The last play for our students is John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation, which I chose because I had fond memories of reading the play in college -- and watching the 1993 Fred Schepisi film starring Stockard Channing and Will Smith -- in my Film & Literature class, taught by the great Bill Vincent (who taught Sam Raimi, and told so many awesome stories of being on the set and in the movies The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, For Love of the Game and The Quick and the Dead and such). Professor Vincent had us discuss the merits of the play and then watch the film twice (once for entertainment, and once for analysis, he would always say) and discuss its implications; the class discussions were tremendous.
The set, with the rotating Kandinsky up top. |
Three teachers on spring break needing out! |
We read the play in about a week in class, going back and forth between reading it aloud, watching clips of the film, and discussion. Everyday, class felt engaging, and, largely, the students liked it too. Even on Senior Skip day, when I had less than ten students per class, I was able to engage them even as they were begging me to just give them a break because at least they showed up. Nope - on this day and others, their discussions about Six Degrees of Separation were lively and thoughtful, and the in-class acting -- especially during the hilarious scene involving all the kids -- was perfect. Part of it is simply Guare's play, which is a fine piece of literature, vacillating between humor and pathos, with an interesting structure that begins in media res and then leads into a 20-page flashback which picks up with the same language as at the start. The themes -- of interconnectedness, race, class, family -- are rich and timeless, even with the play's setting being squarely at the end of the Reagan era (complete with references to Gorbachev) and in Manhattan (the characters are clearly well-versed in the theater scene, for example, and there are a couple of other NYC allusions).
I wish we had more time to delve into the American Dream critique that the play examines. Paul, it seems to me, is a Jay Gatsby-type of character, but updated with race. His desire to be the Kittredges represents the fallibility of the American Dream -- no matter how smart and talented Paul is, he's going to be eaten up by the system, even if he gives up his identity -- and this futility forces him into a world of delusion. But it seems like Guare's point is that the rich white people are living in their own sort of delusion, as well, that it's only through connection with others that we can be rattled free of it.
All that, plus students laughed out loud at some of the lines? Yup, it was a good play to teach.
Super friendly Corey Hawkins and Allison Janney signing. |
My friend and colleague was able to get tickets for us to see the Six Degrees of Separation matinee during our spring break, on April 12. I was so pumped. Who doesn't love Allison Janney? Ever since she played that horny guidance counselor on Ten Things I Hate About You, I have, and then she starred in one of my favorite TV shows ever, The West Wing. I didn't really know the other two leads -- Corey Hawkins or John Benjamin Hickey -- but both have a familiar face.
All that is great, but to see a play on Broadway while you're teaching it was the aspect I was most excited about. What insights would I gain into the piece of literature that I didn't have already? How can I bring ideas I learned back to my students?
overheard: "Can you be our White House press secretary now?" |
Most of that is due to Corey Hawkins, who was a revelation as Paul, the young black man who poses as Sidney Poitier's son. My only exposure to a portrayal of Paul previously was Will Smith, who starred in the 1993 film version. I found Smith's performance to be solid but unremarkable: an actor who, at the time, was admirably pushing himself out of his comfort zones, and is able to do the charming aspects of Paul, but once asked to plum the depths of what is making Paul tick, is unable to dig deep enough. His performance works in the lengthy opening scene and the long Catcher in the Rye monologue, but less so in his scenes with Anthony Michael Hall (Smith's refusal to do a gay kiss, which he later said he regretted, doesn't help... the replacement kiss, done with trick photography, is very artificial looking) or in his final conversation with Ouisa, in which it felt Paul was simply delusional, nothing else.
Corey Hawkins was super friendly. |
Allison Janney is an actress I love, but she unfortunately has the specter of Stockard Channing's performance as Ouisa Kittredge in her portrayal here. Channing originated the part on Broadway and then was Oscar-nominated for the part in the film version, and the reason is clear: she is able to add gravitas to the role (at least in the film version... I never saw her on Broadway) that Janney doesn't quite get to on the day I saw her, which was just a week into the performance. I wanted her to make her connection with Paul more palpable, as well as her character's own existential crisis. Janney is certainly snappy and funny in the part, but there were times I wanted her to slow down and add a bit more weight to the lines and she and Paul's relationship. Still, I enjoyed her and she was awesome to talk to after the show.
The last standout of the cast for me was Colby Minifie as Tess, the ornery and ignored daughter of the Kittredges. The children in the play are written broadly and played even more broadly, and I don't mean that in a bad way: these are one-note, symbolic characters and their portrayal leads to the play's funniest scene, where all the rich kids are hurling insults and whines at their rich parents. Minifie's over-the-top performance was a big part of that.
The set is minimalist, with Guare's stage directions -- the rotating Kandinsky at top, the post-Reagan era furniture design -- followed closely. The actors engage with the audience just as Guare describes. The production didn't favor any flourishes except for a large translucent screen, behind which the audience could see silhouettes; this is how, for example, Paul's sex scene with the prostitute is staged and how the cityscape is portrayed.
All in all, the production proved that Six Degrees of Separation -- a play that was uniquely of its time, with its Reagan-era greed and black/white issues somewhat on the back burner (this is pre-Rodney King), but also ahead of its time, with its ridicule of upper-class white liberals -- was a play that was ripe for revival. At turns both hilarious and poignant, it revels in its characters of Paul and Ouisa, and in the interdependence that we have on others, if we open ourselves to find them.
I talked with Mr. Hawkins after the show about teaching the play to students in Baltimore and he was really friendly, sharing that he's from the area. He's from D.C. and went to school at Juilliard. |
from Epiphany in Baltimore http://ift.tt/2oGAO5c Reviewing the Revival of John Guare's 'Six Degrees of Separation' on Broadway in the Midst of Teaching It for the First Time - Entrepreneur Generations
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