utopia part 2





I saw Tom Stoppard's momentous play "Shipwreck, Part 2" of the Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center yesterday. After being swept up by Part 1: Voytage, I wish I could have continued to Part 2 right after Part 1. But seeing as the Marathon tickets (watching three plays in one day! Wow!) were extremely difficult to procure, and being slightly intimidated by Russian philosophy, I decided to take the play one part at a time.

Now I regret taking in this play in three different days, over a time period of a month. The initial dramatic impact of the first part has worn off, and having a few weeks in between the first installment has made me see the play in a different way. I felt that Part 1 has more brilliant dialogue and I was still trying to figure out whether the characters in the play were earnest about their philosophical musings, and willing to give them a chance.

But after a few weeks, I realized that Tom Stoppard is actually portraying these philosophers are talking about things that do not apply in real life. It's all fluff. Or as Ben Brantley states, ever more eloquently than I, that this play contains discussions in which "intellectual theory is forever being overwhelmed by the rush of the real." I am beginning to see a bit of truth in Charles Isherwood's review "Utopia is a Bore".... Not because it is a bore (it is far from it), but I lack sympathy about the characters simply because they talk about utopia and utopian ideals, while they themselves are rich and own slaves.

But no doubt that the play has amazing talent and I feel very privileged to see a theatrical production of such a caliber I will probably never see again. Part 3, what will it bring?

On a random note, I saw Sally Field in the audience, enjoying the show.