Michael van Baker

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:17:56 -0800

Guest @1: I actually toned down my excitement about this play, so your response is -- how to put this -- wrong. I don't imagine I'll change your mind, but here are a few thoughts in response to your thoughts. 1) Why gay? -- What an odd question. You know, I've never once sat through a play and wondered, "Again? Why are all these people straight?!" In any event, bisexual would be a better descriptor of Billy, at least. 2) Seeing God -- I thought this was product of a PTSD/manic episode that Austin experienced and helped him understand his bipolar father better. The subsequent downplaying struck me as perfectly plausible, given everyone's WTF? response. 3) Autistic son -- Yeah, this was clumsy, and apparently largely written out of the play at this point. The program said there was an actor playing the kid, but he never appeared. 4) Rolling on E -- the point seemed to me that this is one of the few ways that people uncensor themselves, while on drugs (and it's related to the pot-bonding scene earlier). When Billy starts saying how much he loves everyone, it freaks the family out. I didn't find the family wildly dysfunctional -- and I didn't find much unrealistic (i.e., not supported by the play's reality) besides the road rage scene. Judging from your comments, it seems like the problems you had with the play were problems you might have with people who don't examine the past and don't bother to predict the future. But this play is supposed to be about Americans, so what can you do.

guest

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:12:47 -0800

Too bad the play was so ham fistedly over the top and of no consequence that any good was outshadowed by the bad. Theres more than a few places where Lucas opens pandora's box but doesn't even delve into it later. Gay Relationship Seeing God Autistic Son Son in Law on E ... These are the biggest parts of the play that had no resolution or even something that had a long term consequence involved. All of them were short term plot devices of conveinence, not of some deeper fabric. Gay Relationship: The son Austin motivated to join the army by his father's abuse. His lover marries his sister. They don't do anything about the past, present, or future. So really it could have been anything. Why gay? Cause it's vogue and shocking? Seeing God: Lucas opened Pandora's Box and didn't even have the balls to follow it up later except for a few lines. You think that one having a life changing experience like THAT would then be able to face the aformentioned gay relationship. But he didn't and it's just a lazy way of trying to unwind something that he half assed wound up in the first place. Autistic Son: Ooh she had an autistic son. That's so saaaaaaaad. It's so "so what?" This child is convienently wheeled off to a home for children with problems, and the entire vehicle is then meaningless. Son in Law on Ecstacy: What was the point of this scene? That he really has a soft spot in his heart for the old bastard? While on Ecstacy? The grandfather of his baby? The family was more than dysfunctional. It was completely without memory and foresight. It was a family that did things for the sake of being ridiculous and unrealistic. There was nary a moment where the family was convincing in their relationship to one another. This play was to Death of A Salesman as Cat People was to Cats.

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Michael van Baker

guest