mourning becomes elektra
seeing this play last night was a last minute decision. something i put off making a decision about as long as i could, nearly the very last performance before the play closed. i got to see it on the last night that would not be a full house, which made it more enjoyable for me. i hate to be in a full theater with the people of this town. i knew just a little bit about the outline of the play. i had obtained a copy of it to read well in advance, but as usual, i neglected to take the time to get enthused and do the actual advanced reading. yesterday afternoon i read some cliff notes just to get a quick synopses of what to expect. that was only good for insight into the action, not the subtext.
i did not expect to be receive what i received last night. i should know better with O'Neill by now, but i don't. i have seen a handful of his plays only. have not read the great ones that i have not seen yet. this one packed such a wallop, his obsession with death, guilt, family blame, inescapable karmas... depression and madness, so full blown and sharply delivered in his characters and scenarios. but his words also. they are worthy of meditation. i need to take time to delve deeper into this work to extract some of these deeper themes and ideologies because they are such amazing trigger points for the story i have already started to write about my cemetery girl and her burgeoning obsessions of her own family history and the passions and madness of her predecessors.
and that O'Neill wrote Elektra before he came to Danville means that I can use it as a resource in my story. that it can be something that she discovers and delves into during her time here. that it could be the introduction to O'Neill that her English teacher at the high school gives her... and that she will become entranced and obsessed by it. that it will launch her off into own madness... pure genius darko.
more on the performance last night... the star of the show, i'll find her name and write it in here later. she was stunning. chillingly cold in her delivery of the frightful Livinia Mannon. a beautiful young woman too. how she brought this character so to life in an adorable fashion is beyond me. you adored her yet she terrified you at the same time.
an interesting thing about my experience is that normally a person would come from a performance like this and want to run and tell others about it. i would normally have gone straight to my blog and wrote something almost exactly like this. maybe with more detail to tell a reader exactly where the performance was so that they might be able to go see it if they had time or desire. but i already know that there is no one that my words could influence to make such decisions. no one local reads my blog. other than that, i also knew that there was no reason to waste my breath (or heart's energy) in desiring to tell any person about my experience. no one to call and say, "hey, i had this experience last night while seeing this play. it was o'neill, you know." i know no one that appreciates o'neill. and that's not entirely true but that is a deeper matter than i can bear to even bother explaining right now. i could have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary on the side of the road driving home last night and i see no worth in bothering telling anyone, anywhere. no one cares what i think and i should not allow myself to become discouraged by setting myself up for rejection...
well, i loved the play. the heartbreak and the depression and the deeper insight into O'Neill was frightening. i always wonder what it must be like for these actors who must become obsessed by him when they study his works and his life. i only have a slight obsession in comparison to what they must get pulled into.
i did not expect to be receive what i received last night. i should know better with O'Neill by now, but i don't. i have seen a handful of his plays only. have not read the great ones that i have not seen yet. this one packed such a wallop, his obsession with death, guilt, family blame, inescapable karmas... depression and madness, so full blown and sharply delivered in his characters and scenarios. but his words also. they are worthy of meditation. i need to take time to delve deeper into this work to extract some of these deeper themes and ideologies because they are such amazing trigger points for the story i have already started to write about my cemetery girl and her burgeoning obsessions of her own family history and the passions and madness of her predecessors.
and that O'Neill wrote Elektra before he came to Danville means that I can use it as a resource in my story. that it can be something that she discovers and delves into during her time here. that it could be the introduction to O'Neill that her English teacher at the high school gives her... and that she will become entranced and obsessed by it. that it will launch her off into own madness... pure genius darko.
more on the performance last night... the star of the show, i'll find her name and write it in here later. she was stunning. chillingly cold in her delivery of the frightful Livinia Mannon. a beautiful young woman too. how she brought this character so to life in an adorable fashion is beyond me. you adored her yet she terrified you at the same time.
an interesting thing about my experience is that normally a person would come from a performance like this and want to run and tell others about it. i would normally have gone straight to my blog and wrote something almost exactly like this. maybe with more detail to tell a reader exactly where the performance was so that they might be able to go see it if they had time or desire. but i already know that there is no one that my words could influence to make such decisions. no one local reads my blog. other than that, i also knew that there was no reason to waste my breath (or heart's energy) in desiring to tell any person about my experience. no one to call and say, "hey, i had this experience last night while seeing this play. it was o'neill, you know." i know no one that appreciates o'neill. and that's not entirely true but that is a deeper matter than i can bear to even bother explaining right now. i could have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary on the side of the road driving home last night and i see no worth in bothering telling anyone, anywhere. no one cares what i think and i should not allow myself to become discouraged by setting myself up for rejection...
well, i loved the play. the heartbreak and the depression and the deeper insight into O'Neill was frightening. i always wonder what it must be like for these actors who must become obsessed by him when they study his works and his life. i only have a slight obsession in comparison to what they must get pulled into.
Comments