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Landscape of the Body
One of John Guareâ s classic plays,Landscape of the Bodytells the story of a womanâ s unfulfilled life and premature death - and her reflections from the grave. Betty travels to New York to convince her sister Rosalie to leave her gritty New York City life and come home to bucolic Maine. After dying in a freak bicycle accident, Rosalie revisits the world she left behind. From the beyond Rosalie witnesses Betty effortlessly easing into her previous persona - moving into her apartment, taking over her job, but then Betty abruptly loses her teenage son to a gruesome murder. In a sardonic turn of events, Betty finds herself the primary suspect in her sonâ s death. Guare brilliantly moves back and forth in time and space to create and affecting study of the American dream gone awry.
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 18, 2022
The thing I admire/enjoy most about Guare's writing is his freedom. As a writer it always makes me realize Oh! why am I limiting myself - why am I putting guardrails on?
January 11, 2022
John Guare's "Landscape of the Body" was first produced in 1977, and contains the kind of energy that many pieces by John Guare seem to possess. "Landscape" is dark, yet theatrical, gritty, yet funny, and has strange musical interludes (with lyrics and music by Guare himself), as well as several monologues that characters sink into, which feel almost tangential, but aren't, not really.
I did a scene from this play for an acting class in college years ago--- an interrogation scene. Indeed, the play begins on a boat, which moves quickly into said interrogation scene. Captain Marvin Holahan is questioning Betty about the murder of her son, Bert. It is discovered in this scene that Betty has been working at a fake travel agency and appearing in adult films, essentially stepping into her sister's life.
Betty first brought Bert to New York to bring her sister, Rosalie, back to Bangor, Maine (which is close to where I live). Instead, after Rosalie is killed after being rundown by a biker (on a bicycle, not motorcycle), Betty moves into Rosalie's apartment and her jobs. Meanwhile, 14 year-old Bert starts luring men into the apartment when his Mom is away, where his friend Donny clubs them with a monkey wrench and they steal their watches. After Betty goes down south with what she thinks is a rich suitor who will take her away, we, the audience learn how Bert was murdered and who done it....something that Betty or Captain Holahan will never know.
Edgy, twisted, but with moments of very lyrical dialogue and speeches, 'Landscape of the Body" is consistently surprising, and endlessly entertaining. But it's definitely not for everyone.
I dig it, though.
I did a scene from this play for an acting class in college years ago--- an interrogation scene. Indeed, the play begins on a boat, which moves quickly into said interrogation scene. Captain Marvin Holahan is questioning Betty about the murder of her son, Bert. It is discovered in this scene that Betty has been working at a fake travel agency and appearing in adult films, essentially stepping into her sister's life.
Betty first brought Bert to New York to bring her sister, Rosalie, back to Bangor, Maine (which is close to where I live). Instead, after Rosalie is killed after being rundown by a biker (on a bicycle, not motorcycle), Betty moves into Rosalie's apartment and her jobs. Meanwhile, 14 year-old Bert starts luring men into the apartment when his Mom is away, where his friend Donny clubs them with a monkey wrench and they steal their watches. After Betty goes down south with what she thinks is a rich suitor who will take her away, we, the audience learn how Bert was murdered and who done it....something that Betty or Captain Holahan will never know.
Edgy, twisted, but with moments of very lyrical dialogue and speeches, 'Landscape of the Body" is consistently surprising, and endlessly entertaining. But it's definitely not for everyone.
I dig it, though.
February 3, 2024
Not really a fan of plays where the dialogue flows like two people separately monologuing about different topics. I just never learn to care about the characters.
December 27, 2011
I don't know. This is the third play by Guare I've read. It's a step up from The House of Blue Leaves, Landscape of the Body has the coherance The House of Blue Leaves lacked. But why the motivation has to be a murder, of all the unoriginal plots that's one of the most unoriginal, especially when told thru flashbacks.
My problem with Guare's plays seems to be that I don't know his characters: more than believable, living people they are types and they act strangely without the logic that all the normal real-life people follow. Unfeeling people are bad material for drama, it just makes the play more about the theme when instead, I feel, it should always be about the people and how they relate to the theme of the story. I just can't get into the play when the logic of the action is missing.
My problem with Guare's plays seems to be that I don't know his characters: more than believable, living people they are types and they act strangely without the logic that all the normal real-life people follow. Unfeeling people are bad material for drama, it just makes the play more about the theme when instead, I feel, it should always be about the people and how they relate to the theme of the story. I just can't get into the play when the logic of the action is missing.
July 30, 2007
I think I need to read it again. It is a dark comedy that I find more poignant than anything else. Perhaps I am missing something.
April 26, 2015
Didn't enjoy this nearly as much as Six Degrees of Separation.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews