So I watched SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION tonight at the SF Playhouse and I really liked it. It’s so weird now to watch a show from the playwright’s POV. Being from the “actors” world before in another life, I would always watch the performances and analyze how they do what – but now, I’m so focused on ALL the elements that I’ve studied so far and see how this play, or any play I watch, adhere or break from those rules. SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION blew me away, except that I could’ve done without the naked guy with his thingy flopping around…
SYNOPSIS
Inspired by a true story, the play follows the trail of a young black con man, Paul, who insinuates himself into the lives of a wealthy New York couple, Ouisa and Flan Kittredge, claiming he knows their son at college. Paul tells them he is the son of actor Sidney Poitier, and that he has just been mugged and all his money is gone. Captivated by Paul’s intelligence and his fascinating conversation (and the possibility of appearing in a new Sidney Poitier movie), the Kittredges invite him to stay overnight. But in the morning they discover him in bed with a young male hustler from the streets, and the picture begins to change. After kicking him out, Ouisa and Flan discover that friends of theirs have had a similar run-in with the brash con artist. Intrigued, they turn detective and piece together the connections that gave Paul access to their lives. Meanwhile, Paul’s cons unexpectedly lead him into darker territory and his lies begin to catch up with him. As the final events of the play unfold Ouisa suddenly finds herself caring for Paul, feeling that he gave them far more than he took and that her once idyllic life was not what it seemed to be.Credit to the description page of the play at – Dramatists Play Service.
WHAT I’LL STEAL LEARN TO USE
There’s just SO MUCH that I’m STILL trying to absorb from this play! But there are something things that I’ll take from this experience:
– The characters would break the 4th wall and Narrate the scene as if they were telling the story to someone. e.g. After we got done with dinner, I cleaned up the plates, but Paul took them away from me and walked into the kitchen.
– Paul’s monologue about IMAGINATION with allusions to THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is AMAZING!
– The beginning of the play began with the moment RIGHT AFTER the major event where Ouisa and Flan are shocked about what they just saw. They start telling the audience of how the evening started that led up to that point and then went back to that point. ie. say the play was from 1 to 10. 1 being the beginning and 10 being the end. The structure went from 4 to 1 to 4 then up linear to 10. I likes!
– Monologues are used very strongly in this play.
– Phone calls are handled by the person on one end of the phone facing the audience and the person on the other end of the phone behind a scrim that is lit up as they are talking. IMPORTANT: neither one of them are pantomiming that they are on a phone, but the fact that it’s in the text (e.g. I got Paul on the phone) works and pushes the action through the dialogue instead of being literal.
– A true mystery play! I was on the edge of my seat wondering who was he going to con next and what would eventually happen to him.
– I recognized who the protagonist was at the end of the play, where I was seeking which of the characters had their own arc – it was Ouisa. The only thing missing was that I couldn’t really see when Ouisa had that instance of connection with Paul as he was on the phone.
– The use of subtext is what’s truly blowing my mind away. Sure there is the con plot that’s above the play, but I was intently listening and trying to comprehend, WHY? why does this person who fools others into giving him money and a place to live do such things. At the core, Paul, the con, is lonely. He makes up this world to always have someone with him. And he is SO INTELLIGENT, yet so troubled that my heart bled for this cat all alone in the world. And it’s in this dramatic action of him doing anything to have a place to call home, or for company, that I try to find any of the text that supports his drive, and it doesn’t even have to be in his text, but overarching with other characters. It just opens up more questions about Kandinsky, JD Salinger, and South Africa. How do these appearing random subjects support this theme.
