I should preface this by saying that a lot of my best friends hated August: Osage County.
Actually, that’s not true. One good pal I don’t see enough, a dude I know from work and my brother all thought it was seriously overrated. (And by the time they saw it, A:OC surely was.)
The reason I offer up that most popular play of the last decade as an object of potential ridicule is because I’m sympathetic to frustrated theatergoers of any stripe who attend something based on its strong critical response or fleet of trophies and come away underwhelmed. I feel that way about this year’s Pulitzer winner, Lynn Nottage’s Ruined.
This drama about Congolese defending themselves against violent rape by rogue soldiers struck me at first blush as the kind of play that gets written because there is grant money to fund projects of such importance and gets produced because it’s the kind of play no one in his right (lefty) mind would object to. (Is anyone really going to say Congolese rape victims don’t deserve their own play?)
The Goodman’s production, which went on to play Manhattan Theatre Club—where it’s still running—was certainly straightforward enough for audiences to get a clear look at the play itself. Nottage’s mostly humorless tale of survival in the roughest of the rough held no surprises for me as an audience member, other than an uncharacteristically sentimental ending. The play that’s proud to teach you a morality, civics and geography lesson while simultaneously telling you a story is less likely to be good than it is to be good for you.
But the maddening part about the Pulitzers for drama is that no one knows which ones will find life and prosper and which ones will gather dust until several decades from now. Rather than begrudge Nottage her new hard-earned success or predict that Ruined will turn out to have been a flavor-of-the-month in the end, it’s best to let time tell. And feel no guilt in the meantime for not swooning over this year’s Pulitzer winner for drama.
Amen. I think any play chosen because it would make a good jumping off point for the panel discussion is the very definition of conceptual art: that having which been described, does not need to be seen. The reign of “good for you” liberal academia-based theatre has got to end, for the sake of storytellers everywhere.
You must have seen a different play than I did bud. Your play must have been going on in your head. The play I saw had humor, life and was an exciting night in the theater. It’s far from a morality lesson.
my goodness, i couldn’t disagree with you more. i saw a deeply human play, rich with humor and music, peopled with complex characters who continued to surprise. the ending you describe as “sentimental” struck me as not only plausible given the play’s events, but also a powerful expression of the human capacity to survive–and to find moments of joy–in seemingly unendurable conditions. this is one of the best plays i’ve seen in a while. i believe it’s a piece with enduring power and i’m glad it was recognized as such by the Pulitzer committee.
i’d also like to point out that your assumption that those who liked this play–the vast majority of its audiences, judging by what i’ve read and the people i’ve spoken with–did so because of liberal guilt is presumptuous and condescending. ms. nottage is a gifted playwright at the top of her game. RUINED shows all the hallmarks of her skill.