It’s a nice day. I’m writing from the middle of a week-long vacation in San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland with Matt. Malka is staying with my mom and step-dad. It’s so great to visit with friends like Mari L’Esperance, Alex Baker, David Buuck, and Bill Webb. I’m writing from David’s sun-drenched kitchen with his two dogs, Buster and Polly Jean, nearby. Later, David says we’ll eat homemade plum compote and ice cream, and I’m honored to be interviewed by Estelle Hallick, co-creator of the lovely and smart blog, I’d Rather Be Reading. It’s live today and you can enter to win a free copy of The Stalker Chronicles.
So, I try not to have mom guilt, because I think it’s mostly culturally inscribed, but Malka is having a hard time without us and missing us a lot and I’m missing her, and so there’s that…
Guilt, I suspect, is a close-cousin to melancholy and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about women and melancholia. I was lucky enough to see the final 13P production of Sarah Ruhl’s amazing new musical comedy, “Melancholy Play.” I loved it!!!!! I don’t know what to say about it yet because it’s complicated and beautiful and weird. At the center, is the protagonist Tilly, who works at a bank and suffers from a beautiful, alluring melancholia that makes everyone (men and women alike) fall for her, want to be with her, make love to her, etc…but then she gets happy and becomes unbearable and uninteresting. In the second half of the play she says things like, “I’m so happy I’m just gonna burst” and carries balloons around and rides around on a bicycle. There’s a wonderful therapist character, Lorenzo, who speaks in a a hilarious psuedo-Italian accent, another character, Frances, who may or may not turn into an almond, and it’s all sung!!! At its core this play makes me think about what’s possible when we’re sad, and why we make so little room these days for melancholy. Also, what do we do with our sadness? When do we acknowledge the little holes in our lives or our difficult feelings? How can melancholy become a kind of game? How is it seductive and alluring, a kind of deep-centering force? Dunno. But I think the musical has some answers. Here’s one of Tilly’s arias... (more…)
