A larger arc and a sense of forward progression take over as the parts come together to create a satisfying whole, one that chronicles the life cycle of a typical relationship. As a result, there’s a cumulative effect. Each couple we meet is a bit more mature than the previous couple, and each relationship is at a slightly more advanced stage. The relationships progress with each play. The author tells us that each play shows us a couple at a crossroads in their relationship. In this way it closely resembles the last play by John Cariani produced at the Public Theatre, Almost, Maine -which comprised eight short plays, all set in the same Maine town, and all happening simultaneously on a Friday night. Instead, as we have noted above, it is composed of ten vignettes, each no more than ten or twelve minutes, all set in the same location, and all unfolding at the same time. Each of these plays focuses on one or two characters who pursue consistent objectives throughout the course of the action, beginning at a certain point, struggling against various obstacles in the middle, and reaching a clear outcome at the end. We also saw The Last Romance, which tells the story of two people looking for love late in life-and almost finding it. Last season at The Public Theater we saw Time Stands Still, which tells the story of a failed relationship between two journalists, one obsessed with war in the Middle East, and the other committed to settling down to a peaceful life at home. We are accustomed to having a play tell us a single long story, sometimes with sub-stories that are related to the main narrative. They have the high expectations of personal happiness that often come with affluence, and a ready access to the therapeutic vocabulary of emotional self-analysis. These are more upscale professional people, not only well-dressed, but also well educated and well employed. As Cariani tells us, “The people in Love/Sick dress well.” Which is to say they are not the rumpled, blue-collar suburban types familiar from Roseanne, with their cheap dresses, t-shirts, and blue jeans. The sameness of the setting from play to play stands in sharp contrast to the diverse experiences and personalities we encounter in that cookie-cutter suburban house. However, the condescension of that song is belied by the emotional intensity and variety that Cariani reveals behind those “ticky-tacky” walls. The author envisions the actions of eight of the ten plays as taking place in various rooms of a generic suburban house, one of those “Little boxes on the hillside / Little boxes all the same” conjured up by Pete Seeger. until everything is strange and surreal and absolutely not normal.” It presents an “alternate” version of suburban life in that it depicts suburbia-often associated with blandness and uniformity-as a landscape convulsed by repeated explosions of bizarre behavior and intense emotion. reality ?” Probably because, as the playwright tells us, Love/Sick, “should feel like a realistic and naturalistic play-until it’s not. ” In other words, we are to imagine that the actions of the ten plays, which are performed sequentially, are in fact happening simultaneously in the same general location: somewhere in suburban America.īut why is this an “ alternate. ” Each of the ten plays takes place at “7:30 on a Friday night in an alternate suburban reality. Love/Sick, as the author explains, “is a.
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