A Thought in Three Parts - Revision history

Eb at 21:26, 11 August 2016

2016-08-11T21:26:06Z

Eb at 07:32, 3 August 2016

2016-08-03T07:32:27Z

Eb at 06:58, 3 August 2016

2016-08-03T06:58:26Z

Eb: /* Publication */

2016-08-03T05:00:27Z

Publication

Eb at 04:36, 3 August 2016

2016-08-03T04:36:21Z

Eb: Created page with "{{PlaySidebar | == Publication == In ''Four Plays'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. == Production == First performed in 1976, subscribers-only workshop presentation, by The..."

2016-08-03T04:34:23Z

Created page with "{{PlaySidebar | == Publication == In ''Four Plays'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. == Production == First performed in 1976, subscribers-only workshop presentation, by The..."

New page

{{PlaySidebar |
== Publication ==
In ''Four Plays'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

== Production ==
First performed in 1976, subscribers-only workshop presentation, by The New York Shakespeare Company (as ''Three Short Plays''); directed by Wilford Leach and Leonardo Shapiro.

: Sarah: Deborah Rush
: David: John Bottoms
: Dick: Jeffrey Horowitz
: Helen: Karen Ludwig
: Judy: Kathleen Tolan
: Bob: Colin Garrey
: Tom: Ron Van Lieu
: Mr Frivolous: Frederick Newmann

First U.K. production 1977, Joint Stock Company at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; directed by Max Stafford-Clark.

: David: Philip Sayer
: Sarah: Robyn Goodman
: Dick: Jack Klaff
: Helen: Stephanie Fayerman
: Judy: Robyn Goodman
: Bob: Paul-John Geoffrey
: Tom: Philip Sayer
: Mr Frivolous: Tony Rohr

Ex Nihilo Theatre at the Battersea Arts Centre, London, 2002; directed by Joseph Hill-Gibbins. [http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/athought-rev.htm Review]

First U.S. production, Rubber Repertory at VORTEX Theatre, Austin, TX, 2007; directed by Josh Meyer, Matt Hislope, and Carlos Trevino. [http://www.rubberrep.org/shows/t3p.html Production information], [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A479674 article], [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid:475798 review]

: David: Mark Stewart
: Sarah: Adriene Mishler
: Dick: Josh Meyer
: Helen: Roasruby Glaberman
: Judy: Kelli Bland
: Bob: Matt Hislope
: Mr Frivolous: David Yeakle
}}

<blockquote>It's strange, there's nothing, there isn't anything I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't do for pleasure. I'd stick a hot poker up my ass if I thought I would like it.</blockquote>

'''A Thought in Three Parts''' (1976) by [[Wallace Shawn]]

''Summer Evening'': A young couple is staying at a foreign hotel. She loses herself in cold, sensual daydreams, while he tries to express his frustrated longing for her and fails.

''The Youth Hostel'': Dick, Helen, Bob and Judy are sitting around with nothing to do. Bob, who's never had a girlfriend, asks to see Judy's breasts. This sets off a wildly pornographic series of confrontations where no one can avoid saying or doing the first thing that comes to mind.

''Mr Frivolous'': A man eats breakfast and delivers a brief, dreamy monologue to a lost lover.

== Notes ==

What is the thought made up of these parts? The only obvious through-line is desire, for sex and for connections: unattainable in ''Summer Evening'', absent but childishly dreamed of in ''Mr Frivolous'', and compulsively pursued in ''The Youth Hostel''.

In ''Hostel'', the stage directions as written are not only X-rated, but more or less physically impossible outside the world of movies (it's hard to find a male stage actor who can have three plentiful orgasms in ten minutes, on cue). The piece clearly follows the rules of the typical porn movie, in that no one can enter a room without ending up having sex, and most of the sex ends up being accidentally witnessed by someone else who must then join in. But the dialogue and the emotional action could hardly be less titillating: all of the characters are subject to wild mood swings and are generally unbearably disappointed by everything they try, and when someone actually manages to have fun, the mood is deflated by comically flat dialogue ("Oh, boy—this is really enjoyable!").

The 1977 London production was visited by a vice squad, and led to calls in the House of Lords to stop government funding for the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

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	The 1977 London production was visited by a vice squad, and led to calls in the House of Lords to stop government funding for the Institute of Contemporary Arts.		The 1977 London production was visited by a vice squad, and led to calls in the House of Lords to stop government funding for the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

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	The 1977 London production was visited by a vice squad, and led to calls in the House of Lords to stop government funding for the Institute of Contemporary Arts.		The 1977 London production was visited by a vice squad, and led to calls in the House of Lords to stop government funding for the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
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		+	[[Category:Wallace Shawn]]

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 == Publication ==
 In ''Four Plays''; New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. ISBN 0374525358
 == Production ==

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 == Publication ==
 In ''Four Plays'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
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 : Bob: Matt Hislope
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 <blockquote>It's strange, there's nothing, there isn't anything I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't do for pleasure. I'd stick a hot poker up my ass if I thought I would like it.</blockquote>