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Going to St. Ives - Acting Edition
This compelling drama tells the story of the dignified mother of a ruthless Central African dictator who travels to England seeking surgery for her failing eyes by an eminent ophthalmologist. But her real motive triggers a profound moral dilemma and a bloody chain reaction of events with personal and political reverberations.. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Caroline Goodall and L. Scott Caldwell.
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 13, 2022
What would you do if your son was a monster, a dictator of an "empire" who murdered hundreds of thousands of his countrymen? That's one of the central questions in Lee Blessing's compelling play Going to St. Ives. And lest you think, well, very few of us are going to ever have to face such a monumental dilemma--think again: Blessing indicts every one of us for that son's crimes, very convincingly.
May N'Kame is willful, self-reliant, smart, shrewd, and articulate. She has glaucoma, and her son--emperor of an unnamed country in central Africa--has sent her to England to have laser surgery, performed by Dr. Cora Gage, the pre-eminent practitioner in this field. On the day before the surgery, Mme. N'Kame and Dr. Gage meet uneasily over tea at the latter's home in St. Ives, a rural community outside Cambridge. They talk about their pasts and, specifically, their sons. The doctor's is dead, the result of a terrible accident for which she still blames herself. Mme. M'Kame's is of course still very much alive, having his despotic way, unchecked by a world that doesn't seem too concerned about who he butchers, as long as they're his own people. Dr. Gage wants Mme. M'Kame to persuade her son to commute the death sentences of four prominent physicians who refused to carry out his orders. Mme. M'Kame is willing to grant this favor--if the doctor will grant a genuinely uncommon one in return.
These women are remarkable creations; Blessing shows us that one whose only reason for being is predicated on saving lives and that another whose only child seems bent on destroying as many lives as he can, have, in the final analysis, almost everything in common. He also confronts us with an ugly and important truth: that every person, safe and comfortable in a relatively affluent nation like Great Britain or the United States, who fails to heed to calls for help coming from the less fortunate--in our own hemisphere or in another one--is culpable for every life lost there. Whether we stand by and let foreign tyrants commit genocide or merely under-fund emergency services in inner cities, we're responsible. Going to St. Ives is about two disparate women trying to own up to their responsibilities; to make some kind of difference in a seemingly indifferent world.
Now, I've perhaps made Going to St. Ives sound woefully polemical, which is neither fair nor accurate. What it is, mostly, is a splendidly vivid clash between these two magnetic, strong personalities. Blessing's play has its weaknesses: there are places where the dialogue sounds more writerly than it should (particularly when May quotes from a poem in the middle of one of her sentences), and the attempts to draw perfect parallels between the lives and values of the two characters occasionally feel forced. Allusions to the poem from which he drew his play's title and the use of Blue Willow china as an important symbol also falter. Nevertheless, Going to St. Ives is not only an enormously watchable play, it's an important one, that makes us take a hard look at some issues we'd rather complacently ignore. Ignorance may be bliss, but compassion is one of the things that makes us human--we need to be reminded of our duty to all who dwell on this planet with us. Here's a powerful, involving drama that does just that.
May N'Kame is willful, self-reliant, smart, shrewd, and articulate. She has glaucoma, and her son--emperor of an unnamed country in central Africa--has sent her to England to have laser surgery, performed by Dr. Cora Gage, the pre-eminent practitioner in this field. On the day before the surgery, Mme. N'Kame and Dr. Gage meet uneasily over tea at the latter's home in St. Ives, a rural community outside Cambridge. They talk about their pasts and, specifically, their sons. The doctor's is dead, the result of a terrible accident for which she still blames herself. Mme. M'Kame's is of course still very much alive, having his despotic way, unchecked by a world that doesn't seem too concerned about who he butchers, as long as they're his own people. Dr. Gage wants Mme. M'Kame to persuade her son to commute the death sentences of four prominent physicians who refused to carry out his orders. Mme. M'Kame is willing to grant this favor--if the doctor will grant a genuinely uncommon one in return.
These women are remarkable creations; Blessing shows us that one whose only reason for being is predicated on saving lives and that another whose only child seems bent on destroying as many lives as he can, have, in the final analysis, almost everything in common. He also confronts us with an ugly and important truth: that every person, safe and comfortable in a relatively affluent nation like Great Britain or the United States, who fails to heed to calls for help coming from the less fortunate--in our own hemisphere or in another one--is culpable for every life lost there. Whether we stand by and let foreign tyrants commit genocide or merely under-fund emergency services in inner cities, we're responsible. Going to St. Ives is about two disparate women trying to own up to their responsibilities; to make some kind of difference in a seemingly indifferent world.
Now, I've perhaps made Going to St. Ives sound woefully polemical, which is neither fair nor accurate. What it is, mostly, is a splendidly vivid clash between these two magnetic, strong personalities. Blessing's play has its weaknesses: there are places where the dialogue sounds more writerly than it should (particularly when May quotes from a poem in the middle of one of her sentences), and the attempts to draw perfect parallels between the lives and values of the two characters occasionally feel forced. Allusions to the poem from which he drew his play's title and the use of Blue Willow china as an important symbol also falter. Nevertheless, Going to St. Ives is not only an enormously watchable play, it's an important one, that makes us take a hard look at some issues we'd rather complacently ignore. Ignorance may be bliss, but compassion is one of the things that makes us human--we need to be reminded of our duty to all who dwell on this planet with us. Here's a powerful, involving drama that does just that.
August 21, 2018
Highly recommend. I listened to audiobook version by LA Theatre Works -- superb! The two actresses were amazing. It's a very intense play. The first act is just layer after layer of character. The second act is a bit different - it's the aftermath, what character drives someone to do when they've gone to extremes (both women).
I really wanted to have someone to talk about this play with, after I was finished listening, but I had listened to it alone. I strongly recommend listening with a friend so you can talk about all the choices.
Did anyone else spend the second act wondering about that tea? I could not stop worrying.
I really wanted to have someone to talk about this play with, after I was finished listening, but I had listened to it alone. I strongly recommend listening with a friend so you can talk about all the choices.
Did anyone else spend the second act wondering about that tea? I could not stop worrying.
March 28, 2018
Two different mothers and how their love is tested - one by the murder of her young son due to gun violence and one by the murder of her son in order to free the world of a brutal dictator. They initially come together in St. Ives, England, for a medical emergency requiring eye surgery.
December 29, 2022
Doesn’t really satisfy…
October 8, 2025
Listened on Audible
July 30, 2011
Saw this play at Oak Grove Theater and was very touched by it. So I listened to the audio version of it again.
Story of a mother of a brutal tyrant of a small African country and her desire to kill her son to stop the killing in the land and her conflict of loving her child.
Story of a mother of a brutal tyrant of a small African country and her desire to kill her son to stop the killing in the land and her conflict of loving her child.
January 1, 2013
A very interesting play, like "A Walk in the Woods," the first Blessing play I read. There are points where I felt that I could notice an author's hand directing things to be a little "just so" but I forgive it that because it tackles such broad issues with grace. A quick read, and worth the time.
December 27, 2021
Great play.
June 19, 2014
I liked this play, but I really wanted to see the mother/dictator's last days played out, rather
than this Shakespearean reportage thereof
than this Shakespearean reportage thereof
December 29, 2009
Fascinating turn of things in a short book. Well done.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews