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Recent Tragic Events
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62 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2004
1 person is currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Craig Wright
15 books2 followersPlaywright and television producer.
Librarian note: There are multiple authors with this name in this data base. This one is Craig^^Wright.
Librarian note: There are multiple authors with this name in this data base. This one is Craig^^Wright.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 30, 2021
2.5, rounded up.
It takes a lot of cojones (or just unerring bad taste) to write a (alleged) comedy about 9/11, set on the day immediately following the attack, and the fact this got almost universally negative reviews in its initial production in 2003 attests to the fact perhaps Wright's timing was way off. But more recent productions have not fared much better, and as the reviews note, the entire construct feels forced and unnatural, as do the discussions of fate and free will. Points for the audacity of including famed author Joyce Carol Oates amongst the characters though (played by a sock puppet manipulated by a woman dressed in nothing but a short t-shirt, exposing her nether regions - I only WISH I were making that up!).
Two other items don't work at all - the stage manager's prologue, in which s/he brings an audience member onstage to flip a coin, and states that how the action goes at certain points - denoted by an annoying ringing tone - will be determined by that coin toss. Of course, the audience never gets to SEE the alternatives, and the stage manager comes back at the start of act two to point out that obvious fact. The obnoxious ringing is therefore abandoned in act two, to be replaced by the characters playing a complicated card/drinking game, the rules of which are never explicated, so are impossible to follow, and that takes up WAYYYY too much of the dialogue. Regardless of all these faults, Wright does possess a very prodigious gift with the REST of his dialogue, and he does get points for his originality.
It takes a lot of cojones (or just unerring bad taste) to write a (alleged) comedy about 9/11, set on the day immediately following the attack, and the fact this got almost universally negative reviews in its initial production in 2003 attests to the fact perhaps Wright's timing was way off. But more recent productions have not fared much better, and as the reviews note, the entire construct feels forced and unnatural, as do the discussions of fate and free will. Points for the audacity of including famed author Joyce Carol Oates amongst the characters though (played by a sock puppet manipulated by a woman dressed in nothing but a short t-shirt, exposing her nether regions - I only WISH I were making that up!).
Two other items don't work at all - the stage manager's prologue, in which s/he brings an audience member onstage to flip a coin, and states that how the action goes at certain points - denoted by an annoying ringing tone - will be determined by that coin toss. Of course, the audience never gets to SEE the alternatives, and the stage manager comes back at the start of act two to point out that obvious fact. The obnoxious ringing is therefore abandoned in act two, to be replaced by the characters playing a complicated card/drinking game, the rules of which are never explicated, so are impossible to follow, and that takes up WAYYYY too much of the dialogue. Regardless of all these faults, Wright does possess a very prodigious gift with the REST of his dialogue, and he does get points for his originality.
November 16, 2009
Until reading this play, I have never even been slightly tempted to be naked onstage (for such an amazing plethora of reasons... not just my own body-image issues [of which there are so very many:], but the fact that whenever I am in a theatre and someone is naked onstage... fine. Cards on the table. I saw a full-frontal play a while back in Chicago in a very small theatre and I just felt like, wow. Thanks a lot. I'm like eight feet away from a screaming naked person. Pretty much all I'm going to remember when I think about this play now is that guy's penis. Way to go. I don't NEED to SEE it. And if I am SEEING it, I'm not really looking at or thinking about anything else. Not in a sexual way, but I'm thinking. Oh wow. He's naked. I wonder if he's uncomfortable/cold/creepily proud of himself. And then I think I'm distracted/my nose is running/what did that guy just say?/what time is it/was that actor totally looking at that guy's penis?/when is this play going to be over/I'm hungry/etc.). NOT at ALL involved in the action. Well, not involved in the action that I'm supposed to be involved in, anyway. Which is why I myself have always eschewed nudity onstage, and I have not been too excited about buying tickets to plays with nudieness in them either. I find that it is usually a tacky distracting gimmick.
This play is SO funny, though. And the person who is naked (waist down only. I'm not sure that that is better or worse than totally naked...) gets to play Joyce Carol Oates as a sock puppet. I think in this particular case, if the naked person was operating a sock puppet with enough elan, I might stop staring at their privates and actually listen to what the puppet had to say.
Here's the problem... the play centers around 9/11. So it has already a tinny quality, it can't help but feel like a period piece as everyone clusters around the television... so I wonder how long it will still be relevant? Kids today with their tweeters and their facespace. I know good writing is good writing, and ultimately the play is making a universal point that goes beyond the event, but I wonder how much longer people will be producing it... still. Joyce Carol Oates as a sock puppet. I wish I could just SEE a production. So cool.
This play is SO funny, though. And the person who is naked (waist down only. I'm not sure that that is better or worse than totally naked...) gets to play Joyce Carol Oates as a sock puppet. I think in this particular case, if the naked person was operating a sock puppet with enough elan, I might stop staring at their privates and actually listen to what the puppet had to say.
Here's the problem... the play centers around 9/11. So it has already a tinny quality, it can't help but feel like a period piece as everyone clusters around the television... so I wonder how long it will still be relevant? Kids today with their tweeters and their facespace. I know good writing is good writing, and ultimately the play is making a universal point that goes beyond the event, but I wonder how much longer people will be producing it... still. Joyce Carol Oates as a sock puppet. I wish I could just SEE a production. So cool.
March 30, 2012
This play is a revelatory musing on fate and how much of our actions are controlled or preordained. That Wright chose to ask questions about such things via the lens of two people trying to go on a blind date during 9/11 proves he's either foolhardy or particularly in tune with what he wants to say. I tend to feel the latter, as this is the only play that has ties to that day that I don't find a complete sham (likely for reasons of use and distance).
The reason for that is the characters -- the uneasy man arriving at the harried woman's apartment (the woman who hasn't heard from her twin sister all day), the crazy neighbors (one of whom also plays Joyce Carol Oates via sock puppet), and the stage manager for the production who may or may not be allowing the audience to pull the production's strings. Each man and woman in the play strives to understand the other; it just happens to be on a day which has a terrifying backdrop. A terrifying backdrop that has a reason to be there, I might add. Which is tough to do in this day and age.
The reason for that is the characters -- the uneasy man arriving at the harried woman's apartment (the woman who hasn't heard from her twin sister all day), the crazy neighbors (one of whom also plays Joyce Carol Oates via sock puppet), and the stage manager for the production who may or may not be allowing the audience to pull the production's strings. Each man and woman in the play strives to understand the other; it just happens to be on a day which has a terrifying backdrop. A terrifying backdrop that has a reason to be there, I might add. Which is tough to do in this day and age.
August 27, 2025
recent tragic events is very funny, has strong characters, and hits you with a compelling twist at intermission, but ultimately fails to deliver on the Big Philosophical Quandary its characters debate in the twilight of act two. i feel that this play, being written in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, has probably always lived in a difficult space, both being originally produced too soon after 2001 for overly- and occasionally newly-patriotic audiences to be able to grapple with their catastrophic feelings being used as the basis for debate ("how could the devastation i feel be any less than Real"), and now being too far gone for anyone who wasn't already an adult in 2001 to be able to conceptualize, really, what it felt like to truly be a person when it happened. i wish more popular plays centered around what it felt like to be alive in late-2001 were around to grapple with the complexities of the situation, but the usage of 9/11 as more or less a simple framing device for an argument around free will unfortunately falls a little flat for me.
December 15, 2023
The themes of preordained action vs. free will/chance are everywhere in this play. (The coin flip device, a blind date, the card game, etc.) The issue is there's really question where the play stands on the subject. The only character giving voice to "free will" is literally a puppet. The themes and symbolism run deep; the play does not. And juxtaposing some dude feeling discomfort on a blind date with a woman processing her missing sister in the wake of 9/11 is borderline tasteless.
At best it seems to be the playwright's way of processing September 11. At worst it is the playwright trying to help others process September 11.
At best it seems to be the playwright's way of processing September 11. At worst it is the playwright trying to help others process September 11.
October 11, 2017
My ex worked for the president and i saw this and it had no one naked in it and it was about someone changing time and reality at the Jewish theater.
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August 27, 2021very good play
April 2, 2022
Although the framing device of this play doesn't really click with me, this is a powerful look at the inexplicable connections of people amidst tragedy.
May 27, 2016
All I'm saying is anyone who doesn't love this play isn't reading closely enough.
April 5, 2020
I love this play so much. I find it so beautifully-written and heartbreaking. The second act is a bit strange but I'll forgive it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews