'Dentity Crisis

by Christopher Durang

Recovering from a nervous breakdown, Jane is nursed and nagged by her relentlessly cheerful mother, and confused by her oversexed brother—who keeps changing into her father, her grandfather and her mother’s French lover. Eventually all (including Jane’s psychiatrist, who undergoes a sex change operation and swaps places with his wife) change characters again and become Jane herself—leaving her with no identity at all and pointing up the near impossibility of self-identification in our uncertain times.

Genres: Plays

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Julian Munds · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the problem that Durang has in his art is not knowing what it wants to be. Is it a work of absurdity or is it a comedic sketch. The Theatre of the Absurd comes out of the horrors of depredation and destruction of World War Two. That's why it can be bitingly funny and horrifying at the same time. But Durang's work here is funny, yes, but without depth. It could be because Durang, being of the American tradition, is still too firmly in placed in Realism. And realism distracts from the goal of this type of work. There's glimmers of powerful things in this play but it dissolves into fireworks of ideas that go nowhere although they also exist to create impact. It's a confused play that would be better left in the desk rather than be performed today.