Week #12 : 'Philadelphia, Here I Come!' by Brian Friel

On the night before his departure to a new life in Philadelphia, Gareth (Gar) O’Donnell resists this huge change in his life and doubts his big move. 

Gar is a troubled mid 20-something living in a stagnant household alongside his elderly father S.B, without having a familial relationship.  They treat each other as if they were only ‘boss and employee’, working father in their little shop that contains a mish-mash of items, and not father and son.  Madge, the exasperated  housekeeper, is the only member of the household that creates any warmth or family love within the household, whilst still keeping to her employee status.  With her traditional ‘old Irish lady’ antics, Gar sees her as a motherly figure (but not as a replacement for his mother, who died 3 days after his birth.)

‘Philadelphia, Here I Come!’ is set during the dire times of the 1950s in Ireland dubbed the ‘doom and gloom’ time, the worst since the famine in the mid-1800s.  Agriculture was the mainstay of the Irish economy and in the 50s there was a huge decline in this area.  The state did not put in sufficient effort to develop new industries to help boost other areas, therefore as a consequence there was insufficient work available for the thousands of young males in Ireland.  Most young people knew the only way they were going to make a life for themselves was to immigrate to another country with more prospects – America was seen as the ‘land of opportunities’.  This is where we see our protagonist headed towards.

Throughout ‘Philadelphia, Here I Come!’ we are introduced to various encounters with:

Ex-girlfriend and daughter of a Senator - Kate

Sloppy and lazy friends - Ned, Tom and Joe  

Old school principal – Master Boyle

Local Parish Priest - Canon Mick O’Byrne  

Relatives in America who are sponsoring Gar’s travels and employment opportunities in the USA – Lizzy and Con Sweeny and their friend Ben Burton.

However, there is one character left to be mentioned….. that is Gar O’Donnell….. Yes, there are two of them – the public Gar and the private Gar whom only the public Gar can see and hear!  These are the two views of the protagonish.  The private Gar is the man within, the conscience and alter ego, the secret thoughts – The ID.

The female characters are the ones who spurn the content.  Maude in her constant packing frenzy getting Gar ready for his immigration, Kate (or Kathy as Gar often calls her) who the audience can see as more of a direction to wanting to be loved rather than Gar specifically loving her.  And Lizzie, the motherless Aunt, who is seeking a surrogate to love and adore as her own.  These women are the driving forces for Gar to move overseas for a life change.

The men, however, are the juxtaposition within the plot.  Gar and his father have no relationship to speak of.  His old school principal thinks gar is a no-hoper with no drive and smarts to find his way on the world.  The Parish priest who is not interested in helping Gar through his big change.

This is where the private Gar comes into his own – his wit and tenacity for belittling these older men and their penchant for drinking, sitting around and not living life to the fullest.  Private Gar mirrors S.B’s routine and mocks his monotonous and completely predictable existence.  Private Gar ridicules and belittles these older men and becomes increasingly frustrated towards their existence.  Private Gar especially demeans S.B and his nightly routine after work and before bed, following and mirroring his movements and commenting on his unchanging bedtime standard as a fashion walk.

It all comes to a head close to the end of the play when Private Gar speaks fluently and full of emotion cradling these deep-seated thoughts that Public Gar has always hidden in the recesses of his mind:

“Listen! Listen! Listen!  D’you hear it? D’you know what the music says? (to S.B) It says that once upon a time a boy and his father sat in a blue boat on a lake on an afternoon in May, and on that afternoon a great beauty happened, a beauty that has haunted the boy ever since, because he wonders now did it really take place or did he imagine it.  There are only the two of us, he says; each of us is all the other has; and why can we not even look at each other? Have pity on us, he says; have goddam pity on every goddam bloody man jack of us.  To hell with all the strong silent men!”

His friends are stuck in the same routine and rut that Gar is familiar with, yet wanting to change (even if it is a reluctant change).  These three young male friends vocalise the frustrations that the three older men embody.  This is important to understand as this is the one thing that both Public and Private Gar are trying to move away from and is crucial to understanding the predicament that Gar is in – Should he leave his comfortable life for a new adventure or stay behind and grow into a mundane existence so much like his fathers and the same direction where his friends are headed. 

Music plays an important part within this production.  The 'Public' Gar is often singing or humming in his bedroom, particularly 'California, Here I Come', interchanging 'California' with 'Philadelphia' (...for obvious reasons!) and some traditional Scottish ditties, to take himself away from the situations and abate his fears.  

In Act One he listens to the First movement of Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.

At the very start of the Second Act, we hear the Second movement of Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, which creates a slightly differing feel to the first.  The first movement is quite somber and filled with emergency, whereas the second movement is more uplifting and slightly more joyous but still in-keeping with the tone of the first.  We can feel the difference in the character though this music - We know that Gar is more determined to succeed in his new life path than earlier in the play.

Keeping in tone with the setting of 'Philadelphia, Here I Come!' is the traditional Irish Ceilidh band music which is completely uplifting and makes you want to do a jig around the bedroom!

All in all, a beautiful read on the matters of the heart versus the head and the strong pull that each of them have on our mundane existence.

Next Week: 'Hedda Gabbler' by Henrik Ibsen

When the going gets tough, read a play (or 52)!

The beginning is just a play script away...

Intellectual challenges have been few and far between these last few years. Since completing my Honours of Arts (Theatre and Performance) in 2010 after completing a double degree in Secondary Education and Arts (double majoring in Drama and Literature), I have not had too much of a chance to extend my theatrical repertoire as of late.  

Starting my career in Secondary Teaching has been a tumultuous time (especially in trying to find a secure position at a school), the lack of time and, ok-ok I'll admit it, the drive to read outside the texts I have been teaching has been severely depleted. My decision to return to postgraduate studies part time, specifically Masters of Fine Arts (Theatre), has me jumping for joy! What doesn't have me joyful is my cache of script knowledge. Titles of plays and synopsis - Tick! Actually having read the majority of those plays - oh dear.... 

After being accepted and completing a Masterclass Directing workshop at the Melbourne Theatre Company with Associate Artistic Director Sam Strong and Associate Director Leticia Caceres, hearing what they had to say about their practices and directorial skills had me thinking very long and hard. If I ever want to have the chance to make my way into the world of theatre, then I really need to step up my game and not just will myself in being, but actually set myself a challenge that is a stretch, but one that still can be achievable in my current situation. 

And here comes the reason for this blog...

I challenge myself to read 52 plays in 52 weeks, along with conducting literary research and researching past reviews on each of the scripts.

I have never been good at keeping a blog, diary or any form of diarising events in my life. However, since this is something that I have been working towards ever since I started my journey into theatre, this is one challenge that I am determined to keep. (Plus I made my gorgeous senior Theatre Studies students create a challenge for themselves to work on something in class that they felt they needed to improve on... And I made them write it down and sign it as a contract. So I really need to keep up my end of the bargain too!)

For starters, I am going to read the scripts of playwrights that I know well, but have only read some of their works. For instance, I have never read Shakespeare's 'A Comedy of Errors', but have read many of his other works... I have read Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest', but never 'Lady Windermere's Fan'... And the list continues...

Each Sunday I will write about the play and research here.

As with my fiction choices, I will make a decision based on what I feel like reading next once I have finished the current book, or in this case, play script. At the end of each week I will tell you the next instalment of this challenge.

From you I am seeking suggestions of other lesser known playwrights and scripts that you think I should read. Any and all suggestions will be taken into account. 

I hear you whispering amongst yourselves 'but just reading and researching plays scripts won't get you into theatre' ...  I know, but extending my knowledge, practicing my research capabilities and improving my understanding on the inner workings of the different styles of writing and theatre practice will, somewhat, help. As much as I loved my Drama major at Uni and working on self devised theatre, gaining the knowledge of past practitioners was an aspect that was removed from the course. I don't know if I can say that this was of any detriment or not, because I certainly learnt SO much from my lecturers and use that knowledge every day when teaching my own 'little cherubs'. However, something just clicked inside of me when listening to Sam at MTC.... That one day Masterclass propelled me into overdrive and to finally kick start the career I have only been dreaming about.

Wish me luck!!

Week 1: 'Miss Julie' by August Strindberg