Middletown

by Will Eno

"Will Eno is an original, a maverick wordsmith whose weird, wry dramas gurgle with the grim humor and pain of life."—Guardian

As a friendship develops between longtime resident John Dodge and new arrival Mary Swanson, the lives of the inhabitants of Middletown intersect in strange and poignant ways in a journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and points between. Will Eno has been called "a Samuel Beckett for the John Stewart generation" (New York Times); Middletown features a wide array of characters—Cop, Mechanic, Librarian, to name just a few—who together populate the play with his trademark subversive style.


Will Eno is the author of Thom Pain (based on nothing), which ran for a year Off-Broadway and was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Other works include Oh, the Humanity and other good intentions, The Flu Season, Tragedy: a tragedy, and Intermission.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Contemporary, Read For School

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jess Esa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Irredeemable self-important bro lit, but a play.

[Rae Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know how sometimes you think something or feel something or are just going about your day and then you secretly think to yourself "Wow, I bet I'm the only person in the whole world who thinks like this, and feels like this, and experiences things like this, and I bet nobody else ever has known what it's like to be me and to think and feel and experience in this way that I think and feel and experience - there's no way that this is the normal way of being human, the normal way of thinking and feeling and experiencing, because if it is then why does it feel like this and why does nobody else seem like they feel this way all the time?" And it's sad and a little shameful and a lot lonely, and you're struck by a deep sense of being Out Of The Ordinary, but then you push it back down and tell yourself to Soldier On because even if something about your insides is wrong (and surely something must be) it doesn't matter and there's nothing you can do? And then you get to feel a little proud of yourself that you're bearing this weight every day of being Very Special but Powering Through even though it's so hard when you have to think and feel and experience so much all the time - surely more than everyone else?

Yes, this play feels that way too (and! surprise! so does everybody else).


I don't know, I just liked it a lot! And sometimes I guess it can be that simple. Not that anything about this play is simple. But also I suppose it is in a sense.

Yes it occasionally got a bit self-important and a bit too-aware-when-it-thinks-it's-being-clever and a bit messagey, but you know what? I bet you get that way too, sometimes. It didn't make me like it any less.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like thus play very much, and I don't deny that Eno has real talent, but I ultimately found this to be a disappointment. As a sort of post-modern riff on Our Town, I can see what Eno is trying to do, but there is so much speechifying and vague poetry where there could have been deeper character development. The ending is, nonetheless, deeply touching.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the worst evening I've ever spent in the theatre. True story. This is one of those works that talks about Big and Profound Things while failing to actually be either of those things.

[Max Heimowitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

That which is profound is a caricature of profundity.

I'm tempted to think that this is better seen than read, but I honestly don't know how much seeing this play live would add to the experience. It's very much a play about language, sound, existence, so perhaps actually hearing the lines spoken would have made this more enjoyable. But in all truth, this felt like it was trying really, really hard to say something awe inspiring, but that's all it was. An attempt.

Did not enjoy.

[Erinayo Adediwura · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I want to know Love. I want to calmly know love on Earth. And to feel beautiful”

4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Daniel Polansky]

A kindly, brief play about the absurdity and beauty of human existence. A nice little shot of optimism to start the new year.

[Tori F · Rating 1 out of 5]

Feels like Will Eno completely missed the point of the what he was even trying to say through these characters. These characters do not have a very strong voice and the play reads very flat yet self indulgent of how Eno sees life and the world. The takes are not ground breaking in any way and you will not be missing out on anything by not reading this play.

[Kylie · Rating 2 out of 5]

My beef with Will Eno continues... but "some of the dust on my shoes is from outer space; most of the rest is dead human skin," as a line, kind of slaps.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really, passionately hate this play. It might be the most boring, pretentious play I have ever read. Insufferable.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

director described this play as "our town for the zoloft generation" and i have to agree

[katie risley · Rating 4 out of 5]

strange bag of things. the style is vague and erudite and ironic and sometimes incredibly annoying. that being said, it just works for me. idk. this play really really hits.

[sab camblor · Rating 3 out of 5]

“you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?…you exist in the context of everything of all in which you live in and what came before you”

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

p. 23. Male Tourist: But hey, let me get a quick picture of you being wrong. (He snaps a photo of Tour Guide.)
p. 36. John Dodge: (Indistinct medium-length sentence. A muffled and indecipherable version of "It's probably just words at this point.") What's the point of this stage direction? Why not the line with (Muffled.) to describe the delivery.

Re-ordered this by mistake. I had already read it years ago and discarded it but had forgotten how weird and pointless it was. I was fooled once again by the glowing reviews and blurbs from the publisher. It is not moving, unmatched, equivalent to OUR TOWN, luscious or any of the other superlatives it boasts of. Maybe it performs better than it reads, but I can't imagine working on this for any amount of time, much less enough to rehearse and produce it.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was able to watch a production of this which was saved and carried by the actors, but the script itself is trying way too hard to be deep. It’s kind of like reading a 14 year old’s English poetry assignment that they wrote to sound super deep and smart, but ending up not really saying anything substantial.

I did find the ending very emotional, and the one thing I liked about the play was John and Mary’s friendship. That’s why this is two stars instead of one star.

I’m sure there are people who may find value and comfort in this play, so I’m not going to be too harsh on it. Definitely read/watch if you really like philosophical themes about death and the state of being alive.

At first I thought that the play was set in a sort of purgatory lol.

Also it got racist with the Indigenous parts, and there was a racial slur used.

Trigger Warnings for the play:
Suicide

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Speed read this, so absolutely open to charges of misinterpretation. As always, Enio is a master at wordplay and making nonsense out of the nonsense that is most of our attempts to communicate with other people. I also haven’t read Our Town, so know I might be missing quite a bit.

That being said, despite whatever its intentions may have been, I found this to be nihilistic and slightly condescending about the daily futility of human life—just a bunch of people spinning on hamster wheels without connecting or understanding what’s going on. Which may be accurate, but isn’t a vision for the world I’m looking for right now.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Eno is just really good at this. The little choices always feel perfect. You could say there's nothing major going on here (and you'd be right, beyond life, death, love, fear and lust.) You could say that the play is a hedged-bet run at some sort of take on Our Town (and you'd be right-ish, although it's less hedged bet and more trumpet mute, where all of the questions and answers take on this soft warm buzz in the uncovering.) Highly recommend if you're into funny and humble what-is-life-anyway type theater.

[Daniel Silveyra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful, poetic language from all the characters. A polyphonic set of vignettes about the wonder, ridiculousness, solitude and strangeness of life on this planet. I laughed out loud several times, the dialogue is very sharp and witty.

That being said...all the characters are pretty similar and all observations they make are consistently wistful and melancholy. Felt a little flat, although I'm very glad to have read it.

[F.C. Shultz]

Not quite as deep as it thinks it is. Starts to ask questions, but doesn’t really get anywhere. That being said, I enjoyed it.m and would pay to see it on stage. I really enjoyed this line:

JOHN DODGE: Yeah. You get the mail, it’s a clothes catalog. Maybe you leaf through it, maybe think, “Hey, I could buy those pants.” Then you think, “But then it’s just be me, again, in a different pair of pants.” Then you go out and walk around and that’s your day, time for bed.

[J Dubyuh]

Regardless if it is the intended effect, all good theater makes me want to cry. The possibilities in terms of form and structure presented in this play are extremely exciting to me. Is it a little too self-reflexive and navel gazing? Maybe. But it is so rich, a whole sub-sandwich of a play, and I’m talking a family owned sub shop kind of sandwich.

[Mike Schuh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3.5- a great philosophical play about life. Meant to be seen. Great ending, but Eno tries to do too much in the play and the narrative power is lost. Interesting characters- supporting characters we’d to be fleshed out!

[John Geddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well constructed, but hard to really like. It seems to have this pervasive sense of tragedy and sadness to it, but in a small way as opposed to being grand and theatrical. It's likely a bit more true, but it's hard to fall in love with.

[Dee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Genuinely one of the worst plays I’ve ever read. So absurdly tongue and cheek it felt like I was reading the play that Brian from family guy writes that references itself constantly. Every character is stilted and quirky to the point of exhaustion. This should be called Oversharing: the play

[Kristi Yu · Rating 4 out of 5]

"stephanie is from when i was little. i was little." (john dodge, 2.9)

man, reading this has left me so sad and yet also struck by beauty
i wish i could watch some analysis video essays abt it lol

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a well crafted play - just the right combination of tenderness, melancholy and nostalgia with a dash of hope. I really enjoyed this. This must have been an interesting production to experience.

[Ian Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Deceptively resonant. It's full of simple, almost repetitive connections between strangers or people who've recently met but there's something magical in what Eno builds from that. But by the end I was deeply moved by entire experience and I definitely need to see it live.

[Denise Goodkey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea, at least not to read, It is a script and no doubt a competent director and good actors would make this work.

It starts out in what I would call absurdist theatre but eventually becomes serious, and I found it pretty depressing

[Arrow · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know those men who feel a single human emotion and think it gives them a unique, existential perspective on the universe--then expect the admiration from every living woman for being so intelligent and special? This is that guy in a play.

[Rachel Rauch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnfed. It’s much darker than I thought it would be. Like yes, Our Town is serious, I wasn’t expecting this not to be. But I think I was expecting more hope and maybe a little more fantasy elements. I can still see how it’s a very powerful play honestly. Just…not my cup of tea.

[Marguerite Giguère · Rating 2 out of 5]

This play doesn't really have a point. Things happen in the city but everything seems so detached from one another and I just didn't like the fact that there's no interesting plot.