I Love Drama!

The difference between plays and novels is that I can read a play in a few hours while it takes days to read a novel. I'm in my play-reading mood again, and it is just so much fun to go to the library and grab so many volumes at the same time. Each one is an adventure, and to know that I can experience them all in a matter of weeks is just exciting. Well, this past week I read two plays and I just wanna share them with you.

Though predictable, campy and over-the-top, Charles Busch's "Die! Mommy! Die!" is hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable. It's not the kind of play you read or see to learn or to be enlightened; it is purely entertaining. It's not the most cleverly constructed murder mystery I've ever read, but it is well done. Perhaps its overt sexuality is the only thing that distinguishes it from most other mysteries. I don't feel compelled to recommend it to anyone--it's not that meaningful to me--but certainly I would suggest it to somebody who asks specifically for a fun read in the drama form.

David Hare's "Blue Room" is filled with archetypal characters. However, if there is a place for those characters, it is in a play like this. The focus of the play is not how the characters reveal themselves to one another and to the audience; it is not about their growth and progress; it is, instead, an exploration of different kinds of sexual relationship. Apparently Freud and Proust are the main influence on this work, along with Arthur Schnitzler's "La Ronde," from which it is adapted. I don't know enough about either of those writer to see the connection; I only know that "The Blue Room" is a lot of fun to read, and would be even interesting to see. (The play is meant to be performed by two actors; when it premiered it was performed by Nicole Kidman and Iain Glen.)