show and tell post 2

            True West is a play written by playwright Sam Shepard. It was first performed at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, where Shepard was the resident playwright. The world premiere of the play was on July 10, 1980. The production later moved to The Public Theatre in New York City where it starred Tommy Lee Jones and Peter Boyle. It was later revived by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago where it starred Gary Sinise and John Malkovich in the leading roles. In 2000, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly played the leads on Broadway; they were both nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for their performance. The production also was nominated for Best Play and Best Director (Matthew Warchus).

            The play takes place in California some 30 miles east of Los Angeles. The more immediate setting is a house in the suburbs. The story revolves around two brothers who are not on the best of terms with each other. There is the younger brother Austin who is a Hollywood screenwriter. Then there is the older brother Lee who is a drifter and a thief.  The story starts off with the two of them in their mother’s kitchen while she is away on vacation in Alaska. Austin is watching the house for his mother and Lee has come by to visit. Austin is using his time there to try and write a screenplay but is continuously distracted by Lee. Austin informs Lee that he must leave the house because a producer is coming to discuss a script Austin is writing. Lee buddies up with the producer, Saul and actually gives him an idea for a movie. Saul falls in love with the idea and decides to put Austin’s script on hold to work on Lee’s idea. Saul wants Austin to write the script for Lee but refuses. Lee then tries to write the script himself but eventually gets Austin to help with it. Austin only does so after he gets Lee to agree that he will take Austin with him to live in the desert. Their mother returns home and finds them working on the screenplay. Abruptly Lee decides that the script is a bad idea and abandons his deal with Austin. Austin attacks Lee and the play ends with the two toe to toe with each other.

            One choice I particularly enjoyed was the dynamic of the relationship between Lee and Austin. It’s a typical “good son bad son” relationship with Austin being a successful screenwriter and Lee being a drifter. Since Austin is the younger brother Lee still has somewhat of domination over him though. You quickly see that Lee isn’t unintelligent because he is able to sway the producer Saul to accept his story. It’s very easy to see the contrast between the two but also the similarities. The dynamic switches though when Lee’s story is accepted and Austin is the one in shame. Austin gets drunk and his mannerisms become similar to that of Lee’s. Then you see Lee lose his carefree mentality and has a uptight mood similar to that of Austin’s while he is trying to work on his story.

            Another choice I found interesting was how they referred to the father as “the old man”. This made it apparent that they had a very distant relationship with their father but they were still connected to him because they kept mentioning him. It became apparent that they felt obliged to help him but they also wanted to do anything they could to not end up like him. Also Lee and Austin’s behavior on alcohol seemed to bring the light why their father was in the current state he was in. 

Buried Child

Buried Child is a play filled with ambiguity. From the very beginning things are hinted at but never made certain. For instance, it’s never really made clear that there is a buried child until the end when Dodge confesses and Tildon brings it in the house. Even then it is never made certain why Dodge killed it except he said he “didn’t want it”. In his confession he made it sound as if he wasn’t the father saying that Halie and he hadn’t slept in the same bed for six years. He makes no mention of who the father might but Dewis’ presence implies that it might be him. This might explain the real reason he felt so awkward in the household when this subject was brought up. He definitely doesn’t react to the story as you think a man of the cloth would. I would think that a minister would be outraged if he heard a man make a confession that he killed his own child. This is an example of ambiguity that is never resolved which is strange in itself. 

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Detroit

            In the play Detroit there are quite a few examples of ambiguity. One of the major examples is the truth about Kenny and Sharon’s past. They say that they met at a rehab facility and then became romantically involved. Shortly after that they tell a story about how they were at a nightclub in Atlanta and Kenny had an allergic reaction to caviar. This pokes a whole in their story about how they met in a rehab facility. They shrug it off by saying they realized sometime after that they had that random encounter in Atlanta. It is also hinted later on when Mary goes in the house and discovers that have hardly any possessions in their home. This is shrugged off by Ben because like Ken and Sharon said they were “starting over”. It’s discovered at the end of the play that they were lying and staying at the home illegally. There is also an example involving Ben and his connection with British culture. Sharon makes the assumption that he is British. This isn’t true but we find out later that he does spend a lot of his free time on a website called “brit-land”.

            An example of dramatic irony occurs towards the end of the play when Mary and Ben tell Frank that they might be moving to England and that Ben’s name is Ian. This is obviously not true but they get this idea from Ben’s avatar from the website “brit-land”. An example of reality check also occurs at the end of the play when Frank tells Ben and Mary the truth about Kenny and Sharon. He tells them that they were staying at the house illegally and that Kenny’s real name is Roger. Out of all these elements I believe ambiguity to be the most central to the play. The reason is because throughout the entire play, the truth of who they are is always in question but they are still accepted by Mary and Ben. 

Spoonful of Water

In scene fourteen Elliot is once again confronted by the Ghost that has been haunting him the entire play. This time the Ghost actually attacks him, muttering the phrase “Momken men-fadluck ted-dini gawaz safari?” which means “May I have my passport back, please?” in Arabic. The ghost has been haunting him the entire length of the play, but this is the breaking point. It’s obvious that this is the ghost of an Iraqi he killed while serving in Iraq as a Marine. By the phrase that he mutters to Elliot it appears that he was an innocent citizen. You find out a few scenes before this one that Elliot became addicted to painkillers after being injured in Iraq.

The reason the Ghost confrontation was so climatic this time compared to all the others is because the stress and guilt that Elliot is under at this time. The woman that raised him has just died and his birth mother has just relapsed into crack-cocaine use. He blames himself for his birth mother’s relapse. The sadness and guilt that he is feeling at this point is higher than it has been during the plot of the play. This is why the Ghost actually attacks him at this point; Elliot is at a breaking point at this time. During the struggle between the Ghost and Elliot the Ghost touches Elliot’s face and studies him intently. The Ghost leaves after this and leaves Elliot in a panic. This made it seem like the Ghost was judging him and Elliot could not handle the guilt of his actions. This happened at this point because Elliot had not yet come to terms with what has happened to him. His grief, guilt, and addiction must be cured.