Does It Linger?
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Chautauqua Theatre Company’s production of George Brant’s new play Into The Breeches. It’s a female-driven backstage comedy, so my guess is it will get a lot of mileage regionally, as comedies – especially the ones with women in the driver’s seat – are a rarity in the theatre.
In the play, which is about the production of a play, one character asks another if the play “lingers”. I love this. You see for me, if I’m not thinking about the play the next day, or more specifically the characters in the play, then it probably wasn’t very good. And if the play is really good then I’m thinking about the characters a week later, two months later.
I know I touched on this in an earlier post, but if it doesn’t “linger” then it wasn’t an effective play. Playwright Taylor Mac says: “All plays are flawed except the extremely boring ones.” For me, flaws don’t matter – it’s if it lingers, if it’s still with me days, weeks, even years later – that’s what matters.
And if I ask myself this one question: I wonder what happens next to those characters? If I ask myself that question, then the playwright did her job. For that is the mark of good story telling.
