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Art imitates life imitates...
posted by Megan Wygant on Mon, Feb 2, 2009
in At the theatre
Image from the New York Times' recent article on female desire
Zeitgeist. I love that word. I love the way it sounds, how it feels in my mouth, how it zips off the tongue. It's a little spicy, a little sexy, all intellectual.
I love writing it. I love that the e comes before the i -- twice.
I like that hearing it evokes images of Hegel and Marx, and college students bumming cigarrettes off each other while on break from their philosophy and creative writing classes (I also love that the creative writing kids are often more fascinated with talk of zeitgeists than are the more philosophically-minded). I like the idea of being part of something bigger than just me.
I like knowing that, if Zeitgeist were a guy, I'd have one of those kinds of crushes where I'd stand in the corner and blush madly every time he looked my way.
And I love, love, love, that never before have I seemed to be sitting at the eye of an honest-to-goodness one, watching it form and coalesce around me.
This article was in the New Yorker two weeks ago.
This was in the New York Times last Sunday.
This began previews on Friday, and opens on Wednesday.
If you have seen In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the interplay between the articles and the show.
Actually, if you haven't seen the show yet, I'd still like to know what you thought about the confluence of those pieces.
Heck. If you've seen the show, and don't want to read the articles, I'd still like to know--what did you think?
Zeitgeist. Awesome.
Comments:
10:38 pm Friday 1/30 -After seeing "In the Next Room", brilliant, and radical & brave and sensitive and well-written. I thought the Victorian notions were evoked beautifully—certainly the first Act was a model of pacing and shock and humor enclosing a private nest of pleasure — showing how it can safely exist within propriety because in that highly conventional world, there yet exist no words to sully it.
But, but... if this play is a cultural document can't we accept something more ambiguous? What if the husband became excitable and approached his wife? As it was, well, it was fine... But someone in the audience booed. Was it because the final act of sex was abstract, passionless, not titillating? Was it because it was heterosexual? Because she was on top? The question I suppose is, why was I unsatisfied?
What about this play evoked me? moved me? I know I cried. I felt clenching in my womb.
The first orgasm—when she cried.
And there was something interesting poetically said about proxies and shallow demonstrations of love. I'd like to hear that again.
The man succumbing.
The long slow build up of desire for Annie.
The pure perverted response to the doctor's distance. (That was just perfectly pitched, that face.)
I was sad and frustrated when the husband was not jealous of the hand on the cheek. I was roiling when he wouldn't kiss her. Was there a heart to this play?
I think it was that—the classic struggle within propriety to control control control and THUS to have.
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Zeitgeist thoughts...the play, with the articles above, a sliver of society (within the highly conventional, reactionary mass) is re-membering femaleness. Putting the limbs back together with the body. Letting her be human. Scary stuff.
Gwen D | Wed, Feb 4, 2009
Even Oprah's talking about vibrators:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CDQCUdka8o
Elana McKernan | Tue, Feb 10, 2009
I loved the play! By using the Victorian era as her canvas, Ms Ruhl has been able to present female sexuality in a way that is palatable to, most of, the masses.
That said, the best part of the evening was watching the mens reactions! I had to laugh as I watched them veer off when they realized what was in those display cases in the lobby, and, sat stoically trying not to let their faces move during the production! My own husband sat with his best 'poker face' during the entire play, and when I would look at him, he'd just say "what?'! When asked if he was enjoying the play, his response was; "I'm enjoying watching you watch the play", whatever that meant!
And then there were the candid expressions and confessions, (siting on the washing machine during the spin cycle; riding on the back of a Harley with a pair of nice tight buns between your legs), of the women as we hovered over those same displays, giggling, talking, sharing and positing on how we thought each vibrator was actually used!
I've put all of my girlfreinds on notice to go, and, for double the fun, to make sure they take their husbands!
Lora | Fri, Feb 13, 2009
Lora -- my boyfriend and I made a date night this past weekend to see the show (which I've already seen, of course, but his schedule hasn't allowed it). His reaction to the show? Very similar to your husband's--and watching him squirm just a bit was possibly more enjoyable then the play itself. Too funny.
Megan Wygant | Mon, Mar 2, 2009
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