Talley's Folly

[firstfrost]

After seeing the Lyric's Talley's Folly (we lost chenoameg!) I find that most of what I'm thinking about is differences/similarites to the dpolicar/chanaleh version. All the things I think about the play are still true - I still find Matt more sympathetic than Sally, the writing good, and so on. I found the Lyric Matt very like Dave's Matt, but the Lyric Sally much more different (both harder and more frightened, which meant I could maybe understand her a little more (though I guess having seen it once before helps with that), but like her a little less.). I wonder if this is because Matt's character (for me) is so tied up in the accents and voices?

The only thing that I really didn't like was the music during the Sally-confesses confrontration. My first instinctive reaction was "oh for God's sake, is that someone's cell phone?" Then I realized it was music from the bandstand (there's a line about it), but even so, it made my entire emotional reaction to that scene one of annoyance at the noisemusic as opposed to a reaction to anything going on on stage.

Comments

[dpolicar]

I was thinking about this after I saw the Lyric production (and got to talk to the cast, which still curls my toes).

The biggest difference I noticed between his Matt and mine had to do with centeredness. I think his Matt _needed_ Sally more than mine did... was constantly off-balance leaning towards her. Not so much physically, although of course there was some of that, but emotionally. It made his Matt pushier in some ways, weaker in others, less amusing, more vulnerable, less ironic. It helped position Sally as stronger and harsher. In a lot of ways I think it worked better than my more withdrawn Matt.

Which has gotten me thinking about the difference between playing a role in isolation and playing part of a group, which was cool.

[desireearmfeldt]

Hm, I was almost about to say...well, not quite the opposite. But I think they had many flashes of strong connection, surrounded by a more isolated-from-each-other baseline, than you guys did. Partly because their Sally was more strongly closed off more of the time, but their Matt was also more...self-conscious? calculating? consciously playing for effect, rather than being naturally playful?

He did *also* play a lot more emotional on the parts where he's emotionally stressed; in general, both of them played everything with the gain turned waaay up. Not quite over the top, but getting there. Sometimes that worked well for me, sometimes it didn't.

[dpolicar]

I agree with pretty much everything you say here. Their Matt was _all about Sally_, all the time, in a very active way that wasn't necessarily very nice. Mine was always _aware_ of Sally, but in a much more "This is who I am, and I'm gambling you're gonna want that" kind of way.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

To start a subthread in the middle of this - what do people think the purpose of Matt's third-wall-breaking is? (clocking it in at 97 minutes, getting the dog noise, etc). To make it feel more like a reminiscence and less like something happening now? To give more weight to Matt as in control of the scene? I still don't quite know what to make of it, myself.

[desireearmfeldt]

On the meta-level, I think it was a) to give the actor a chance to show off in a monologue, and b) perhaps a way for the playwright to get going. (The first bit I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere in Wilson talking about writing the play; the second I'm pulling out of my butt.) :)

On a less meta-level, I think it's a light-hearted way of asking the audience to project themselves back to the historical period. (It also gets in some exposition, but nothing he couldn't--or didn't--get in in the body of the play, so I don't think that's really its purpose.)

Viscerally, it serves to make me fond of Matt, and to set a playful mood (but again, the rest of the play does much the same).

I don't know. Maybe it's not necessary. But I'm fond of it. (Which is odd, because I often have little patience with gratuitous gimmicks. On the other hand, I was much more accepting at age 10. :) )

[dpolicar]

I think it's mostly to establish the mood. This isn't going to be a dark, gritty piece. This is going to be a charming, uplifting, lighthearted piece. Go ahead and empathize with the main characters, we aren't going to kill them off on you or anything. It's safe.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Your Matt was more amusing, which I think comes from the things you said. It made you more enjoyable to watch, but it did make me think more strongly in the TAF show that Matt deserves someone better than Sally. (But again, I was probably very influenced by knowing how it turned out. The first time, the idea of Sally hiding in the kitchen ALL DAY while Matt waited lost her tons of my sympathy, whereas this time I already knew she did that...)

[dpolicar]

Sally is interesting that way. She's profoundly broken, but high-functioning. It's only when she's pushed to the end of her coping mechanisms that she starts to do completely insane things. It's a tough role.

[desireearmfeldt]

Somehow in the Lyric's performence, when she revealed her secret, I got a very strong flash of "yes, this sounds like a more trivial thing that what you were imagining, Matt, but in context it really *was* that bad," which had the interesting effect of making me think "ah, and therefore the future really *can* be as easy as Matt is suggesting, because there really is the opportunity to go be in some other context."

Er, I'm saying this badly, but... I bought into the idea that all the things smart-Sally clearly knows (yes, I could just leave home and go get an apartment with Rachel and Ida and associate with people more like me than my family) have finally been connected in to hurt-Sally's awareness. That by saying "well, it wasn't so bad, except it was"--in response to Matt's reaction of "They made your life miserable over *that*? I thought it was something *bad*!"--she's stepping out of the denial-box, not about her pain, but about the fact that it's over. So she can actually give up inflicting the blind spot on her otherwise useful brain.

[dpolicar]

Oo. I like that.
I never considered the possibility that Matt thought it was trivial. I sorta wish I had, actually, because I like what that does.

[desireearmfeldt]

The hurt isn't trivial, but Matt would not have treated someone as worthless because she couldn't have children, even if he didn't have the vow. (Whereas it seems he actually *might* freak out about someone having an illigitimate child.)

It's part of the set of behavior that they both agree is dumb about Sally's family--but she's wrapped up in it and it's part of her reality, where Matt the outsider is free to shake his head and look puzzled. I felt like it clicked for Sally: oh, you really *are* different from them, and so is a lot of the rest of the world; I always knew that, but now I *know* it...

[dpolicar]

Yeah. I think, when I did it, Matt got really wrapped up in Sally's view of it, and it never occurred to me that he might be outside of it. I was really focused on the snap-point where he goes from badgering her to tell him about the illegitimate child, so they can move past that, to realizing that he's been an insensitive jerk... making sure the audience gets that. Neat. Something to keep in mind if I ever do the show again.