you read any books?" He doesn't really defend himself. Although in Act One he calls her on 'stealing; the plot of HEDDA GABLER. This is like a first draft before the author or director or producer picks out all of the obvious inconsistencies. |
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| re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night: Text questions | |
| Posted by: ukpaul 01:45 pm EDT 10/30/17 | |
| In reply to: re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night: Text questions - NewtonUK 08:19 am EDT 10/30/17 | |
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| 1) He is not going to play her game, so blocks her attempts to emphasise her theatricality. 2) Hedda Gabler is a play, he has likely seen it (in the pub theatre he mentioned) rather than read it. Macmillan knows what he is doing. |
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| re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night: Text questions | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 08:07 pm EDT 10/30/17 | |
| In reply to: re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night: Text questions - ukpaul 01:45 pm EDT 10/30/17 | |
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| Hedda Gabler as a bar show? | |
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| re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night: Text questions | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 04:38 pm EDT 10/30/17 | |
| In reply to: re: PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS Last Night: Text questions - ukpaul 01:45 pm EDT 10/30/17 | |
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| Maybe. But lazy writing in my book. | |
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