I went to see Dumas' play last night. Entitled 9/11 - A Day in the Life of a People, Dumas set out to emotionally define people's experiences on that day in the first act, and how life has changed in the second. The first act felt a bit like other 9/11 movies, such as World Trade Center, but a bit more honest in approach. Rather than toss the audience into the situation, he had them listen to the actual people. Listening was actually one of the themes of the show, so this tied in nicely. The second act was more of a traditional drama, although his methods of breaking down the third wall were a little too direct for my taste. However, the second act was where all the real meat was, emotionally and intellectually.
As I had mentioned before, a lot of the breaking of the third wall felt odd, not because the characters were talking to the audience, but because the audience was left without a clue of who they were supposed to be, although Dumas expected the audience to be, well, themselves. As a play, or a total piece of art, I don't feel 9/11 - A Day in the Life of People was a phenomenal play; however, it did some interesting things, such as how Dumas incorporated all the characters in the second act and even defined some of the lesser elements as characters within themselves, like the little tourist girl with the "I Love New York" t-shirt. It also made a very good point: We, as a people, have changed since 9/11.
Or rather, the problem is that we haven't changed. After 9/11, Americans began to pull apart from one another, and it's still happening today. The blame-throwing, the mud-slinging, and our overall view of ourselves and others is not improving by much. Dumas claims that this is because we've never actually recovered from 9/11. Sure, memorials have been built, movies have been released, the government has done its research, but we as a people are still not like we were. Dumas claims that people just need to "sit down and talk it out." He's got a point there. Communication, as much as the technology behind has improved, seems to become more and more hollow everyday, and I can't tell if this is recent or not, or if it's only like that here. But Dumas is right that we, as Americans, need to do this for ourselves.
So while it wasn't the greatest play I've ever seen (sorry Mr. Dumas!), he makes some pretty effective points, and overall, I think that's why Dumas wrote the show. And I think it's important that he made it for now, because we still have a lot of recovering to do.
As I had mentioned before, a lot of the breaking of the third wall felt odd, not because the characters were talking to the audience, but because the audience was left without a clue of who they were supposed to be, although Dumas expected the audience to be, well, themselves. As a play, or a total piece of art, I don't feel 9/11 - A Day in the Life of People was a phenomenal play; however, it did some interesting things, such as how Dumas incorporated all the characters in the second act and even defined some of the lesser elements as characters within themselves, like the little tourist girl with the "I Love New York" t-shirt. It also made a very good point: We, as a people, have changed since 9/11.
Or rather, the problem is that we haven't changed. After 9/11, Americans began to pull apart from one another, and it's still happening today. The blame-throwing, the mud-slinging, and our overall view of ourselves and others is not improving by much. Dumas claims that this is because we've never actually recovered from 9/11. Sure, memorials have been built, movies have been released, the government has done its research, but we as a people are still not like we were. Dumas claims that people just need to "sit down and talk it out." He's got a point there. Communication, as much as the technology behind has improved, seems to become more and more hollow everyday, and I can't tell if this is recent or not, or if it's only like that here. But Dumas is right that we, as Americans, need to do this for ourselves.
So while it wasn't the greatest play I've ever seen (sorry Mr. Dumas!), he makes some pretty effective points, and overall, I think that's why Dumas wrote the show. And I think it's important that he made it for now, because we still have a lot of recovering to do.
Leave a comment