Provoking Plays
Last night I saw a production of "this is how it goes" by Neil LaBute. It was a very "in you face" style of play with limit pushing and extremes, with a very blatant take home message of the subtler existence of racism. But oddly enough not much of that part of the play drew me in. I was much more fascinated by the playwright's precise, potent and almost sickenly accurate portrayal of the dark side of humanity. This man knows how we think, how we act, what makes us tick. There were layers of perception, now and before now, then and after then, a true story and another true story but neither saying the same thing. We use information and manipulation to get what we want in life and tell ourselves its ok as long as we mean well and hopefully you are happy in the end. The author knew how our thought process flows and made everyone twitch in their seats as they saw something that made them cringe on stage and then realize they saw that in themselves as well.
Perhaps this idea of man in general and the underlayers of sexism as well, affected me more because I am a priveleged white girl living in santa cruz's little bubble world. I felt almost ignorant when the director said he was worried that the beating scene would propogate the stereotype of a black man beating his wife. I didn't even know that was a stereotype. When I watched the scene I didn't think anything about race, the only thing going through my mind was disgust and fear, the gut clenching idea of a man beating a woman, a fear that I think most women have in the back of their minds; abuse, rape, attack. The one who swears to love and protect you betrays you with violence and cruelty.
There is another of LaBute's plays being done soon and I am thinking of going. He understands people and it's scary and fascinating to see it told to one's face. We like to hide the ugly, selfish, cruel, dark parts but that doesn't mean that they do not exist.
Perhaps this idea of man in general and the underlayers of sexism as well, affected me more because I am a priveleged white girl living in santa cruz's little bubble world. I felt almost ignorant when the director said he was worried that the beating scene would propogate the stereotype of a black man beating his wife. I didn't even know that was a stereotype. When I watched the scene I didn't think anything about race, the only thing going through my mind was disgust and fear, the gut clenching idea of a man beating a woman, a fear that I think most women have in the back of their minds; abuse, rape, attack. The one who swears to love and protect you betrays you with violence and cruelty.
There is another of LaBute's plays being done soon and I am thinking of going. He understands people and it's scary and fascinating to see it told to one's face. We like to hide the ugly, selfish, cruel, dark parts but that doesn't mean that they do not exist.