William Keith
Professor John Fletcher
Theatre 2130
16 February 2013
Proof
The play I chose to write about is the play Proof. Proof was written by David Auburn
and it premiered in May 2000, produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club. It
transferred to Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater in October 2000. This
production had such well-known actors such as Mary-Louise Parker. The play won
the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2001 and Tony Award for Best Play. Mary-Louise
Parker also won a Tony Award for her performance in the production. The
production of the play closed in January 2003 after a total of 917
performances. On March 23, 2013 a new production will open at London’s Menier
Chocolate Factory. There was also a film version produced in 2005.
The story focuses around Catherine, the 20-something
daughter of a well-known mathematician. She has just recently had to put her
father to rest after a long battle he had with mental illness. Robert, her
father was a groundbreaking mathematician an esteemed professor at a University
in Chicago. He lost his ability to work with numbers during his episode with
mental illness. It becomes apparent that Catherine also has a talent for
mathematics. It has flashbacks in the story explaining how Catherine dropped
out of school to take care of her father when he was ill.
Catherine then has to deal with her sister, Claire.
Claire is her older sister that wants to take her to New York and try to take
care of her. This is something that greatly bothers Catherine who would rather
stay in Chicago. The story also is further complicated with the actions of Hal.
Hal is a former student of Robert. Hal is trying to go through Robert’s old
work to discover any breakthroughs that Robert might have made during his time
off. He then discovers a proof that he believes was written by Robert.
According to Hal, this proof is of great importance and is a major breakthrough
for economic math. The main conflict is Catherine trying to convince Hal and
Claire that it was really her that wrote the proof. This is further complicated
because Hal and Catherine have become romantically involved. Catherine has to
struggle with her own fears of falling into mental illness like her father and
at the same time convince the others she wrote the proof.
One of the main choices I find interesting is the
playwright’s choice of the title Proof. The
title has a double meaning in the play. It refers to the the “proof” that
Catherine wrote about prime numbers. This proof is the main source of conflict
in the play. Hal and Claire believe it was written by Robert, while Catherine
says that she wrote it. The struggle for Catherine to prove that it was
actually her that wrote it is the main plot point for the play. So David Auburn
had a humorous play on words by naming the play Proof. It is significant because anyone who is unfamiliar with
higher mathematics would assume he named it so because it refers to the
struggle that Catherine goes through to prove that she wrote it. On the other
hand, mathematicians can appreciate the title from a mathematic standpoint.
I also find it interesting how Auburn chooses to use the
character Robert in the play. The play opens with Catherine talking to Robert
even though he has already passed. This is important because one of the main
things that Catherine struggles with throughout the play is convincing herself
of her own sanity. Using this conversation in the opening scene would allow the
viewer to have the assumption that maybe she is in fact mentally unstable as
her father was. It doesn’t give the viewer ironclad proof, but does allow it to
be a possibility.
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