(no subject)

[thehefner]

At TARTUFFE rehearsal last week, I was distracted and not paying attention. When asked why, I said I was in HeffieLand, The Land of Cats and Crying, to which one person quipped: "That sounds like the saddest amusement park in the world." Added another: "Featuring a roller coaster, 'The Despair'; it only goes down."

Has anyone here ever read or seen BEYOND THERAPY by Christopher Durang? It's a brilliant play, perhaps his masterpiece, and was utterly mutilated by Robert Altman in the movie version. A production of it went up last week, and I realized something rather unsettling- Bruce, the main male character, was me.

When I say he's me, I mean both in how I actually am and how I'm perceived (I haven't actually been cats and crying for awhile now... I don't like cats so much and I haven't cried unless I've been really hurt emotionally, as opposed to the frequency I did before I met the Rudes and knew the joys of an actual social life). When I tried to share this revelation with anybody else, I was returned with blank stares, but apparently Misty got it. She absolutely saw the connections, even prefacing her thoughts with a dubious "I know you're going to take this the wrong way, but..."

Has anyone seen this play? Man, I need to re-evaluate this. Because I don't know if being Bruce is a good thing for a bad thing. I mean, I'm not completely him. I'm not actually insane, nor do I have a male lover, nor do I think I'd fuck around with the gasman behind my wife's back. But he has a lot of other qualities that maybe only Misty and Tammy could attest to; the random goofy comments, the insecurity, the intensity, the desire to make everybody happy, the deep analysis of other's behaviors and my own, the desperate "What can I do to make this work? Just tell me and I'll do it!" questions, the chest hair, and, of course, the sensitivity.

And of course I'm so insecure I'm gonna be pondering over this for years now, going to people with the play and saying, "Read this. Is this me? Is that a bad thing?" Hell, maybe I should add Bruce to the list of characters I must play someday. It's a great play, well worth the reading. Again, just don't see the movie. Altman can suck my ass.

Comments

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

I'll read it. I'll see if my library has a copy.

[2sick2pray.livejournal.com]

A bunch of people at atlantic have been doing scenes from it, so i have the gist, but I haven't seen a full length version, and i've been advised by others to stay away from the movie version as well, and have.

[morganashkevron.livejournal.com]

I saw the play and I've read it before when I was helping Nicole get ready for directing scenes last year. I can see a little bit of Bruce in you in the way he's a little insecure and how he wants to please people, but I don't see his selfishness in you. Half of his lines start with "I think" or "I feel" and he internalizes everything. He thinks and feels the actions of other characters and tries to own their emotions in a childish way. I don't think you're like that. You do have traits in common with Bruce, but they are common traits to a lot of good people. Sensitivity and the desire to please people are not unusual.