Sextet

by Morris Panych

Music has long been considered beneficial in enhancing cognitive skills, and some have even suggested that music constitutes its own category of brain function; that it is, in fact, a separate and distinct type of thought. As is sex, which can produce, aside from children, complete dysfunction, confused mental activity even, quite possibly, a compromised immune system, and certainly, in many cases, complete and utter memory loss both before and after. It seemed only natural, then, for playwright Morris Panych to put these two types of human experience together into one play. After all, both take practice.
This dark and steamy comedy explores the harmonies and dysfunctions of six sexually entangled musicians on an ill-fated winter tour. When a blizzard strands this sextet for an extra night, they have only their instruments, each other, and their secrets to keep them warm."

Genres: Plays

128 pages, ebook

First published April 12, 2016

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Panych's latest play is probably his most ambitious and best to date. Not only very funny, but wisely weird about the mysteries of sex, love ... and music. Although the staging is sometimes a mite difficult to follow, and I had some questions about how exactly some scenes COULD be choreographed (including an interrupted scene of self-pleasuring!), it all eventually makes a kind of sense. Love to have seen the original production.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to see this play, now that I've read its script! A sextet of classical musicians find themselves stranded in a hotel and over the course of about a day and a half, the bottled up wants, desires, secrets and frustrations become uncorked, creating a tangle that speaks eloquently to how many people are truly involved in a single relationship.

Morris Panych sets up a stage that can be hard to follow - four men, two women, all bouncing back and forth between bedrooms - yet his writing makes clear who is where and when, despite the lack of stage directions. This script has such energy, such wonderful dialogue. I highly recommend it.