Title
Sarah Ruhl’s Woolfian Essay-Play vs. the Play of Ideas: Let’s Talk About How to Transcend a Happy Marriage
Department/School
English
Date
2019
Document Type
Article
Keywords
Sarah Ruhl, Virginia Woolf, Ovidian, play of ideas, essay-play
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/dtc.2019.0021
Abstract
Sarah Ruhl's How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, an inquisitive comedy about polyamory, communion, and our animal nature, was criticized for its plot-light, meandering form that juggled ideas without bringing them to conclusion. In this article I argue that Ruhl has created an innovative hybrid form-a Woolfian "essay-play"-in which plot and argument are secondary to wandering, wondering, and idea-inebriated pleasure. In contrast to the traditional play of ideas, the essay-play invites the audience into the process of thinking rather than presenting them with finished thoughts; its essayistic aesthetic is also an ethic, one that leaves breathing room for the audience.
Published in
Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism
Citation/Other Information
Muse, Amy. "Sarah Ruhl’s Woolfian Essay-Play vs. the Play of Ideas: Let’s Talk About How to Transcend a Happy Marriage." Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, vol. 34, no. 1, 2019, pp. 29-44, https://doi.org/10.1353/dtc.2019.0021.