Is there a new play you've read or seen in the last, say, 5 years that has, in it, a hero? Clearly, unequivocally, a heroic leading character?
If so, what was it?
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
8 comments:
You mean like a hero who wins the day by being valiant, and is not just essentially good but overtly good? A hero who eats local organic produce for dinner and then rides his bike to the homeless shelter to serve heaping plates of compassion to the junkies crowded around the Second Harvest table?
Nope.
They don't make them like that these days. And if they do, it's kind of ironic, in an ironic kind of way – so it's not to be believed or trusted.
You want heroes, turn on your TV.
I mean this question seriously... what do you mean by a "hero"? By the definition Ian uses, for example, none of Shakespeare's tragic protagonists would qualify. Many of them are (arguably) the villains of the plays they inhabit, or at least become the villains (on this list I'd put Lear, Othello, Hamlet and MacBeth). And of course Romeo fails spectacularly at accomplishing his goal.
Maybe if there was an example from theatre you could use that'd be helpful, because actually what I was thinking after reading your post is "there are almost no plays I can think of that have "heroes"".
Let's, for the sake of argument, remove the tragic characters, who fail despite their best efforts. Instead, what about a play, any play, that presents a character who faces challenges, overcomes obstacles, defeats those things that would stop him or her, and in the end, does something good for himself, herself, or others?
Dare I say it, Tommy Sadoski's character (the name escapes me) in 'reasons to be pretty' sort of fits the bill. Mike Birbiglia in 'Sleepwalk with Me'? These are more cases where a person learns a lesson...
Let's see...
Coraline in 'Coraline'! The guy from 'The Slug-Bearers of Kayrol Island'? I can't remember how that play ends... Vicky Martin in 'Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen'? Again, more a learning, coming-of-age...
COLORFUL WORLD by James Comtois.
This is a totally obnoxious way to answer the question, but I wrote one last year - a spy thriller called ASYMMETRIC. The hero is an alcoholic who ruined his marriage with drinking and untreated depression before the play starts, but during the play he gets his shit together, solves an espionage mystery, and saves his ex from some intrigue. Not tongue-in-cheek either; I played it straight.
I wouldn't want to do it every time at bat, but I like to sometimes.
Oh! I thought of one. It's a totally crap play, but The Seafarer works for what you're looking for. Prior Walter in Angels in America also works, I think, it just turns out that what is heroic (rejecting a divine legacy and prophecy) isn't what you think is going to be heroic going into the play.
Oh! I thought of one. It's a totally crap play, but The Seafarer works for what you're looking for. Prior Walter in Angels in America also works, I think, it just turns out that what is heroic (rejecting a divine legacy and prophecy) isn't what you think is going to be heroic going into the play.
Also, the main character in Avenue Q.
Post a Comment