Reading Journal 8

• Reading Journal
• With Fall Break, we had an opportunity for a longer reading assignment with these four plays. But maybe more importantly, it has given me an opportunity to come up with my hottest takes of the semester so far. We often have this debate, is this really Irish drama, or is this drama written by a playwright who happens to be from Ireland. So my hottest take: two of the plays we have read this week are the two most Irish plays we have read yet: The Woods of the Whispering and The Field. I think my classmates might incorrectly place The Hostage and Philadelphia, Here I Come! (in that order) as the most authentically Irish plays, but they are simply wrong.
• I may be biased, but the play that is our best exhibit of Modern Irish Drama is The Woods of the Whispering. The reason? Because classic Irish literature belongs to, not any Cuchulainoid National Theatre garbage, but instead to The Midnight Court, which we read in Irish Literature I. (I did say I may be biased.) The Woods is The Midnight Court without the fantastical elements. Sanbatch continues this tradition of wanting to bring together men and women to get married and save Ireland. All the other characters are seemingly as flawed or caught up in the unfortunate circumstances as the characters participating in the mock Irish fantasy trial.
• Of course, I may also be biased toward both The Midnight Court and The Woods from being an old bachelor myself. I have never been put on trial, or actively encouraged by some strange quixotic old man, for my identity of being an old bachelor, but both seem intended to speak to me as much as anyone.
• So perhaps if you were not as receptive to those themes, you might argue The Field is the most authentically Irish drama we have read so far. The Field, for its part, is basically the story of The Snake's Pass that we ready in Irish Literature I. The main difference, of course, is this violent and evil man is not punished for acquiring his land by less than scrupulous means. So that definitely makes it more modern, as we have moved away from the melodrama to the stage realism that does not guarantee the evil character will be punished.
• My classmates will incorrectly view The Hostage as this week's most Irish play. As I read Hostage, I started to wonder if this was going be like Reservoir Dogs where everyone dies in the end. It turns out it was Reservoir Dogs, but Brendan Behan is not Quentin Tarantino. We did have the secret informant, but the only character who dies is our hostage Leslie.
• So finally, Philadelphia, Here I Come! My first thought was we had Gollum situation with Public and Private Gar. But then I realized Gollum is not the correct analogy. The correct analogy is Tyler Durden. Gar is more Tyler Durden than Gollum because Private Gar seems to actively influence Public Gar. And this influence is just toxic at times. Of course, according to Friel, "one cannot look at his alter ego," but there is no doubt if one could, he would look like Brad Pitt.
• Aside from ranking their Irishness, what else can take away from our four plays? We do have a lot of characters who struggle with indecision or regret similar to some recent plays we have read. We have Gar who seems stuck in life but has made this big decision that he is also regretting. We have Leamy who wants to do the right thing but does not find the courage to go against his mother. We have Pat who is living with his regret. We definitely have a more serious approach in the four plays this week, but I think the themes are still connected with last week's plays.