Still, I think seeing this play performed by sensitive actors would make for a moving and thought-provoking experience.moreĪ highly stylized, artificial situation manages to avoid being heavy handed and instead delves into the crux of mortality and how we cope when loved ones are terminally ill. And the unseen interviewer seemed artificial, an obvious and slightly ominous device to expose what characters are thinking. The dialog is peppered with profane language which in some cases might be realistic with angry and terrified characters, but often it feels gratuitous here. Thanks to hospice organizations, people no longer must die in an institution. Anger, laughter, deceit, honesty, all are explored. Almost everyone in an audience would find some sort of relationship with which to identify. There is a father, wife and teenage son, a man and his former wife and current male lover, a mother and daughter. The strength of this play, for me, is the relationships that develop among the dying and their loved ones. The idea is that everybody dies, that very few people want to acknowledge or accept it, and that it's important to come to grips with mortality. The stories are separate, braided together through the device of an unseen interviewer who allows the patients and family members to voice their inner thoughts and fears not exposed in other dialog. The play is set in an unnamed hospital with cottages for the terminally ill, and centers on three people (Joe, Brian, Felicity) dying of unnamed illnesses, and their families. The idea is that everybody dies, that very few people want to acknow The Shadow Box won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1977. The Shadow Box won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1977. Which probably says something about the kinds of plays that call to me.more That could easily be a line from my very favorite play of all time (Fifth of July, by Lanford Wilson). They sneaked up on you when you weren't looking." But day by day, it's generally pretty funny."Īnd, finally, the one that really struck me this time: "Our dreams are beautiful, our fate is sad. "They tell you you're dying, and you say all right. "Your whole life goes by - it feels like it was only a minute." Here are a few more lines I especially like: Figure out how old she is.īut - still a great play. Oh, I also noticed this time that the playwright does something in the script that just drives me up the wall: he describes one character as "about sixty or seventy years old." Dude, you are the writer. Not sure why that stood out for me this time. Literally, three different people get slapped in the face during the play, one of them several times. (Also probably better than the filmed version, which I remember nothing about except vague disappointment. The performances were uniformly strong as well, probably the best of the four or five productions I've seen subsequently. I first encountered The Shadow Box in a remarkable college production in Mankato, Minnesota, and I still see their innovative staging and lighting design every time I read this script. Eminently quotable, although admittedly some of the quotes have a sort of 1970s zing to them now. The Shadow Box is one of my favorite plays, although showing its age in a couple of places now.Ī wistful and moving rumination on death (and, by default, life) that somehow manages to avoid being maudlin even when it skates very close. Which was the last thing anybody expected." I first encountered The Shadow Box in a remarkable college production in "Well, just after the summer of love, winter came. A wistful and moving rumination on death (and, by default, life) that somehow manages to avoid being maudlin even when it skates very close. Which was the last thing anybody expected." The Shadow Box is one of my favorite plays, although showing its age in a couple of places now. "Well, just after the summer of love, winter came.