Friday, May 19, 2006

First Thoughts on The Sunset Limited

The premiere of The Sunset Limited was last night. Cormac McCarthy was in the audience. And the audience was rapt for the play's entire two-hour running time. Those of you familiar with The Stonemason would be shocked by the minimalist nature of the play — two guys sitting in a room, talking.

And boy, did they talk. Complicated, difficult lines. Lines weighted with what are typical concerns of McCarthy's. But, in the context of the play, they were also concerns of the characters, who in their situation were believable and real.

The play threatened to slide over into the sentimantal, and it sometimes seemed to border on the preachy. But it never, in my estimation, stepped over the line into preachy or sentimental. It was grounded in the particular, but dealing with the universal.

I'll have more to say about it later, after I've seen it again. All in all, though, a very good play. And one that resonates with everything.
posted by mp
5/19/2006

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