Exit.

I went to see No Exit and Wild Abandon on the 22nd, and then again the following night. I’ve never been to a play two nights in a row before, and I wasn’t the only one who thought these plays worth returning to. My partner went with me the first and second time, and Prof. Littlejohn was also in the audience both nights.

 So, why? Why were these plays compelling? What made me leave, both times, exclaiming and energized?

 I think these plays are about hope. I think that the story of Steve articulates what we all want to be talked out of– switching from an open circuit to a closed one, not just through suicide (this was his “op-tion”, as he said) but through shutting down. Becoming less human, feeling less, living as less. I don’t want to be okay with watching Alphonse whoever kill the duck in Wentworth Park. The play is important because it discusses the possibility of making choices, of looking the possibility (inevitability) of death in the eye and then…not laughing, but dancing. Beautiful. I loved Scott Shannon’s performance. Once, he was my camp counsellor– he was a hippy then, and I had a crush on him.

 And the same for No Exit. A really wonderful moment in the play, for me, is when the door opens and it becomes clear that all of these characters are able to leave whenever they want– it’s just that they’re making the choice not to. Again, these plays are about hope, the illustrate the enormous options we have, along with the hell we can experience when we deny these possibilties.

Stellar performances from Dr. Bell and especially Dr. Jones, who did the thing with frightening realism. I think I’ve met Inez at bars. The plays were incredibly well done. Incredibly.

 kw

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