"I no longer believed in the various justifications for our existence"
June 1, 2015 8:52 PM   Subscribe

 
Seems like an interesting guy to have dinner with.

Here's Shawn reading from his play The Fever (full text)
posted by gwint at 9:40 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


"I grew up on the Upper East Side, and when I was 10 years old, I was rich! I was an aristocrat. Riding around in taxis, surrounded by comfort, and all I thought about was art and music. Now I'm 36, and all I think about is money!"
posted by lalochezia at 9:45 PM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


I find it strange that this play, written as a denunciation of bourgeois privilege, is being performed with an exclusivity befitting the bourgeois privilege that he is denouncing: in private living rooms and luxury hotel suites, with Shawn mingling with his tiny, select audiences beforehand.

I don't buy his explanation for why he's doing it this way. Because people will assume he's just performing a character if it's done in a theater? And performing the play in a living room changes that? No.

I love his work (particularly My Dinner with Andre) but am puzzled by how he's doing this new thing.
posted by jayder at 9:58 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


I love his work (particularly My Dinner with Andre) but am puzzled by how he's doing this new thing.

It's inconceivable.
posted by Ratio at 10:14 PM on June 1, 2015 [5 favorites]


I don not think that word means... no, never mind, you used it correctly. Carry on.
posted by Rangi at 10:43 PM on June 1, 2015 [3 favorites]


Good, now that we're done waiting for Vizzini, we can actually talk about Shawn's many other works.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:57 PM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


we can actually talk about Shawn's many other works.

"Now I'm 36, and all I think about is money gold-pressed latinum!"
posted by Herodios at 3:56 AM on June 2, 2015 [2 favorites]


Mod note: I understand that everyone has their own fave Wallace Shawn quote or clip they'd love to randomly wedge in here, but it's already pretty much actively derailing the posted material, so please ease up on that now. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 4:23 AM on June 2, 2015 [4 favorites]


Most recently.

(I used to live 2 blocks from him and I'd see him and his wife all the time in the nabe. )
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:10 AM on June 2, 2015


And here is the full text of The Fever, the play that is discussed at the start of the Paris Review interview.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:20 AM on June 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


Obscure Reference: "Most recently.

(I used to live 2 blocks from him and I'd see him and his wife all the time in the nabe. )
"

I read that as in the nude, at first. And I thought to myself, Wallace Shawn's life is even more interesting than I thought.
posted by Splunge at 8:30 AM on June 2, 2015 [2 favorites]


A full reading of The Fever is up on Vimeo (from the 'previousliest' link). Highly recommend watching it over just reading the text. And hope impressions from the linked interviews didn't put anyone off. It's great. Part two is here.
posted by seikleja at 10:40 AM on June 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


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