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The Inheritance
You have to wonder why there isn't a word in the English language for the fireworks that go off in your brain when you finally kiss someone you've wanted for years. Or for the intimacy and tenderness you feel as you hold the hand of a suffering friend.
A generation after the height of the AIDS crisis, what is it like to be a young gay man in New York? How many words are there now for the different kinds of pain, the different kinds of love?
Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance premieres in two parts at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in March 2018.
A generation after the height of the AIDS crisis, what is it like to be a young gay man in New York? How many words are there now for the different kinds of pain, the different kinds of love?
Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance premieres in two parts at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in March 2018.
320 pages, ebook
First published May 17, 2018
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About the author
Matthew López
12 books41 followersAmerican playwright, known for The Whipping Man and The Inheritance.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 374 reviews
August 30, 2021
Acabo de terminar este libro y estoy con el corazón en un puño. Me acerqué a él más por curiosidad que por interés, para intentar comprobar si me interesaría realmente leer teatro contemporáneo, y creyendo que si esta obra tan premiada y con protagonistas gays no me gustaba… seguramente ninguna otra me gustaría. Y al final me ha dado igual tanto que fuera teatro como que sus personajes fueran LGTBI porque lo que cuenta es tan hermoso, tan grande, tan verdadero… que el texto transgrede las etiquetas de género o temática para convertirse en una obra de las que te dejan sin palabras; en uno de esos viajes que, al acabarlos, te han removido por dentro y te han hecho amar a unos personajes que se quedan para siempre contigo.
‘La herencia’ es un libro difícil de reseñar. En él se habla mucho de E. M. Forster, pero a quien yo veo es al mejor Michael Cunningham. Trata sobre un grupo de gays de distintas edades y clases sociales que comparten distintos tipos de vínculo en un Nueva York en varias líneas temporales. Sí. Y en su trasfondo hay un lujoso apartamento de renta antigua en Manhattan y una casa en el campo en la que en los años 80 iban a pasar sus últimos días los enfermos de sida. Pero decir que esta obra trata sobre un grupo de gays o sobre dos propiedades inmobiliarias sería reducir hasta el absurdo una historia absolutamente cautivadora y compleja.
Porque ‘La herencia’ trata sobre la amistad en el mundo gay, sobre el desamor, la obsesión, la pérdida, el luto, la autodestrucción, la adicción, el enamoramiento y la caída a los infiernos. Pero, por encima de todo ello, brilla el homenaje a la conexión entre las distintas generaciones de personas LGTBI y a la impagable deuda que los más jóvenes tenemos con quienes nos precedieron y emplearon sus vidas en hacérnoslas más fáciles a quienes vendríamos después. ‘La herencia’ es un acto de amor, de reconciliación, de homenaje.
Que a nadie le asuste o le dé pereza el hecho de que sea teatro contemporáneo: se tarda muy poco en entrar y los mecanismos metaliterarios y escénicos están tan bien explicados que todo sucede con suma naturalidad en tu cabeza. Eso sí, me pregunto seriamente cómo una obra tan compleja (distintos planos temporales, multitud de personajes, actores que interpretan a distintas personas a distintas edades…) y tan larga puede ser representada en un escenario. Ojalá algún día tenga la oportunidad de ver en vivo lo que ya he vivido en mi cabeza y en mi corazón.
‘La herencia’ es un libro difícil de reseñar. En él se habla mucho de E. M. Forster, pero a quien yo veo es al mejor Michael Cunningham. Trata sobre un grupo de gays de distintas edades y clases sociales que comparten distintos tipos de vínculo en un Nueva York en varias líneas temporales. Sí. Y en su trasfondo hay un lujoso apartamento de renta antigua en Manhattan y una casa en el campo en la que en los años 80 iban a pasar sus últimos días los enfermos de sida. Pero decir que esta obra trata sobre un grupo de gays o sobre dos propiedades inmobiliarias sería reducir hasta el absurdo una historia absolutamente cautivadora y compleja.
Porque ‘La herencia’ trata sobre la amistad en el mundo gay, sobre el desamor, la obsesión, la pérdida, el luto, la autodestrucción, la adicción, el enamoramiento y la caída a los infiernos. Pero, por encima de todo ello, brilla el homenaje a la conexión entre las distintas generaciones de personas LGTBI y a la impagable deuda que los más jóvenes tenemos con quienes nos precedieron y emplearon sus vidas en hacérnoslas más fáciles a quienes vendríamos después. ‘La herencia’ es un acto de amor, de reconciliación, de homenaje.
Que a nadie le asuste o le dé pereza el hecho de que sea teatro contemporáneo: se tarda muy poco en entrar y los mecanismos metaliterarios y escénicos están tan bien explicados que todo sucede con suma naturalidad en tu cabeza. Eso sí, me pregunto seriamente cómo una obra tan compleja (distintos planos temporales, multitud de personajes, actores que interpretan a distintas personas a distintas edades…) y tan larga puede ser representada en un escenario. Ojalá algún día tenga la oportunidad de ver en vivo lo que ya he vivido en mi cabeza y en mi corazón.
April 22, 2019
When Matthew Lopez’s play The Inheritance opened in the West End in 2018 it caused most critics to completely lose their minds. The Telegraph opined that it is ‘perhaps the most important American play of the century so far' and caused the critic to lament the flimsiness of star ratings. The Evening Standard deemed it ‘the play of this year and last year and quite possibly next year as well'. Even Michael Billington liked it. Although he did have problems with the ‘exclusive maleness' and the more graphic descriptions of homosexual lust, which one can only put down to that generation of critics’ penchant for veiled homophobia.
Continue reading my review on my blog: https://liquidays.wordpress.com/2019/...
Continue reading my review on my blog: https://liquidays.wordpress.com/2019/...
November 20, 2019
Diaghilev said to Cocteau, "Etonnez-moi." The reaction by London critics where this play had its premiere last year was astonishing. "The most important American play of the century so far," burbled one. In fact, having just seen the drama after reading it 2xs, I find it a sometimes entertaining
split of literary pretention, with its posturing bow to E M Forster, and mellerdramatic tosh of Jackie Susann, where it best succeeds. Two plays totaling 7 hours, which should be one play of 3 hours, wedge the AIDs crisis of the 80s into a skip-along soap opera that frets about Hillary's political loss in Part 1 (the least successful of the two plays) and Trump's unexpected win in Part 2. Meantime, the blurbs announce that the titular inheritance is really about "what it means to be a gay man today....and ponders one generation's responsibilities to another." Now that is sheer drivel.
There's very little "plot"; the saga is held together by a series of humorless vignettes, and masses and masses of words, words, words, albeit directed with great spirit by Stephen Daldry on a bare stage or platform that moves slightly up and down (like a conversation pit) that the players sit around. Playwright Toby & Eric, who dabbles in politics or something, I'm not sure, have been a couple for 7 years. But the always vivid Toby, played w bravado by Andrew Burnap, ends the relationship when he learns they must move from their apartment. This makes no sense at all. (Toby is later described as a destructive cad, and pays for it; the actor provides character the author forgets). John Benjamin Hickey is also solid as Henry, an older billionaire, whose lover of 36 years died peacefully; he develops a crush on the discarded Eric (a Good Guy, boringly acted), and marries him despite insisting that it be without sex. Toby meantime develops an unrequited pash on a young actor in his Broadway-bound play and finds solace with a rentboy (played by the same actor who takes off his clothes a lot and looks a fit 35 instead of 19). The Big Reveal comes when (Part 2) Eric learns that the "kid" is Henry's fav fuck boy. What about me? wails Eric. The rich Henry is an interesting, undeveloped character.
Periodically, AIDs pops into the story, set between 2015-18, don't you dare forget that, and E M Forster comments on the sidelines with homilies and memories. Sex scenes are done clothed in balletic movements, plus bump-grind, but there's some fun at last (Part 2) at the gay colony on Fire Island (which stopped being a place-to-go 25 years ago), with drugs and.. playwright Lopez revels in hoping to shock audiences with raw descriptions of smeary group copulation.
Lopez's massive, amateur fault as a writer is that he does not write scenes. His characters "tell" the story, or rather "narrate" what's going on/who's thinking what & why; his lengthy monologues - some lasting 7 to 10 minutes also fill up the hours. His people have no careers or career worries at all; they have no women friends at all. Essentially they're all trivial and his play -- despite the blabber - is resoundingly simple. Don't fret about any allusion to "Howards End," no pun intended.
The one woman, a mother, comes on briefly at the finale (Part 2) to lament the death of her son from AIDs. This is too much of a cliche to be touching. Another ragged cliche: one intense character does a "Green Hat" smashup. Lopez stays within the soap opera genre. W Daldry pacing a mostly good cast, there's mild diversion in a disappointing venture.
I expect the NYT to give the show raves. For 20 years the psychotic / homophobic editor A. M. Rosenthal ruled the paper, but today that's all changed. The 2 drama critics are both gay.
split of literary pretention, with its posturing bow to E M Forster, and mellerdramatic tosh of Jackie Susann, where it best succeeds. Two plays totaling 7 hours, which should be one play of 3 hours, wedge the AIDs crisis of the 80s into a skip-along soap opera that frets about Hillary's political loss in Part 1 (the least successful of the two plays) and Trump's unexpected win in Part 2. Meantime, the blurbs announce that the titular inheritance is really about "what it means to be a gay man today....and ponders one generation's responsibilities to another." Now that is sheer drivel.
There's very little "plot"; the saga is held together by a series of humorless vignettes, and masses and masses of words, words, words, albeit directed with great spirit by Stephen Daldry on a bare stage or platform that moves slightly up and down (like a conversation pit) that the players sit around. Playwright Toby & Eric, who dabbles in politics or something, I'm not sure, have been a couple for 7 years. But the always vivid Toby, played w bravado by Andrew Burnap, ends the relationship when he learns they must move from their apartment. This makes no sense at all. (Toby is later described as a destructive cad, and pays for it; the actor provides character the author forgets). John Benjamin Hickey is also solid as Henry, an older billionaire, whose lover of 36 years died peacefully; he develops a crush on the discarded Eric (a Good Guy, boringly acted), and marries him despite insisting that it be without sex. Toby meantime develops an unrequited pash on a young actor in his Broadway-bound play and finds solace with a rentboy (played by the same actor who takes off his clothes a lot and looks a fit 35 instead of 19). The Big Reveal comes when (Part 2) Eric learns that the "kid" is Henry's fav fuck boy. What about me? wails Eric. The rich Henry is an interesting, undeveloped character.
Periodically, AIDs pops into the story, set between 2015-18, don't you dare forget that, and E M Forster comments on the sidelines with homilies and memories. Sex scenes are done clothed in balletic movements, plus bump-grind, but there's some fun at last (Part 2) at the gay colony on Fire Island (which stopped being a place-to-go 25 years ago), with drugs and.. playwright Lopez revels in hoping to shock audiences with raw descriptions of smeary group copulation.
Lopez's massive, amateur fault as a writer is that he does not write scenes. His characters "tell" the story, or rather "narrate" what's going on/who's thinking what & why; his lengthy monologues - some lasting 7 to 10 minutes also fill up the hours. His people have no careers or career worries at all; they have no women friends at all. Essentially they're all trivial and his play -- despite the blabber - is resoundingly simple. Don't fret about any allusion to "Howards End," no pun intended.
The one woman, a mother, comes on briefly at the finale (Part 2) to lament the death of her son from AIDs. This is too much of a cliche to be touching. Another ragged cliche: one intense character does a "Green Hat" smashup. Lopez stays within the soap opera genre. W Daldry pacing a mostly good cast, there's mild diversion in a disappointing venture.
I expect the NYT to give the show raves. For 20 years the psychotic / homophobic editor A. M. Rosenthal ruled the paper, but today that's all changed. The 2 drama critics are both gay.
February 16, 2020
4.63 stars, lol. “Thirty years ago, before you were born, we turned a blind eye to the deaths of tens of thousands of our fellow countrymen. In our disgust, we looked away, we made ourselves deaf to the cries of so many of our fellow citizens, of so many of our sons. Why were so many men allowed to die this way? I think it’s because these men’s illness required that Americans think about the means by which they contracted it. It required we look at gay men and accept their nature, accept their affection and their desire for one another as equal to our own. Most Americans couldn’t do that.” (Pages 296-297)
May 5, 2019
Currently sat in a coffee shop in central London after finishing this. I literally just wept in public. Please excuse the coming stream of consciousness.
The Inheritance may be a play, and this may just be the script of the play, but it was without a doubt one of the best reading experiences I’ve had in years. The storytelling is beautiful; I’m not sure how it would be staged but I’m so glad so much of the story is told through speech so I could get a full understanding of the plot and actions of this juggernaut of a story.
I laughed aloud on the tube, I cried in a coffee shop next to bemused tourists, and I’m currently assured this is going to be the book I push into people’s hands, urging them to devour it as I did.
The Inheritance may be a play, and this may just be the script of the play, but it was without a doubt one of the best reading experiences I’ve had in years. The storytelling is beautiful; I’m not sure how it would be staged but I’m so glad so much of the story is told through speech so I could get a full understanding of the plot and actions of this juggernaut of a story.
I laughed aloud on the tube, I cried in a coffee shop next to bemused tourists, and I’m currently assured this is going to be the book I push into people’s hands, urging them to devour it as I did.
September 30, 2019
The last play I read was ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, a two-parter that translated into about four hours on stage, as far as I can recall. I was singularly unimpressed, due largely to the fact that I felt the anaemic writing was largely dependent on it being a major stage production, with all the razzmatazz that implies. The text, by itself, was a rather bare and rickety scaffold, scarcely supported by the playwright’s imagination.
What surprised me about ‘The Inheritance’ is how quickly I read this approximately 300-page play, which translates into a six-hour running time on stage, I think. Six hours? Granted, it is an easy read, as conversational as a novel, with minimal stage direction in the text itself. (What I found confusing is that there are large chunks of text that read like stage direction, but which I think are meant to be actor monologues. Go figure).
Another confusion is the plethora of Young Men, who are only referred to by numbers, and of whom I suspect several of the main characters get to portray as well. Then there is the fact that the actors often break off in the middle of a scene to comment on their own acting or thought process at that precise moment, or to engage in reflection with the eponymous Morgan (E.M. Forster, who gets told quite rudely to ‘fuck off’ in an excoriating scene where the Young Men accuse him of living his entire life with his head in the sand).
There are certain scenes – like a graphic sex scene early on – that had me scratching my head as to how on earth it’d be translated onto stage. We’ll probably have to wait for the (inevitable) television mini-series to appreciate the full impact of such scenes. Adam’s extended monologue about his rampant orgy in Prague is, of course, much easier to relate on stage, as it is essentially a single descriptive speech that is very powerful and vivid.
All in all, I think this is a very actorly play, to the point that its large cast is likely to make or break it, especially the key roles, which call for a daunting level of intimacy and immediacy with the audience. The success of the play at the West End, and its October debut on Broadway, with much of the original UK cast reprising their roles, seems to attest to its success in this regard.
What also struck me while reading this is how unapologetically ‘gay’ the play is. There is a lone female role, Lois Smith as Margaret (Vanessa Redgrave in the West End version). She only appears towards the end, making her something of a stock character, even though she delivers quite a powerful speech.
Another troubling element for me was the inclusion of E.M. Forster as an Omniscient Narrator or Impartial Observer. Much has been made as to how Matthew Lopez based his play on the framework of Howards End, but I honestly feel you could remove all of these references, and probably end up with a much tighter and more hard-hitting play.
I also feel there is nothing really that revolutionary in this play that has not been done in novel form to date. E.M. Forster’s lifelong battle with his gayness is explored with wonderful tenderness in Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut. The generational impact of HIV/Aids has been the subject of novels as recent as The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (2018) and Christodora by Tim Murphy (2016).
Of course, any ‘gay play’ has to contend with the intimidating shadow cast by ‘Angels in America’. In many respects, I think Matthew Lopez represents a particular response, or reaction, to the highly stylised and symbolic approach adopted by Tony Kushner. This is a far messier and cluttered play, swept up in the quotidian details of the numerous domestic dramas of its large cast. (One also cannot imagine Kushner ever putting a word like ‘wanna’ in a character’s mouth, or a phrase like ‘fuck me harder’).
Much like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ on television captured something of the Far Right zeitgeist sweeping the world at present, ‘The Inheritance’ grapples quite directly with the ongoing impact of Trump. There is an astonishing scene where his presidency is described as a malignant form of HIV infecting the American body politic.
Also, what I found interesting is how one of the main (older) characters is a Republican supporter, who ends up having to defend his position (with great reason and vigour, I might add), against the indignation of a bunch of younger characters. Here the dialogue crackles with quiet fury; Lopez balances quite a tightrope in not turning his characters’ viewpoints into soapbox polemic.
What is even more interesting in this debate is Eric (a young, liberalised, radicalised Democrat), and his reasoning for agreeing to marry Henry in the first place. There is no sex between the two, but Henry is quite happy with an open arrangement. All he wants is affection … But we know that human motivations are often more complex and subversive.
If there is one thing that stood out for me from this play is how divided the gay community remains: not only politically, but generationally. There is the ‘older’ generation dealing with the fallout and trauma of the Aids era, and the ‘younger’ generation born thereafter that has its own problems to deal with. (There is another interstitial generation caught in-between; perhaps a glaring omission of ‘The Inheritance’ is its omission of gender and racial issues, but to its credit it has a very specific focus).
Both camps (as it were) are leery and wary of each other on either side of their generational fence. The great question asked by this play is how our community can heal itself, and how the old can learn to trust the young. It is the responsibility of the older generation to teach the young about compassion and intimacy, as forged in the hellfire of the Aids era. The young, on the other hand, can teach everyone else about the joy, freedom, and sheer wonder of being alive. That is a true inheritance not only for the gay community, but for humanity as a whole.
What surprised me about ‘The Inheritance’ is how quickly I read this approximately 300-page play, which translates into a six-hour running time on stage, I think. Six hours? Granted, it is an easy read, as conversational as a novel, with minimal stage direction in the text itself. (What I found confusing is that there are large chunks of text that read like stage direction, but which I think are meant to be actor monologues. Go figure).
Another confusion is the plethora of Young Men, who are only referred to by numbers, and of whom I suspect several of the main characters get to portray as well. Then there is the fact that the actors often break off in the middle of a scene to comment on their own acting or thought process at that precise moment, or to engage in reflection with the eponymous Morgan (E.M. Forster, who gets told quite rudely to ‘fuck off’ in an excoriating scene where the Young Men accuse him of living his entire life with his head in the sand).
There are certain scenes – like a graphic sex scene early on – that had me scratching my head as to how on earth it’d be translated onto stage. We’ll probably have to wait for the (inevitable) television mini-series to appreciate the full impact of such scenes. Adam’s extended monologue about his rampant orgy in Prague is, of course, much easier to relate on stage, as it is essentially a single descriptive speech that is very powerful and vivid.
All in all, I think this is a very actorly play, to the point that its large cast is likely to make or break it, especially the key roles, which call for a daunting level of intimacy and immediacy with the audience. The success of the play at the West End, and its October debut on Broadway, with much of the original UK cast reprising their roles, seems to attest to its success in this regard.
What also struck me while reading this is how unapologetically ‘gay’ the play is. There is a lone female role, Lois Smith as Margaret (Vanessa Redgrave in the West End version). She only appears towards the end, making her something of a stock character, even though she delivers quite a powerful speech.
Another troubling element for me was the inclusion of E.M. Forster as an Omniscient Narrator or Impartial Observer. Much has been made as to how Matthew Lopez based his play on the framework of Howards End, but I honestly feel you could remove all of these references, and probably end up with a much tighter and more hard-hitting play.
I also feel there is nothing really that revolutionary in this play that has not been done in novel form to date. E.M. Forster’s lifelong battle with his gayness is explored with wonderful tenderness in Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut. The generational impact of HIV/Aids has been the subject of novels as recent as The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (2018) and Christodora by Tim Murphy (2016).
Of course, any ‘gay play’ has to contend with the intimidating shadow cast by ‘Angels in America’. In many respects, I think Matthew Lopez represents a particular response, or reaction, to the highly stylised and symbolic approach adopted by Tony Kushner. This is a far messier and cluttered play, swept up in the quotidian details of the numerous domestic dramas of its large cast. (One also cannot imagine Kushner ever putting a word like ‘wanna’ in a character’s mouth, or a phrase like ‘fuck me harder’).
Much like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ on television captured something of the Far Right zeitgeist sweeping the world at present, ‘The Inheritance’ grapples quite directly with the ongoing impact of Trump. There is an astonishing scene where his presidency is described as a malignant form of HIV infecting the American body politic.
Also, what I found interesting is how one of the main (older) characters is a Republican supporter, who ends up having to defend his position (with great reason and vigour, I might add), against the indignation of a bunch of younger characters. Here the dialogue crackles with quiet fury; Lopez balances quite a tightrope in not turning his characters’ viewpoints into soapbox polemic.
What is even more interesting in this debate is Eric (a young, liberalised, radicalised Democrat), and his reasoning for agreeing to marry Henry in the first place. There is no sex between the two, but Henry is quite happy with an open arrangement. All he wants is affection … But we know that human motivations are often more complex and subversive.
If there is one thing that stood out for me from this play is how divided the gay community remains: not only politically, but generationally. There is the ‘older’ generation dealing with the fallout and trauma of the Aids era, and the ‘younger’ generation born thereafter that has its own problems to deal with. (There is another interstitial generation caught in-between; perhaps a glaring omission of ‘The Inheritance’ is its omission of gender and racial issues, but to its credit it has a very specific focus).
Both camps (as it were) are leery and wary of each other on either side of their generational fence. The great question asked by this play is how our community can heal itself, and how the old can learn to trust the young. It is the responsibility of the older generation to teach the young about compassion and intimacy, as forged in the hellfire of the Aids era. The young, on the other hand, can teach everyone else about the joy, freedom, and sheer wonder of being alive. That is a true inheritance not only for the gay community, but for humanity as a whole.
April 13, 2024
Inheriting E.M. Forster
Review of the Faber & Faber paperback (May 17, 2018)
It has now become a regular habit for me to read playscripts in print after seeing live productions on stage. My ratings are therefore strongly influenced by the impact of having the scripts brought to life. This was again the case with The Inheritance, which despite its length, was riveting theatre throughout.
It mostly takes place in New York City in 2015-2018 with an Epilogue jump into the future. A framing device is used whereby 10 writers/playwrights are working in a writer's room where they are being mentored by Morgan (a ghostly incarnation of E.M. Forster). One writer's idea for a plot becomes the rest of the play.
The plot has 10 young men, 2 older men and 1 woman playing multiple roles. The main characters are Eric, Toby and Adam from the young men and Walter and Henry from the older men. Eric and Toby are in a relationship which begins to break apart as Toby's playwrighting career takes off and he becomes distracted by the actor Adam. Walter and Henry are a married couple living in the same apartment building. Eric gradually befriends Walter (in Part 1) and becomes the partner of Henry (in Part 2). The other young men play various friends and other roles throughout. The female part is a caregiver who doesn't appear until the final scenes of Part 2. All the characters are haunted in some manner by their past lives and the loss of friends in the AIDS Epidemic of the 1980s.
I'm barely scratching the surface with that plot summary as there are multiple scenes of drama, love, breakups, conflicts, fights throughout. Despite various tragedies along the way, the ending is uplifting and life-affirming. I was thrilled to experience the entire work in a single day.
Reading the play afterwards, I did note a few differences in the stage production. In Part 1 there is a reference to the "most transcendent and celebrated actor of all time", which in the script is implied to be Meryl Streep. In the Toronto production someone added the question "Glenda Jackson?" I don't know if that was some sort of inside joke. In Part 2 there is somewhat of a joke reference to "Israel and Palestine." That line was dropped entirely, obviously due to the present war.
Reading E.M. Forster (1879-1970) is not necessary to understanding The Inheritance, but knowing something about the novels such as Maurice (written 1913, but posthumously published in 1971) and Howards End (1910) does give helpful background to some plot elements.
The cast of the 2024 Toronto production of "The Inheritance" take their bows at the conclusion of Part 1. The 20+ cameo walk-ons are partially seen towards the back of the photo.
The cast of the 2024 Toronto production of "The Inheritance" take their bows at the conclusion of Part 2.
Trivia and Links
The Canadian Stage program booklet for the March/April 2024 Toronto production is available online (as a pdf file) here. The website for the production is here. These links may not be permanent. There is a teaser video for the Toronto production here.
The Playbill booklet for the 2019/2020 New York City production is still available online (as individual pages in a gallery) here (as of mid-April 2024). This production had to close early due to the COVID pandemic. It still won the 2020 Tony Award for Best Play as well as 3 other Tony Awards. This link may not be permanent.
The website for the World Premiere production in March 2018 at the Young Vic Theatre in London, England is still available here. This link may not be permanent. This production won various UK theatre awards. I could not find the program booklet though. There is a promo video here.
See the Wikipedia page for The Inheritance here. It includes information about several productions in translation such as in German, Brazilian Portuguese and Danish. Only a Spanish translation is currently (as of April 2024) listed in print on Goodreads as La herencia.
Review of the Faber & Faber paperback (May 17, 2018)
Henry: How long is this thing at BAM?
Eric: Four hours.
Henry: My God. That's obscene.
Eric: But there's two intermissions. - This dialogue at about the 3rd hour of Part 1 between two characters about a play at (BAM) Brooklyn Academy of Music got the biggest laugh from the Toronto audience 🤣. The Inheritance stage productions run about 7 hours in 2 Parts with 2 intermissions each.
It has now become a regular habit for me to read playscripts in print after seeing live productions on stage. My ratings are therefore strongly influenced by the impact of having the scripts brought to life. This was again the case with The Inheritance, which despite its length, was riveting theatre throughout.
It mostly takes place in New York City in 2015-2018 with an Epilogue jump into the future. A framing device is used whereby 10 writers/playwrights are working in a writer's room where they are being mentored by Morgan (a ghostly incarnation of E.M. Forster). One writer's idea for a plot becomes the rest of the play.
The plot has 10 young men, 2 older men and 1 woman playing multiple roles. The main characters are Eric, Toby and Adam from the young men and Walter and Henry from the older men. Eric and Toby are in a relationship which begins to break apart as Toby's playwrighting career takes off and he becomes distracted by the actor Adam. Walter and Henry are a married couple living in the same apartment building. Eric gradually befriends Walter (in Part 1) and becomes the partner of Henry (in Part 2). The other young men play various friends and other roles throughout. The female part is a caregiver who doesn't appear until the final scenes of Part 2. All the characters are haunted in some manner by their past lives and the loss of friends in the AIDS Epidemic of the 1980s.
I'm barely scratching the surface with that plot summary as there are multiple scenes of drama, love, breakups, conflicts, fights throughout. Despite various tragedies along the way, the ending is uplifting and life-affirming. I was thrilled to experience the entire work in a single day.
Reading the play afterwards, I did note a few differences in the stage production. In Part 1 there is a reference to the "most transcendent and celebrated actor of all time", which in the script is implied to be Meryl Streep. In the Toronto production someone added the question "Glenda Jackson?" I don't know if that was some sort of inside joke. In Part 2 there is somewhat of a joke reference to "Israel and Palestine." That line was dropped entirely, obviously due to the present war.
Reading E.M. Forster (1879-1970) is not necessary to understanding The Inheritance, but knowing something about the novels such as Maurice (written 1913, but posthumously published in 1971) and Howards End (1910) does give helpful background to some plot elements.
The cast of the 2024 Toronto production of "The Inheritance" take their bows at the conclusion of Part 1. The 20+ cameo walk-ons are partially seen towards the back of the photo.
The cast of the 2024 Toronto production of "The Inheritance" take their bows at the conclusion of Part 2.
Trivia and Links
The Canadian Stage program booklet for the March/April 2024 Toronto production is available online (as a pdf file) here. The website for the production is here. These links may not be permanent. There is a teaser video for the Toronto production here.
The Playbill booklet for the 2019/2020 New York City production is still available online (as individual pages in a gallery) here (as of mid-April 2024). This production had to close early due to the COVID pandemic. It still won the 2020 Tony Award for Best Play as well as 3 other Tony Awards. This link may not be permanent.
The website for the World Premiere production in March 2018 at the Young Vic Theatre in London, England is still available here. This link may not be permanent. This production won various UK theatre awards. I could not find the program booklet though. There is a promo video here.
See the Wikipedia page for The Inheritance here. It includes information about several productions in translation such as in German, Brazilian Portuguese and Danish. Only a Spanish translation is currently (as of April 2024) listed in print on Goodreads as La herencia.
September 30, 2021
Update 9/21:
Since the impetus for my rereading this was that the play and director Daldry both won Tony Awards this week for the US production, I guess the fears articulated in the last line of my original review were for naught! On 2nd reading, the play seems even deeper and more emotionally effective than I remembered, although still clunky in places. Some of the long, LONG monologues would seem trying, plus there is one scene (pp. 260 - 261) that I cannot for the life of me figure out how it was staged - it is between the characters of Adam and Leo, and since BOTH roles are essayed by the same actor, and in the scene one character falls into the other's arms - how does that work?? Anyone who saw either of the productions wanna clue me in?
The other thing I noticed is how shoddily this was copy-edited - shame on Faber & Faber for putting out such an atrocious specimen!
4.5, rounded up.
Touted as the most important gay play since 'Angels in America', which it resembles in both length and complexity - and also in the fact that some sections seem a bit clunky and 'unworkable' on stage. Thankfully, there are few long political or metaphysical diatribes that tend to stop the play cold, as in Kushner's behemoth, but the framing device of Forster leading the story out of the ensemble, and the frequent use of direct address, TELLING the action rather than dramatizing it, are problematic. I've been assured by several reviews that it all PLAYS beautifully, however, so I'll accept those quibbles as minor. Hopefully it will get the first class staging in America that Daldry has evidently provided in its premiere at the Young Vic.
Since the impetus for my rereading this was that the play and director Daldry both won Tony Awards this week for the US production, I guess the fears articulated in the last line of my original review were for naught! On 2nd reading, the play seems even deeper and more emotionally effective than I remembered, although still clunky in places. Some of the long, LONG monologues would seem trying, plus there is one scene (pp. 260 - 261) that I cannot for the life of me figure out how it was staged - it is between the characters of Adam and Leo, and since BOTH roles are essayed by the same actor, and in the scene one character falls into the other's arms - how does that work?? Anyone who saw either of the productions wanna clue me in?
The other thing I noticed is how shoddily this was copy-edited - shame on Faber & Faber for putting out such an atrocious specimen!
4.5, rounded up.
Touted as the most important gay play since 'Angels in America', which it resembles in both length and complexity - and also in the fact that some sections seem a bit clunky and 'unworkable' on stage. Thankfully, there are few long political or metaphysical diatribes that tend to stop the play cold, as in Kushner's behemoth, but the framing device of Forster leading the story out of the ensemble, and the frequent use of direct address, TELLING the action rather than dramatizing it, are problematic. I've been assured by several reviews that it all PLAYS beautifully, however, so I'll accept those quibbles as minor. Hopefully it will get the first class staging in America that Daldry has evidently provided in its premiere at the Young Vic.
May 21, 2018
The more I think about it, and I have thought about it a lot, I realise that The Inheritance is quite possibly the most significant play premiered in my lifetime. I can't think of anything that has sprung from the pen of one person to create such an emotionally overwhelming piece that speaks so specifically to the time that it was premiered in.
It's a two-part, six-act epic, starting as a pretty loose adaptation of Howards End, E.M. Forster himself (or Morgan, as he was known to his intimates) features prominently. But it is far larger than an adaptation; it is a panoramic view of what exactly it means to be alive as a gay man now. What exactly has been inherited from the generations before, what relationships can exist, what responsibilities do we have to each other? It's a very-recent history play that charts the destruction of the soul of a country, and how the disenfranchised and recently-but-not-totally-enfranchised cope when the fabric of their political safety net is suddenly torn, or revealed to have never existed at all.
It centres on the character of Eric Glass, a man who cannot understand that he is remarkable, as he attempts to make his life worth something - whatever that actually means. It is about the people he knows, and the people he loves, and how these lives interact and intersect. "The world is big. Manhattan is small." It is the "more life" that Prior Walter blesses at the end of Angels in America.
The realism of the piece forms and dissolves as the characters wrestle to tell their stories on their own terms - and wonder whether that it possible at all. The characters are so rich and the sheer distance that Lopez manages to cover in these 300 pages is breathtaking. I adore it.
I wrote more here: https://harryrmcdonald.wordpress.com/...
It's a two-part, six-act epic, starting as a pretty loose adaptation of Howards End, E.M. Forster himself (or Morgan, as he was known to his intimates) features prominently. But it is far larger than an adaptation; it is a panoramic view of what exactly it means to be alive as a gay man now. What exactly has been inherited from the generations before, what relationships can exist, what responsibilities do we have to each other? It's a very-recent history play that charts the destruction of the soul of a country, and how the disenfranchised and recently-but-not-totally-enfranchised cope when the fabric of their political safety net is suddenly torn, or revealed to have never existed at all.
It centres on the character of Eric Glass, a man who cannot understand that he is remarkable, as he attempts to make his life worth something - whatever that actually means. It is about the people he knows, and the people he loves, and how these lives interact and intersect. "The world is big. Manhattan is small." It is the "more life" that Prior Walter blesses at the end of Angels in America.
The realism of the piece forms and dissolves as the characters wrestle to tell their stories on their own terms - and wonder whether that it possible at all. The characters are so rich and the sheer distance that Lopez manages to cover in these 300 pages is breathtaking. I adore it.
I wrote more here: https://harryrmcdonald.wordpress.com/...
February 12, 2022
Creo que una de las palabras que mejor definen a la obra de Matthew López es: necesaria. Como hombre gay, a mi nunca me enseñaron a amar a otro hombre ni mucho menos a expresarlo. Tampoco me enseñaron la lucha y lo que tuvieron que vivir mis antepasados, para que yo, en el siglo XXI no me sienta avergonzado ni lleve conmigo un estigma por acostarme con personas de mi mismo sexo. Por muchos años lo que había aprendido de la “vida gay” eran todos aquellos estereotipos negativos que hemos aprendido en nuestras culturas y me costó unos años deshacerme de eso y ver que aquello que temía no existía, que somos personas, que sentimos, pensamos y que, al final, merecemos vivir, que nuestras vidas valen.
Uno de los aspectos que me parecen más importantes es el peso que “La Herencia” le da a la responsabilidad intergeneracional en la comunidad gay y a darle voz a aquellas voces que fueron silenciadas (por un interés perverso), tanto a las víctimas como a todos aquellos sanitarios que le dijeron “no” al estigma y se ocuparon de aquellos chicos y mujeres trans que más lo necesitaban, dándoles un hogar y afecto, por el poco tiempo que fuera.
Me ha conmovido especialmente la vida de Leo y los cuidados de Eric, Walter y Margaret. Me ha repulsado la frialdad de Henry. He admirado la valentía de Jasper y Tristan. Me ha dado mucha pena Toby. He sentido indiferencia hacia los Jasons. En fin, una montaña rusa de emociones con cada una de las historias que nos entrega esta obra de teatro.
Uno de los aspectos que me parecen más importantes es el peso que “La Herencia” le da a la responsabilidad intergeneracional en la comunidad gay y a darle voz a aquellas voces que fueron silenciadas (por un interés perverso), tanto a las víctimas como a todos aquellos sanitarios que le dijeron “no” al estigma y se ocuparon de aquellos chicos y mujeres trans que más lo necesitaban, dándoles un hogar y afecto, por el poco tiempo que fuera.
Me ha conmovido especialmente la vida de Leo y los cuidados de Eric, Walter y Margaret. Me ha repulsado la frialdad de Henry. He admirado la valentía de Jasper y Tristan. Me ha dado mucha pena Toby. He sentido indiferencia hacia los Jasons. En fin, una montaña rusa de emociones con cada una de las historias que nos entrega esta obra de teatro.
September 30, 2025
For my fourth time revisiting this play, I opted to listen to a full cast version. This allowed me to once again experience the play in a new way, second only I would imagine to seeing it performed live.
Each time I revisit this work, I am struck down with emotion. The amount of care, and reverence that has gone into creating the words and dialogue of this play is profound. There are so many different themes explored, and none of them, given any less care then the other. Friendship, Love, community, loss, trauma, legacy, and the list goes on.
I think, without doubt, this is some of the finest queer art that has ever been written. I would love nothing more, than to witness this play live, and experience it in a whole new and impactful way.
Each time I revisit this work, I am struck down with emotion. The amount of care, and reverence that has gone into creating the words and dialogue of this play is profound. There are so many different themes explored, and none of them, given any less care then the other. Friendship, Love, community, loss, trauma, legacy, and the list goes on.
I think, without doubt, this is some of the finest queer art that has ever been written. I would love nothing more, than to witness this play live, and experience it in a whole new and impactful way.
February 20, 2022
Loved it! More like a 4.5 and I am pretty much devastated now.
August 16, 2021
“La herencia” es de lo mejor sobre vidas de hombres maricas y VIH que he leído hasta ahora. Me ha emocionado en cada página. No tengo ninguna duda de que será un clásico para nuestra generación, como en su día lo fue “Angels in America”. Es su digna sucesora y a la vez es una obra de teatro que dialoga con “Salón de belleza”, “How to survive a plague”, “120 pulsaciones por minuto” o “The normal heart”. Pero lo importante es que “La herencia” trasciende por sí sola. Es una joya de esas que jamás abandonará la estantería ni la memoria.
Es una llamada a la memoria colectiva para que no olvidemos la pandemia del sida que nos mató, cómo lucharon para seguir vivos y cómo murieron en el más absoluto silencio mientras gobiernos y ciudadanía giraban la cara. Una conversación entre diferentes generaciones de maricas y homosexuales sobre cómo avanzar y, sobre todo, sobre cómo cuidarnos los unos a los otros. Una crítica sobre la falta de políticas para combatir el VIH (“EE.UU. tiene sida”) y también un repaso a las heridas que arrastramos como maricas, la necesidad de superar la comodidad actual y el impacto de avances como la medicación antirretroviral y la PrEP.
Una incisión sobre por qué buscamos amor y aceptación, y sobre cómo reparamos la soledad y el rechazo que sufrimos desde pequeños. Un recordatorio de por qué necesitamos referentes y cómo escarbamos hasta buscarlos. Una llamada de atención sobre cómo usamos el sexo para validarnos y cómo construimos una apariencia perfecta para tapar el dolor.
Me he quedado atrapado en las vidas de Eric, Toby, Leo, Walter y los demás porque lo que ellos sienten también lo he sentido y lo que ellos se preguntan aún me lo pregunto. Un grupo de amigos muy bien construido con unas temáticas perfectamente entretejidas. Sin clichés, ni atropellamientos. Aquí hay un trozo de nosotros. Es simplemente magnífica. Un libro que me gustaría escribir.
“A muchos de nosotros no nos han dado nunca un ejemplo sano de lo que significa ser homosexual”, escribe Matthew López. Y es verdad, pero con obras como esta estamos construyendo nuestros propios ejemplos. Los que vienen le darán las gracias.
Es una llamada a la memoria colectiva para que no olvidemos la pandemia del sida que nos mató, cómo lucharon para seguir vivos y cómo murieron en el más absoluto silencio mientras gobiernos y ciudadanía giraban la cara. Una conversación entre diferentes generaciones de maricas y homosexuales sobre cómo avanzar y, sobre todo, sobre cómo cuidarnos los unos a los otros. Una crítica sobre la falta de políticas para combatir el VIH (“EE.UU. tiene sida”) y también un repaso a las heridas que arrastramos como maricas, la necesidad de superar la comodidad actual y el impacto de avances como la medicación antirretroviral y la PrEP.
Una incisión sobre por qué buscamos amor y aceptación, y sobre cómo reparamos la soledad y el rechazo que sufrimos desde pequeños. Un recordatorio de por qué necesitamos referentes y cómo escarbamos hasta buscarlos. Una llamada de atención sobre cómo usamos el sexo para validarnos y cómo construimos una apariencia perfecta para tapar el dolor.
Me he quedado atrapado en las vidas de Eric, Toby, Leo, Walter y los demás porque lo que ellos sienten también lo he sentido y lo que ellos se preguntan aún me lo pregunto. Un grupo de amigos muy bien construido con unas temáticas perfectamente entretejidas. Sin clichés, ni atropellamientos. Aquí hay un trozo de nosotros. Es simplemente magnífica. Un libro que me gustaría escribir.
“A muchos de nosotros no nos han dado nunca un ejemplo sano de lo que significa ser homosexual”, escribe Matthew López. Y es verdad, pero con obras como esta estamos construyendo nuestros propios ejemplos. Los que vienen le darán las gracias.
June 23, 2020
Why is everyone obsessed with this? Yet again, like most gay literature (even though this is a play), it covers the same themes and the same kinds of characters (including my least favorite, the Doomed Queen, coined by Andrew Holleran from DANCER FROM THE DANCE, which is basically a young, attractive man who is so sad because people only want to have sex with him, not love him, because isn't it just so hard to be beautiful?) THE INHERITANCE beats you over the head with these tropes. Also, it asks you to sympathize with Toby, a character who is just objectively horrendous. There were a few sections that approached something moving - a few conversations about the clash between older generations of gay men and younger ones, as well as a truly moving scene of gay men confronting the literal ghosts of AIDS victims - but overall, THE INHERITANCE left me wanting so much more than it was. It is not the Next Great Gay Story (or whatever they're calling it).
July 25, 2021
This started a bit slowly, not only that, I initially found it a bit shallow but then it's one blow after another and very deep and it made me really think about queerness and how we really have been missing out on representation, which makes me even more glad I'm on an LGBTQI+ reading spree.
May 21, 2018
Saw the play, fell in love with it.
Read the book, fell deeper in love. One of the best stories ever
Read the book, fell deeper in love. One of the best stories ever
February 9, 2025
Una obra para no olvidar lo afortunados que somos gracias a la herencia de aquellos que se fueron en los 80 y 90, tantos y tan pronto.
May 27, 2020
Finally, in that moment, Henry saw it all. The past, the present, and the future all at once, all in concert, all around him.”
In 2018, The Inheritance opened in London to rave reviews. The Evening Standard said, “Stop the clocks; the race is won. Here is the play of this year and last year and quite possibly next year as well. This is a work of rare grace, truth, and beauty.” The Daily Telegraph exclaimed, “The most important American play of the century.”
In 2019, the play opened on Broadway and died a quick death. In February 2020, the announcement was made that the play would close on March 15 after only 138 regular performances. However, it closed on March 12 when another virus closed the theaters.
Performed over the course of two nights, at three hours a night, it is a play that takes a time commitment.
Written about a plague that decimated an entire generation of gay men in the 1980s and 90s, and whose response continues to affect today’s generation, The Inheritance is a play that takes some knowledge of recent history, empathy, and an emotional commitment.
Eric: Many gay men died.
Leo: Why did they die?
Margaret: I suppose it’s because these men’s illness required that Americans think about the means by which they contracted it. It required that we look at gay men and accept their nature, accept their affection and their desire for one another as equal to our own. Most people couldn’t do that. And so, in our discomfort, we let them die.
Written about class and political divide, the play requires us to live with our discomfort and look deeply at problems that could destroy the United States.
However, The Inheritance is also a play about seeking refuge, shelter, healing, and love. It is ultimately hopeful that we can remember our responsibility to give shelter and provide a place for healing. In this way, the play is quite spiritual.
Inspired by E. M. Forster’s 1910 novel, Howard’s End, The Inheritance follows three generations of gay men in New York and asks, “What was the responsibility between gay men from one generation to another?”
Though the play is about gay men, it is a play that asks each of us to consider what is our responsibility to other people, even those we might want to reject out of fear or hatred? Perhaps The Inheritance was too much for America to face.
This is a moving play, one deserving of multiple readings. It is unfortunate that it is no longer on a stage for viewing.
Henry: What do I do now, Walter? Tell me what to do.
Walter: You do what they could not. You live!
April 12, 2020
Beautiful from beginning to end. Full of meaning and life. A play that can be read very easily as the lines in it are very descriptive. It’s a call to appreciate and be thankful for all the privileges the LGBTIQ community has thanks to fights fought by our community in the past; but mainly is a wake up call to keep fighting for what we still need to conquer and, especially, to live life at its fullest.
October 11, 2021
Los maricones somos un pueblo sin historia porque hemos vivido en las sombras y toda una generación desaprecio mientras el mundo miraba para otro lado. Es importantísimo que trasmitamos nuestras tradiciones, que conozcamos nuestro pasado, la crisis del SIDA y quien somos ahora por esa marca. Esta obra de teatro se tendría que estudiar en las escuelas.
May 5, 2025
No hauria dit mai que li posaria 5 estrelles a una obra de teatre.
Vaig comprar el llibre per Sant Jordi. Havia sentit una ressenya engrescadora a la tele arran de l'estrena de la representació al Teatre Lliure. Em vaig decidir a comprar-lo per variar una mica del gènere de la novel·la. I he de dir que estic molt content d'haver-ho fet. És una història molt ben muntada i ben escrita. I molt potent.
Pensava, durant la primera part de l'obra, que li posaria quatre estrelles, però la trama s'ha coronat en la segona meitat. Ara només falta anar a veure la representació teatral.
Vaig comprar el llibre per Sant Jordi. Havia sentit una ressenya engrescadora a la tele arran de l'estrena de la representació al Teatre Lliure. Em vaig decidir a comprar-lo per variar una mica del gènere de la novel·la. I he de dir que estic molt content d'haver-ho fet. És una història molt ben muntada i ben escrita. I molt potent.
Pensava, durant la primera part de l'obra, que li posaria quatre estrelles, però la trama s'ha coronat en la segona meitat. Ara només falta anar a veure la representació teatral.
August 24, 2023
God this really hit me. I’m not kidding that last scene of part ii act 3 had me crying a bit. Everyone describing this as the spiritual successor to Angels in America was right. The themes of inheriting trauma and roles from our elders were executed so well I could write a paper on it. This is a show that I would love to see live because I could feel the life this script had. If you’ve never read a play script before, I don’t know if I’d recommend this as a first read cause it’s got a lot going on. However, for folks more familiar with this medium you need to pick this up asap!
September 23, 2019
It was . . . okay. As a theatre director, I would like to see this staged, because sections of it --- vast sections of it --- seem as though it would be impossible to realize the author's vision. The comparison to the musical Titanic is the easiest shorthand I can think of to explain it. But even in Titanic's original (and technically troubled) staging, there were hints as to the majesty of the ship.
The second flaw is deeper. The play is a gloss on Forster's novel Howard's End, and much like Tom Stoppard's look at A.E. Houseman, the author himself shows up as an extra-curricular character. In The Invention of Love, old A.E. tries to listen to his younger self and in The Inheritance Forster encourages the mob of young gay men to . . . connect to their past? Not the distant past, but that of the plague decades. Which they do, sort of, but more in a tribute to old movie plots. There are three or four main characters: Toby, Eric, Leo and Henry in particular, and just like in The Best of Everything we get to follow them through some Very Important Moments until Lopez sorts everyone out by the end. The characters are only fitfully interesting, but when they are, when Lopez stops describing how they feel and lets them demonstrate it through actual damn dialogue, it is quite engrossing. Not in the way that Angels in America is --- and that play hovers over The Inheritance so much Kushner should get a partial royalty --- but more in the "I wonder what is going to happen to these characters next" manner of entertainment. And there are several plot devices that up the ante in that regard. Most of them skate perilously close to the conventions of a soap opera. New York is a small town. Not that small, however.
At the end of the second play, about 300 pages in, a new character enters the story. She has a monologue that lasts a few pages (fair warning, that happens more than once in these plays) and I was puzzled by her. She is the only woman in the play. The speech itself is competently written, which is to say that it could have been mawkish and it isn't. The character ties up the entire play cycle with a neat bow. All I could think of was Edith Evans' explanation as to why she never played Lady Macbeth. "Well, ducky, when I go to the theatre I like to get on with it, and she doesn't come on for 45 minutes!" It takes a lot more than that to get to Margaret. And who played her in the West End? Vanessa bloody Redgrave. That couldn't have hurt the denouement.
This review is probably crabbier than it should be. The Inheritance is so desperate to be admired that it feels like kicking a puppy. Don't get me wrong. I would like to see it fully realized, as plays are in fact meant to be experienced. I have friends who sat through the Harry Potter play and loved it because of the pyro and special effects. The play itself was kind of a bore to read. So perhaps The Inheritance is Harry Potter for grownups?
The second flaw is deeper. The play is a gloss on Forster's novel Howard's End, and much like Tom Stoppard's look at A.E. Houseman, the author himself shows up as an extra-curricular character. In The Invention of Love, old A.E. tries to listen to his younger self and in The Inheritance Forster encourages the mob of young gay men to . . . connect to their past? Not the distant past, but that of the plague decades. Which they do, sort of, but more in a tribute to old movie plots. There are three or four main characters: Toby, Eric, Leo and Henry in particular, and just like in The Best of Everything we get to follow them through some Very Important Moments until Lopez sorts everyone out by the end. The characters are only fitfully interesting, but when they are, when Lopez stops describing how they feel and lets them demonstrate it through actual damn dialogue, it is quite engrossing. Not in the way that Angels in America is --- and that play hovers over The Inheritance so much Kushner should get a partial royalty --- but more in the "I wonder what is going to happen to these characters next" manner of entertainment. And there are several plot devices that up the ante in that regard. Most of them skate perilously close to the conventions of a soap opera. New York is a small town. Not that small, however.
At the end of the second play, about 300 pages in, a new character enters the story. She has a monologue that lasts a few pages (fair warning, that happens more than once in these plays) and I was puzzled by her. She is the only woman in the play. The speech itself is competently written, which is to say that it could have been mawkish and it isn't. The character ties up the entire play cycle with a neat bow. All I could think of was Edith Evans' explanation as to why she never played Lady Macbeth. "Well, ducky, when I go to the theatre I like to get on with it, and she doesn't come on for 45 minutes!" It takes a lot more than that to get to Margaret. And who played her in the West End? Vanessa bloody Redgrave. That couldn't have hurt the denouement.
This review is probably crabbier than it should be. The Inheritance is so desperate to be admired that it feels like kicking a puppy. Don't get me wrong. I would like to see it fully realized, as plays are in fact meant to be experienced. I have friends who sat through the Harry Potter play and loved it because of the pyro and special effects. The play itself was kind of a bore to read. So perhaps The Inheritance is Harry Potter for grownups?
February 20, 2022
Parece fácil amar, pero qué complicado nos resulta a los que tenemos o hemos tenido heridas por nuestra orientación sexual y todo lo que supone. El colectivo gay siempre ha estado estigmatizado, y la aparición del VIH en los años 80 aumentó las toneladas de odio que ha recibido.
En 'La herencia' se habla de amar, de ser amado, de sanar y se ser sanado. De herir, de ser herido y de lamernos las heridas. De intentar ser igual generando más desigualdad, egoísmo vital encarnado por la figura de Henry. En contraposición, están dos de sus amores: Walter y su sucesor: el dulce Eric. Un tipo empático, lleno de cariño, que contrasta con Toby, animal dañado, lleno de rabia aparentemente, pero con una tremenda capa de ternura escondida.
Texto necesario, con el don que pocos libros poseen: remueve por dentro, molesta, cuestiona. Libro incómodo, lleno de emociones.
En 'La herencia' se habla de amar, de ser amado, de sanar y se ser sanado. De herir, de ser herido y de lamernos las heridas. De intentar ser igual generando más desigualdad, egoísmo vital encarnado por la figura de Henry. En contraposición, están dos de sus amores: Walter y su sucesor: el dulce Eric. Un tipo empático, lleno de cariño, que contrasta con Toby, animal dañado, lleno de rabia aparentemente, pero con una tremenda capa de ternura escondida.
Texto necesario, con el don que pocos libros poseen: remueve por dentro, molesta, cuestiona. Libro incómodo, lleno de emociones.
November 14, 2021
La dramaturgia de López es directa y clara, sin añadir excesivas florituras, lo que aporta agilidad a una obra extensa y compleja. Emotiva y actual, no teme abordar una realidad en multitud de ocasiones ocultada y lo hace con crudeza y mimo a la vez.
August 31, 2018
Seeing The Inheritance at the Young Vic left me in tears at least once per act, and reading it remains a soulful and deeply affecting experience (yes, there were tears again). Lopez's command of language is immediately obvious, but seeing the text on paper demonstrates just what a clockwork masterpiece it is. The play is written as though being semi-improvised by an ensemble of players, and as such is filled characters named "Young Man 1", "Young Man 2", who then take on named roles or bit parts as needed, playing younger versions of other characters, or sometimes breaking character entirely to comment on the story that they are creating. It's deft in performance, but on the page it's clear just how much craft this script demanded.
Few things have talked about the human condition so eloquently or made me feel so deeply. Lopez's central theme is the lost "inheritance" of the gay community. The loss felt when a generation of young gay men died during the AIDS epidemic. Without those men, the next generation--the enfranchised generation that has so benefitted from the revolution of others--lost wisdom and love and experience from which they could, and should, have learned. What results is a poignant play of love, loss and gay identity.
I will read it again, just as soon as I've dried my eyes.
Few things have talked about the human condition so eloquently or made me feel so deeply. Lopez's central theme is the lost "inheritance" of the gay community. The loss felt when a generation of young gay men died during the AIDS epidemic. Without those men, the next generation--the enfranchised generation that has so benefitted from the revolution of others--lost wisdom and love and experience from which they could, and should, have learned. What results is a poignant play of love, loss and gay identity.
I will read it again, just as soon as I've dried my eyes.
November 21, 2020
Young Man 1 There’s still so much you haven’t told us. There’s still so much we don’t know.
Morgan You have everything you need. Trust in that. Trust in yourselves.
Oh, my lads, how I do love you. You have allowed me to see...what I could not live. What a gift! I think your lives are beautiful. And I know at what cost they have come. Tell your story bravely. It is a story worth telling. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. (Re: Toby) Take care of him especially.
I am certain we shall find each other again, by and by.
Morgan You have everything you need. Trust in that. Trust in yourselves.
Oh, my lads, how I do love you. You have allowed me to see...what I could not live. What a gift! I think your lives are beautiful. And I know at what cost they have come. Tell your story bravely. It is a story worth telling. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. (Re: Toby) Take care of him especially.
I am certain we shall find each other again, by and by.
February 10, 2020
So much drama! Of course, drama is the core of drama but how it's applied is a whole other matter.
This breakthrough work in the career of playwright Matthew Lopez (author of 4 previous plays of some note) has such potential, and hits its marks so often, that it becomes frustrating when the play goes off the rails (as it periodically does). Hailed as this generation's 'Angels in America', it is every bit as long as Kushner's 'fantasia' and just about - in its own way - as given to excess (though with only one storyline, as opposed to Kushner's multi-platform, Lopez is working with a less ambitious narrative). However, though it can be more entertaining and less depressing than 'Angels', it's a less satisfying play.
And, again, that is a shame - because it's so often a play that you want to root for.
Inspired by E.M. Forster's 'Howards End', 'The Inheritance' relies heavily on the Forster novel as a conceit. It's essentially the exact same story in modern-day- only (with the exception of one female near its conclusion) with a cast comprised (almost completely) of gay characters, with actors doing double and triple-duty on peripheral roles. Certain scenes afford flourishes that allow the story to deviate from its source (and also allow Lopez to explore some of his own concerns re: contemporary gay life) but there are times when the play feels a little-too-tied (in a paint-by-number fashion) to its inspiration. At times, it seems like 'The Inheritance' can't breathe on its own (or that a way wasn't found to re-fashion with a fresh vision).
Forster wasn't Lopez's only mentor. His play is informed not only by 'Angels' but also by the spirit of a few other significant works: McNally's 'Love! Valour! Compassion!', Kramer's 'Faggots', Rudnick's 'Jeffrey' and Tolins' 'The Last Sunday in June' come to mind. It's refreshing seeing how Lopez distills those influences to create something new and personal. But it's a bit less so when his tale also takes him (esp. in Part Two) to some of the melodramatic territory well traveled by Jacqueline Susann. It's unfortunate when the main characters suffer from facile development (most of which could have been salvaged by smart commentary).
A major calling card here is Lopez's humor (esp. in Part One). There are many funny (and smart) lines throughout, i.e. -
Walter: Why not for you, Jasper?
Jasper: Children are dirty, diseased bloodsuckers who get their grubby little fingers all over your expensive furniture. They drain you of your vitality, rob you of your sleep, age you prematurely, and then resent you for it on their therapist's couch, which you have to pay for.
Walter: Well, as long as you've given it some thought.
(Walter, by the way, is one of the play's best - and most compassionate - characters. When he dies in Part One, it's a real loss to the play. ...Another of my favorite lines goes to Jasper: "The Constitution starts with 'We the people', not 'We the people who have good accountants.'")
Part One is easily the stronger and more engaging part of the two-part (approx. 7-hour) play. It brings out some terrific observations about contemporary gay life - and even the political scene we are all now entrenched in (I can't thank Lopez enough for not mentioning '45' by name - not even as '45').
But, darn, I wanted - needed! - this play - to reach a fuller realization. Its London production (apparently it's now headed to Broadway) received almost-across-the-board raves - with 'The Hollywood Reporter' being a rare exception that offered up some proper critical analysis. In the actual play, one of the main characters (Toby) is a writer who adapts a successful novel for the stage. The adaptation is met with raves for its star and director but its author is given curt treatment. That didn't happen with the London production of 'The Inheritance' - its cast, director *and* author all received high marks. Still... on the page, the play is somewhat undone by not aiming higher - esp. in not aiming for a higher truth.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rev...
This breakthrough work in the career of playwright Matthew Lopez (author of 4 previous plays of some note) has such potential, and hits its marks so often, that it becomes frustrating when the play goes off the rails (as it periodically does). Hailed as this generation's 'Angels in America', it is every bit as long as Kushner's 'fantasia' and just about - in its own way - as given to excess (though with only one storyline, as opposed to Kushner's multi-platform, Lopez is working with a less ambitious narrative). However, though it can be more entertaining and less depressing than 'Angels', it's a less satisfying play.
And, again, that is a shame - because it's so often a play that you want to root for.
Inspired by E.M. Forster's 'Howards End', 'The Inheritance' relies heavily on the Forster novel as a conceit. It's essentially the exact same story in modern-day- only (with the exception of one female near its conclusion) with a cast comprised (almost completely) of gay characters, with actors doing double and triple-duty on peripheral roles. Certain scenes afford flourishes that allow the story to deviate from its source (and also allow Lopez to explore some of his own concerns re: contemporary gay life) but there are times when the play feels a little-too-tied (in a paint-by-number fashion) to its inspiration. At times, it seems like 'The Inheritance' can't breathe on its own (or that a way wasn't found to re-fashion with a fresh vision).
Forster wasn't Lopez's only mentor. His play is informed not only by 'Angels' but also by the spirit of a few other significant works: McNally's 'Love! Valour! Compassion!', Kramer's 'Faggots', Rudnick's 'Jeffrey' and Tolins' 'The Last Sunday in June' come to mind. It's refreshing seeing how Lopez distills those influences to create something new and personal. But it's a bit less so when his tale also takes him (esp. in Part Two) to some of the melodramatic territory well traveled by Jacqueline Susann. It's unfortunate when the main characters suffer from facile development (most of which could have been salvaged by smart commentary).
A major calling card here is Lopez's humor (esp. in Part One). There are many funny (and smart) lines throughout, i.e. -
Walter: Why not for you, Jasper?
Jasper: Children are dirty, diseased bloodsuckers who get their grubby little fingers all over your expensive furniture. They drain you of your vitality, rob you of your sleep, age you prematurely, and then resent you for it on their therapist's couch, which you have to pay for.
Walter: Well, as long as you've given it some thought.
(Walter, by the way, is one of the play's best - and most compassionate - characters. When he dies in Part One, it's a real loss to the play. ...Another of my favorite lines goes to Jasper: "The Constitution starts with 'We the people', not 'We the people who have good accountants.'")
Part One is easily the stronger and more engaging part of the two-part (approx. 7-hour) play. It brings out some terrific observations about contemporary gay life - and even the political scene we are all now entrenched in (I can't thank Lopez enough for not mentioning '45' by name - not even as '45').
But, darn, I wanted - needed! - this play - to reach a fuller realization. Its London production (apparently it's now headed to Broadway) received almost-across-the-board raves - with 'The Hollywood Reporter' being a rare exception that offered up some proper critical analysis. In the actual play, one of the main characters (Toby) is a writer who adapts a successful novel for the stage. The adaptation is met with raves for its star and director but its author is given curt treatment. That didn't happen with the London production of 'The Inheritance' - its cast, director *and* author all received high marks. Still... on the page, the play is somewhat undone by not aiming higher - esp. in not aiming for a higher truth.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rev...
March 2, 2020
Γελασα, έκλαψα, θύμωσα, προβληματίστηκα, συγκινήθηκα, ταράχτηκα, σκέφτηκα, εμπνεύστηκα, όλα τα έπαθα με αυτό το συγκλονιστικό θεατρικό έργο. Τι κρίμα που δεν μπορώ να το φανταστώ να ανεβαίνει στην Ελλάδα όπως θα του άξιζε εξαιτίας της αποκλειστικά γκέι θεματολογίας αλλά και επειδή περιγράφει μια νεουρκεζικη πραγματικότητα που βρίσκεται τόσο μακριά από την αθηναϊκή
May 22, 2019
I had to take a few days between reading the first half and the second, and I can't begin to track the threads of introspection this work has snagged in me. For a late-middle-aged queer who lost a partner and dozens of friends to AIDS in what I think of as The Burning Years, this play is a gut punch. I was trying to talk about the huge loss, and how it still reverberates, with a young gay man who simply could not see how AIDS could feel relevant to queers in today's America (i.e., in the age of PREP). But it *happened*, I wanted to scream. The necessity for compassion and connection, impulses which guided some of us through the plague years while others selfishly and self-protectively isolated themselves from the infected; the loneliness and self-loathing some of us suffered; the threat of erasure of our history; the wrenching, constant dread of watching our country unravel a little more each day since the November 2016 elections--it's all here, and there's so much more. This is an incredible work of art.
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