Things We Want

Notable for its direction by Ethan Hawke, Things We Want was certainly a strong production of a play about addiction. In terms of things I wanted, though, I felt the message could have been more obvious. Two weeks later I still haven't really figured out the point of the play, the moral message if any.

This play about addiction is from the point of view of the recovering addict, somewhat unusual for the genre. There are many plays, books and movies about living with the addicted and some stuff from the current, unrepentant addicted.

The structure of the play was similar to an art project I did in elementary school. We drew a scene in dark crayon above a line and then creased the paper, smooshed with all of our 8 year old strength and had a faint image which we colored in darker which was the reflection in a lake. The second act mirrored the first act, not perfectly, but strongly. Moreover, the story worked its way into center and then slowly worked its way out. It was quite nice, actually. Most cleverly, at equal points from intermission (the creased line, so to speak) there was a seduction scene by a different brother of the same woman in each act. Quite nice.

So, this is what I've come up with about the moral of the story. This play might have been about the AA Serenity Prayer. It may have been a lesson about learning the difference between the things we can control and the things we can't. The prayer did make an appearance in the play and was well-regarded. It might have also been about how for addicts everything is in extremes with no ability to moderate.

Both theories are supported by the opening and closing lines of the play. The character that I'll refer to as the unaddicted brother walks in at the beginning of the play and finds the temperature too warm in the room and immediately moves to open the window. At the end of the play, the room is too cold and he adjusts the window again to compensate. The window, it turns out, has a great deal of significance for the three brothers. Both of their parents committed suicide by throwing themselves out of it. So, the relationship of each brother to the window is significant. We have one who adjusts it and views it simply as a window. We have one who acts dangerously with it, using it to taunt the other characters. And, we have one who can't stand to see anyone close to it.

You can't see this and not commend the acting. All four actors were great. The comedy was effective. The roles were a bit meaty. And, it was a delight.

This is one of those plays where you don't necessarily seek out the subject matter, but the production is strong enough to make you forget that this is yet another play about personal human angst. I definitely recommend it. And, if you get a stronger sense and can make a great argument for the point of the play, drop me a line.