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Friday Morning Guest Review: Afternoon of a Shawn (Wallace Shawn's "The Fever")
Filed under: The Squib Report Tagged: Martin Schneider, theater, Wallace Shawn, William Shawn
Martin Schneider, our trusty Squib Reporter, writes:
Last night I went to see Wallace Shawn—son, of course, of William—deliver his monologue/play The Fever at the Acorn Theatre on 42nd Street. When I entered the auditorium, there was a clot of people on the stage. Ah yes, I recalled, anyone viewing the performance was encouraged to “join Mr. Shawn for a sip of champagne one half hour before each performance.” It’s only after the play that the lacerating bite of the gesture becomes evident.
My companions and I observed that sipping champagne in a crowd full of theatergoing New Yorkers came perilously close to “hobnobbing.” When we spotted Ethan Hawke on the other side of the stage, we realized that hobnobbing status had indeed been attained. (Shawn appeared in the New Group’s 2005 production of Hurlyburly, starring Hawke; both The Fever and Hurlyburly were directed by Scott Elliott.)
Before assuming his character of “the Traveler,” Shawn spoke for a few minutes about the strange conventions of theater. Theatergoers like to go to plays even though they are fully aware that plays are awful; the conventions involved in theater programs are mystifying; disembodied voices with demands about our cell phones are over-hasty; and so on. Charming and astute.
The play is about the unsettling thoughts of any educated, cultured person: Who had to toil so hard so that I could enjoy this latte? Do my fondness for Schumann and my considerate manners represent any contribution to the public weal? On what basis can my privileged status be justified? And so on. It’s brave and thought-provoking stuff, and I enjoyed it a lot. For a clever fellow, Shawn is awfully dark. Or possibly the other way around.
I also liked him in the underrated 1985 movie Heaven Help Us.
The Fever is playing through March 3 at the Acorn Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. Performances are Monday-Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m.
About us
Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Writing on theater: reviews (for Time Out Chicago; imperfect but workable search results)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
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- World of Pollux
- Jonathan Taylor
- Carolita Johnson
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Comments
I know Wallace Shawn’s done loads of highbrow stuff over the years, but you can’t beat his portrayal of Ellen (“with an E - Helen would be an absurd name for a guy”) in Nice Girls Don’t Explode.
I`ve stumbled across your site. Nice!
(Note: I’m rewriting spam comments as I see fit and changing the urls to ones I like better. Enjoy! Emily.)