Blackbird

I went to see the play live in Chicago at the Victory Gardens theater. Shocking, gut renching, amazing, heartstopping, those are some of the words I can think of to tell you what I felt while there in the nineth row. I just had to have the script. It is not a subject matter that most people would find good for the stage or even for discussion but having been there and seen it I found I had to have it.

First of all, this play to me was intensely thought-provoking and left my mind buzzing after reading it. This dark tale is told in such a way that resembles open verse poetry. This lyrical quality is very unique and makes the play all the more interesting to read. The story has many turns and surprises and gradually develops as the story progresses, and its development is so delicately and skillfully planned that the impact of the story is even more striking. To anyone who loves plays or a good, interesting thought-churning (and for some people shocking) story, I wholeheartedly recommend Blackbird.

I went and seen the Play in Chicago in July featuring William Petersen it was great, he was great and I just had to have the script as a momento of my experience.

Fifteen years ago, Una and Ray had a relationship when Una was 12 and Ray was 40. They haven't set eyes on each other since. Now she's found him again. I bought this play after seeing it performed. It's the kind of play that follows you around for days after you've seen it. I think it's a valuable play to have on the bookshelf if you are interested in writing plays. You can learn a lot about sub-text in reading this play. It's a very brave play and I really feel that David Harrower spent the time to really get into his characters skins. Both characters seem very authentic in an amazing, yet in a very disturbing way. This play in essence I think is about the hold a pedophile can have over his victim and the complex relationship the victim can have with her perpetrators memory. Although disturbing I thought the structure of the play was brilliant. If you love plays you need to have this on your bookshelf.

Although the formatting of the text threw me off a bit (it read like a free verse poem at first) after the first page I got used to it and the story and characters totally gripped me. Very powerful, very naturalistic dialogue, and a lot of brilliant subtext. The story deals with two very damaged people trying to get on with their lives in their own way. I wish I had the chance to see the stage production, but reading it is almost as good.