Friday, July 15, 2011

Weekend Read: The Four of Us

Writing a two person play can be difficult. Unless you're the amazingly talented Itamar Moses. The Four of Us is a discontinuous journey of two friends, David and Benjamin, both of whom are writers, who test the strengths of friendship as one career flourishes, and the other just remains. Moses's use of telling the story not chronologically is one of the best part of the piece. He crafts the play with hints of the future, and some instances, the past that when we reach that moment in time, we fully grasp the impact of that moment. Throughout the play, we are shown the journey of David and Benjamin as individuals, and how that change effects the other. I'm certain that anyone reading the play can relate to one character or the other. They have been "that" friend. The most crushing, yet perfectly crafted, last scene. Without giving too much away, you're not sure if what we're watching is reality or not. Whatever your interpretation is, it's certainly a fitting ending of this journey. It's one of the only plays I've read that makes me cry while reading.