Point of Attack in Recent Plays
'I, thus, began . . . with details of my own life in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Let me pause for a moment to state, simply and clearly, that nobody's life -- certainly not mine -- is ipso-facto, word for word, stageworthy. In the end, we must improve almost everything we live, before opening the curtain. What we call Realism has very little to do with what we call Reality.'
-- Israel Horovitz
Most contemporary playwrights use a very late Point of Attack. They end up covering only the last few hours or days of the story's history prior to the resolution of the major conflict generated by that history.
Sophocles came up with the same approach for OEDIPUS THE KING and films have done this for most of the 20th century. As always in this business, there are exceptions: Robert Schenkkan's THE KENTUCKY CYCLE covers 200 years of history involving several families.
A few examples of what's typical . . .
- 'NIGHT, MOTHER
- Marsha Norman's play begins as Jessie is collecting old towels as part of her plan to commit suicide in her mother's house in about 90 minutes.
The Point of Attack comes about 40 years into Jessie's history and that of her relationship with Mama.
- DEATH AND THE MAIDEN
- Ariel Dorfman's play begins at the moment the lights of the car carrying Paulina's husband and the doctor who may have tortured her flash into the living room.
The Point of Attack comes about 17 years after Paulina had been arrested for subversive political activity, tortured, and then released. It also happens to be the day the first democratically elected President of this unnamed Latin American country has offered her husband the position of chair of its new Human Rights Commission.
- CRIMES OF THE HEART
- Beth Henley's play begins a day or so after one of the three Magrath sisters failed at murdering her husband.
The Point of Attack comes years after the "crimes of the heart" committed by the other two sisters.
And then there's that great old war-horse of a mid-century play . . .
- CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
- Tennessee William's play begins the evening Big Daddy finally realizes he must decide which of his two sons should be the heir to his forty thousand acres of the richest land this side of the Valley Nile.
The Point of Attack is 65 years into Big Daddy's history, 49 years after he got the plantation, and 5 years after his son Brick's marriage to Maggie.
But if you want to cover a long chunk of the history of a story, beginning well before the onset of the major conflict, there's a way to make that work . . .
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