I attended a play after ages.... It was when I took my seat there that I realized how much I have missed theater. Somehow, I have always liked the plays better than the movies. Plays are more personal, more human and more real. You cannot pause it and watch it at a later time. It commands your complete attention. With limited props and sets, it unleashes your imagination, next only to books and radio. The bad performances of the artistes cannot be made up for with special effects, as is the case in movies. Thus, it calls for a good involvement from both the artistes and the audience.
Coming to this particular play, it was 'Fiction' by the Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati. The artistes had a pretty good career record. So I was definitely hoping for a good performance. And I should say, I was not disappointed the least. The play was a story of a writer couple- both vibrant, sarcastic, funny, full of life and love for each other. They reminisce their first meeting and how it all started. The wife had an enormously successful first book, the rest following suit and also taught fiction writing. Then comes the revelation about the wife's tumor that turns out to be malignant. The doctors give her about three weeks. Her initial response to this news makes you laugh despite the gravity of the situation. She wonders why the doctors always say its three more weeks, a month or a year and not make it more interesting like.. 'you have 28 more meals' or 'that was your last radio fund raiser show'... and yeah, she likes this doctor who puts it plainly as a tumor the size of a tomato.. instead of confusing her with the medical jargons. Blessed with brevity, she makes an interesting juxtaposition against her husband who has this thing for complexity.. While she likes to write the truth, he loves to make up things. With an extremely good wit and borrowed lines (especially from Dante), the man entertains quite well too.The couple like different things but hate the same things. Together, they make an awesome pair.
With very few days left, the lady tells her husband that once she dies, he must read all her diaries, and asks for her to read his before she dies. He accepts with reluctance. In the pages of his journals, she discovers a relationship that he has hidden from her through the years. Its then confrontation time, the husband refusing such a relationship,saying its made up, the third missing person coming in.... and then her death. After her death, the husband goes through her diaries and is surprised to find entries about her encounter with the other lady. She had given the manuscript of her first book to this girl for her opinion. The girl rejects it as not being true and they have an argument over the same. The diary ends there. The next one is missing. While he is dying to know what happened next, the other lady comes and gives him the missing diary. His wife had given it to her when she came visiting before her death. This diary has the answers to his questions.... After her rejection of his wife's manuscript, the other lady narrates her own experience which is on similar lines and closer to the truth. That turned out to be his wife's first book. She then leaves with her last words "I chose her to tell my story and she told the truth"....
That perfectly summarized her frustrations with the man and her relationship with his wife. In fact, it is this man, who has been in the dark all these years.
With all the players fitting the roles, un-distracting props, a good screenplay, the play has undoubtedly made a mark.
Photo Courtesy : http://www.cincyetc.com/home/
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