The Purple Prose or “The Violet Hour”

Polonius:  What do you read, my lord?

Hamlet:  Words, words, words.

Hamlet (II, ii, 191-192)

Presuming that not all forms of entertainment suit all audiences, I have condensed my review of The Violet Hour, playing at the Bathhouse Theater from Jan 29 to Feb 21, into this handy summary.

The Venue: Venture forth from Wallingford to our fair neighbor, Green Lake, and its modest but pleasant Bathhouse Theater located on the northwest-ish lake shore.  Enjoy the ample free parking and intimate (tiny) lobby.  If time allows, a stroll along the lake is a salutary pre-curtain activity.

Thumbs Up: If this sounds like you, then go for it

• I believe in the importance of writers, writing, publishing, and words
• I am interested in the Jazz Age, and the lives of famous authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Time-travel is cool
• I fancy myself a bit of an intellectual

Thumbs Down: If this sounds like you, then find something else to do

• Why write about other people writing about things?  Why not just write about things?
• The problems of highly-educated Princeton intellectuals do not concern me
• Enormous piles of paper stacked around a stage set give me the heebie jeebies
• Time-travel makes no sense and I don’t enjoy stories that use it as a plot device

This play has a high-strung, comic office assistant, a fresh-faced, earnest young author, a glamorous heiress, a sultry African American singer, and a decent, troubled publisher trying to do right by everybody.  All capably acted and set by a talented theater company.  In it, the power of words is such that they can sanction a marriage, launch a career, inspire an affair, define a life, and determine world history.  The extent to which this convinces you will determine how much significance you get out of it.  I’m skeptical myself, but having done a bit of writing, I know it’s mostly just words, words, words.

(Photo by Paul Bestock, courtesy of Bath House Theater)