Although sex, dysfunctional families, strange nuns, and other Durangesque props help propel the humor, it is really Durang's brilliant dialogue and masterful presentation of scenes that is the impetus for laughter. A man with a dildo strapped to his forehead is not inherently funny. The stuffy captain of the Titanic triumphantly emerging with a dildo strapped to his forehead IS inherently funny. Durang has the playwright's skill to turn A into B; if his humor were just crude sexual references, it would fall flat.
This is great stuff, and always manages to make me smile, even after many rereadings. I just wish it were staged more often!
Interesting, too, are the stage directions he includes with each of these six stories. It's fascinating to read how these plays have been presented, and how he prefers to see them presented. It's like being at the Dawn of Creation before man came along and screwed things up -- you get to know how the play should be in its purest form, and as a result you get more out of the reading.
And while it's been said before, Sister Mary Ignatius -- the doctrinaire, no-nonsense nun visited by her scarred-for-life former students -- is everything a comedic play should be. Except, perhaps, not long enough.
This is a book you can read literally in hours, but will probably turn to more than once.
Truely exceptional.reviews: page 1, 2Few playwrights have explored as relentlessly as Christopher Durang the pain and confusion of everyday life-or made us laugh so uproariously at the results.