Insomnia

by Daniel Brooks, Guillermo Verdecchia

In The Noam Chomsky Lectures ?an angry, funny, political tirade?Brooks and Verdecchia challenged audiences to wake up. With Insomnia , the duo's latest collaboration and a much darker show, awakening has become a curse. John is a man skeptical to the point of tyranny. So rigorously demanding of the world and himself that he has lost the power to sleep, he is driving himself and his wife to distraction. " Insomnia turns Chomsky's politics inward?at what point, Insomnia asks, do healthy skepticism and reasonable doubt turn into paranoia and paralysis? Unfolding in a series of ever more surreal vignettes, Insomnia employs a powerful brand of non-linear, disorienting story-telling that skilfully focuses an audience's attention."? NOW

Genres: Plays

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 1998

Reviews

[Nathaniel Voll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was I supposed to read/see the Noam Chomsky Lectures first? That's what all the online reviews and summary blurbs seem to lead with.

Anyway, this is a good piece, to be sure. I love what Brooks and Verdecchia do with reality and a dream world. I would be interested to know (in an Inception sort of way) what happens in the real world versus the dream world.

With quick, blunt dialogue and characters driven by clear objectives, the play moves along at an impressive clip. However, I wonder about the purpose of the other characters if they all exist inside John's dreams - what are their super-objectives if they exist only to serve and accost John's consciousness? A question for the literary scholars and actors involved, I suppose.