Book of Days: A Play

Landford Wilson's Book of Days is a real play. Nothing fake about it. First off, his characters are so in deep and contrast with eachother that it makes it a great read. Most of the first act is basically a charming exposition until it nose-dives into a dark and twisted conflict (sorry, read the play). There is a lot of language, however, but it makes a profound impact in what is being told in the story. The way Wilson has each character being a member of the chorus pulls you into the play. The ending is the best: it has you thinking that this could be happening in your own back yard. It can also be debated that this is in fact a tragedy instead of drama. Read this play!This was a very hard play to put down. In matter of fact, I didn't.

I saw this play in St. Louis and was astounded by it. After the first act, you realize you're watching a well-wrought play, populated by strong, quirky characters, interesting situations, and fascinating, complex relationships, all the things you expect from Wilson. But it doesn't seem like the best play he's ever written, as quite a few people have claimed. With works like Fifth of July, Burn This, and Redwood Curtain in his canon, Best Ever is quite a claim. Then you see Act II. And you realize they might just be right. All the groundwork laid in Act I pays off in such abundantly satisfying ways. And there's so much more to this play than you thought. There is the temptation to fault Book of Days for its loose construction and seemingly scattershot laying out of scenes, but that's where its real beauty lies, in the poetry of the ordinary, in the unexpected turns life takes, in the randomness of living. The organization of the play is in its characters and in its themes of ambition, the need to know, and the fear of change. With plainly theatrical devices sprinkled throughout the show - characters narrating the show, watching from the sides, stepping out of scenes to directly address the audience - this is not trying to be kitchen sink drama. It is a play uniquely American and just as uniquely Lanford Wilson. It is what it says it is, a book of days, a diary, a story to be told, with characters at once good and bad, admirable and not. It's a snapshot of small town American life at the end of the millennium, in some ways not so different from big city life, in some ways light years away.