A Play and Two Screenplays: States of Shock / Far North / Silent Tongue

by Sam Shepard

In his latest play, States of Shock, Sam Shepard turns a bizarre anniversary party into a grisly yet hilarious reopening of the wounds of war, sex, and family betrayal. This volume also includes Shepard's screenplay for the film Far North and the forthcoming film Silent Tongue.

Genres: Plays, Drama

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Sam Shepard was an American artist who worked as an award-winning playwright, writer and actor. His many written works are known for being frank and often absurd, as well as for having an authentic sense of the style and sensibility of the gritty modern American west. He was an actor of the stage and motion pictures; a director of stage and film; author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs; and a musician.

Reviews

[York · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una recopilación. Con un libreto para teatro y un par de screenplays para cine. Los tres resumen perfecto la vena americana de Shepard. Aunque el resultado no es redondo States of Shock y Far North resultan hipnóticas.
En la primera el manicomio se desencadena ante tus ojos cuando menos lo esperas, y en el segundo texto el frío se mete hasta los huesos mientras presencias un triste drama familiar.
Recomiendo más Fool for Love para iniciarse con el autor. Pero este es un digno complemento de seguimiento.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a pretty phenomenal collection of work, especially considering how rare the two films are whose scripts are included here. I have a DVD of "Far North," and I think "Silent Tongue" was on Amazon Prime at some point, but neither seem to have received much acclaim for whatever reason.

Anyway, beat-by-beat thoughts are as follows:

STATES OF SHOCK: This play feels more like Shepard’s earlier, less successful works in a lot of ways. Manic, vulgar, and stylized almost to the point of abstraction, the themes he’s working through (including what seems to be an exploration of PTSD on a large scale) remain obtuse, and the whole thing just struck me as a missed opportunity. Although his cast for the premiere of this work - which included John Malkovich and Michael Wincott - would have absolutely made this worth seeing all on their own.

FAR NORTH: I really like seeing the way he took to screenwriting as an entirely different medium, utilizing the visual nature of film to emphasize and expand and even progress his narrative focus. It’s fascinating to watch this particular story unfold, which - as a play - would have surely been just as highly regarded as most of his others. Reaches some interesting conclusions, and I think it’s probably due for a re-appraisal (depending on the reception it received at the time, which I suspect was muted). Looking forward to watching the film itself.

SILENT TONGUE: Once again, Shepard proves thrillingly divorced from the limitations of the stage, and even from the conventions of screenwriting to a certain extent. Much room is afforded here for improvisation on the part of the performers, even if the focus of the overall piece remains fairly specific throughout. Looking forward to watching this film as well, even though I'm wary of the methods Shepard will use to present the "ghost" portions of this thing. I'm also anxious to see how Shepard depicted some of the more unsparingly grim subject matter here, because some of it would come across quite differently on the screen than on the stage, or even on the page.

All in all, another great collection from Shepard. I decided to read "Silent Tongue" before diving into Shepard's next theatrical endeavor ("Simpatico") because - based on his correspondence with Johnny Dark - the script came first, even if the film and play ultimately were "released" around the same time. Just trying to stay in chronological order. Why he split everything up between so many different collections with such little rhyme or reason, I have no idea, but at least these three efforts are somewhat consecutive in order of conception.

[Ricardo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leí este libro hace tal vez unos quince años. En ese entonces estaba muy metido sobre todo con Kerouac, y con Auster en mis ratos más light. Llegué a Shepard por ser el guionista de la fantástica Paris, Texas; y si bien esperaba encontrar algo de ese tedium vitae que empapa a esa película, sólo encontré la parte del tedio :/ Sam Shepard falleció hoy. Tal vez es tiempo que le de una nueva, tardía oportunidad.

[Andrés Cabrera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tres obras (una de teatro y dos guiones de cine) que van de menos a más. De nuevo, Shepard recurre a sus inquietudes más recurrentes: la vida entre la gente, la carencia de palabras para narrar ciertos sucesos experimentados en carne propia, los potenciales del mito frente a la soledad de la vida en las ciudades y sus nuevas formas de interacción, el arraigo en contraposición a la vida en tránsito de aquel que ya no se siente en casa, entre otros. Aunque es el libro que menos he disfrutado del autor (eso sí, siento que se pierde demasiado en el texto escrito. Tengo muchísima curiosidad de ver cada una de las obras en su propia puesta en escena. Siento que todas deben ser violentas), no deja de ser un placer caer en la sensibilidad de Shepard: alguien que, como Hopper, comprende la soledad entre la gente, la recurrente soledad de aquel que camina entre solitarios.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a playwright, Sam Shepard is a good actor. OK, so shoot me. I know he has been lionized, but these plays did nothing for me, nada zip.