I decided to consume a little appetizer play before the main course of A Midsummer Night's Dream and actually found myself enjoying it more than Shakespeare. It was a little one act comedy called Moby Dude, OR: The Three-Minute Whale by David Ives. This weekend I spent a solid 8 hours reading and writing papers, so I was nice to have a little comic relief. Since the play is only one act the action plays out pretty fast. In the exposition the only character with lines, a seventeen year-old with Jeff Spicoli diction, must give a verbal book report to his teacher, Mrs. Podgorski, on Moby-Dick. Conflict is immediately established as the he defends himself against Mrs. Podgorski's accusations that he did not read the novel. The action rises as he alternates between surfer dude lingo and high brow literary commentary using phases like peerless alegorical saga and metaphysical ambiguity to describe the book. Is there more depth to this narrator than meets the eye? Do we judge others too quickly based on their appearance or delivery or words? This protagonist, slang and homophobic inferences aside, sums up the plot and symbolism of Moby-Dick quite well. His teacher appears to think so too. His summary climaxes in triumphant fanfare and our Spicoli awaits Mrs. Podgorski's response. The play's denouement is brought about with him agreeing to go out to coffee with his teacher! So is he just a Moby Dude? Is this just some high school fantasy or is he really a whale? Is he a verbose Hercules of literature who merely chooses to express himself as he pleases? If anyone has ever seen Fast Times they will recognize the scene from which the photo above was taken and know what I think. It's nice to dream, but the conclusion just seems too far-fetched to be real.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Fast Times at Brigham Young University
I decided to consume a little appetizer play before the main course of A Midsummer Night's Dream and actually found myself enjoying it more than Shakespeare. It was a little one act comedy called Moby Dude, OR: The Three-Minute Whale by David Ives. This weekend I spent a solid 8 hours reading and writing papers, so I was nice to have a little comic relief. Since the play is only one act the action plays out pretty fast. In the exposition the only character with lines, a seventeen year-old with Jeff Spicoli diction, must give a verbal book report to his teacher, Mrs. Podgorski, on Moby-Dick. Conflict is immediately established as the he defends himself against Mrs. Podgorski's accusations that he did not read the novel. The action rises as he alternates between surfer dude lingo and high brow literary commentary using phases like peerless alegorical saga and metaphysical ambiguity to describe the book. Is there more depth to this narrator than meets the eye? Do we judge others too quickly based on their appearance or delivery or words? This protagonist, slang and homophobic inferences aside, sums up the plot and symbolism of Moby-Dick quite well. His teacher appears to think so too. His summary climaxes in triumphant fanfare and our Spicoli awaits Mrs. Podgorski's response. The play's denouement is brought about with him agreeing to go out to coffee with his teacher! So is he just a Moby Dude? Is this just some high school fantasy or is he really a whale? Is he a verbose Hercules of literature who merely chooses to express himself as he pleases? If anyone has ever seen Fast Times they will recognize the scene from which the photo above was taken and know what I think. It's nice to dream, but the conclusion just seems too far-fetched to be real.
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I also read this short play and found the irony of his thorough defense amusing.
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