Show and Tell post #3

Wonder of the World by David Lindsay-Abaire 

The play that I read for this extra play posting is called, “Wonder of the World” by David Lindsay-Abaire.  It was written in 2000 and it premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2000.  In the first production Sarah Jessica Parker played the leading female role, Cass.  This play can be found on Amazon for purchase, or for free from Sierra because honestly I got it from her via email. 

The story starts with Cass leaving her husband Kip in order to go discover herself and do all the things on her list that she has always wanted to do but was never able to do, including going to Niagara Falls.  But as she is packing Kip comes home early for lunch and catches her as she is leaving and lays it out for him that she just needs o get away, so he is heartbroken and she ends up leaving.  She basically wants to leave Kip so she can start living her life because she feels like she has been nothing but devote and honest with Kip and when she finds out about his fettish for consuming and “shitting Barbie heads.” After hearing news like that she is freaked out and feels lost.  So naturally she leaves and throughout the plot she crosses things off of her list as she encounters a suicidal alcoholic, Lois, that she basically makes her partner in crime, Captain Mike, her sex with a stranger partner, and other off the wall people all while her husband Kip is sending out two very bad private investigators to track her down and somehow convince her to come back to him. 

As for the dramaturgical choices in the show that I found noteworthy, I found that Lindsay-Abaire’s choice to express Kip’s Barbie pooping fettish, not by Kip but from Cass when talking to Lois to be very effective.  Cass reveals it in a very shocking and almost nonchalant kind of way and I think that it almost makes it less of a big deal and more ridiculous, which is desired since it is a comedy then if she would have had an actual scene when she found the Barbie heads or actually staged the first initial reaction Cass had about it and then confronting Kip. 

Another dramaturgical element that I thought was particularly effective was the constant tension/release.  This tension/release wasn’t just from scene to scene but it actually was often from line to line.  The play is hilarious so often someone will drop a huge bomb in one line and then the other character onstage would just receive their news in a very odd and accepting way, which automatically break the tension of the confession bomb the first person just dropped.  An example of this would be like in Scene 2, when Cass first meets Lois, she asks Lois if she wants to be her sidekick and Lois just simply responds, that she is going to kill herself so she can’t.  And Cass isn’t at all phased by anything that Lois just told her so Cass responds to Lois by saying something like “right, but until then” which breaks that tension and almost completely changes the subject.    

Overall it is a really funny play with a lot of “oh my goodness did that just really happen” kind of moments.  It is simple, entertaining and a fairly fast read that goes by quickly.