I Am My Own Whore

I went to see I Am My Own Wife earlier this week and although I enjoyed it and was fascinated by the subject matter, I had a few reservations.

Doug Wright, the author is talented, no question. He chose a fascinating subject for his play, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, and then ran with it. They don't hand out those Pulitzers for nothing or do they?

While still forming my thoughts on Doug, his subject, and my perceived shortcomings of the play, I felt a tad peckish.

I went to get some cereal, Lucky Charms - mmm, shut up. When I have cereal I like to read. I long ago graduated from reading the box itself (too pedestrian – except for me wondering how my ancestors got along without riboflavin) and now I go for whatever happens to be near at hand.

Today it was not a sale flier but the loftier than thou Globe and Mail which I hadn’t yet touched. Well, except to get it from driveway to kitchen table.

I flipped to the Review section and there was an article on the very play I'd been pondering! The reviewer summed up my feelings on just about every aspect of the thing. All I need to say now then is that it was good but not great – I think I’m going to have that imprinted on the gravestone I don’t plan on having.

Back to the author – he was a character in the play - fine. All the characters are played by one actor by the way. He wanted to know more about the main character – fine again, so did I. In Act 2 however, he became a little more prominent and earnest about needing to believe in the main character. I felt that it was the wrong way to go.

He cast so much doubt about the events presented as fact in Act 1 that I felt a bit cheated. My cynicism brought me to wonder whether the play wasn't done as a tie in to Charlotte's autobiography to get us to buy the damned book and find out more. Well I did (buy the book) and I hope they're splitting the profits. Once I get through the mile high pile of books I've got to read, I'll perhaps rethink the whole mess.

I'm really tired of these 'world class productions' and award winning events being not much more than really good high school productions. Start dazzling me already would ya?

After reading this before I posted it, I realized that the artist/writer/actor is always putting themselves front and centre, it's all about them and how they view the world, what defines them. My indignance at Doug Wright putting himself in his play is matched by this post featuring me. So I'm the same as everyone else? Anything I write really is me and my reaction to it, how it affected me, changed me, bored me. There's an imprint we all need to make to explain who we are I guess. Okay, now I'm actually thinking which is way above and beyond the call. Ugh.