March 27 Easter Edition

American playwright Wallace Shawn wants to “examine the fact that we [the United States] are driven to crush everyone else and stand on top of them and plant a flag in their guts.” And he’s busy doing just this. He’s starring in a new production of David Rabe’s Hurlyburly in New York (“This is the only play that I’ve been in about 25 years that I didn’t write.” says Shawn in a PBS NOW interview). He’s adapting Bertolt Brecht’s classic The Three Penny Opera for a new Broadway production. He’s interviewed Noam Chomsky for Final Edition (you can download the interview). And he’s as perceptive as ever:

On the Audience:
“We in the audience mirror the role of women in political life. It’s only because there are tough guys out there using violence on our behalf that we can sit here and have a pleasant conversation. Similarly, we in the audience are not invading Iraq. We go to the theatre and lead gentle lives. We’re not the gangster, but rather the wife of the gangster, who doesn’t kill anyone but enjoys the spoils.”

On his career:
“I still can’t launch my career as a writer. I’ve been writing plays since 1967. The first five or six years I earned absolutely nothing. Except for maybe two years, my writing income has been way below $10,000. I’ve never had a commercial production. I find the idea entertaining and remarkable—the idea of not being a charity case. Maybe my plays will be profitable after my death. I never set goals for myself. If I did, I’d be a sad little man.”

On Reagan and Bush:
“After all, Reagan pretended to be friendly. His manner was gentle, whereas Bush is actually trying to be frightening. He wants to be known for being brutal.”

More Shawn reading:
The Foreign Policy Therapist, by Wallace Shawn from THE NATION
Fragments from a Diary, by Wallace Shawn from THE NATION

For info and updates about America’s best political playwright, visit here

• 27 03 2005 - 09:16