Thoughts on Sweat

No, this is not a continuation of my workout post.  :)  I am a really big fan of Lynn Nottage's writing - her plays are so beautifully detailed and honest, I just love them.  When I heard all of the cheers for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of her new play, Sweat, I hoped hoped hoped that the show would find its way to New York.  Imagine my happiness when I heard that the Public Theater would be producing it this season.  One of the perk's of my new idNYC card is a membership to the Public.  On the day member tickets went on sale, I logged onto the Public's website, saw a screen that said I was #968 in line, and I would be able to buy a ticket in a few hours.  Yikes!  Thankfully, it only took about an hour for the countdown clock to reach zero and I snagged a ticket to last Thursday's preview performance.  Although the play has had two previous productions, this is a new cast, and I saw the third preview, so I will only offer some general thoughts, since I would guess some changes could still happen before opening.

My first general thought is:  GO SEE THIS PLAY.  GO.  Get online and buy your ticket right now.  You will thank me later, I promise.  OK, back to regularly scheduled blogging... 

Taking place over a few months in the summer of 2000, alternating with scenes from a brief time in 2008, Sweat "tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets and laughs while working together on the line of a factory floor. But when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in the hard fight to stay afloat" (that's from the Public's marketing material).  There is humor and pain and shame and dishonor - so much happens that is recognizable and understandable, yet I still had to look away at times.  My heart skipped beats several times throughout the evening and I was a total mess at the end.  That last scene may be one of the most bleak, horrifying yet poignant endings of a play I've seen in quite some time.

I believe I've made it clear that I'm from a middle class family in the midwest.  Our family, going back generations, has worked in tire/rubber industry and other factory-type jobs. We've been union and non-union.  There are have been strikes, plant closings and career changes.  All of this is to say that I knew the middle class characters in Sweat, all factory workers in Reading, PA.  These people were real and honest; they spoke with authenticity and complexity.  There were beautiful monologues of such gorgeous imagery, yet still written in the absolutely-specific language of each character.  It's not often I see the people I grew up with represented on stage, let alone middle-aged women of the middle class.  I was really transfixed throughout.  I do admit to nearly losing it when one sad lady said that all she wanted for her birthday was a kiss.  Shiver.

photo credit: Jenny Graham (from a previous production)

Even though the play took place in 2000 and 2008, it could so easily be happening right now. The race and class wars are even more horrifying than ever, thanks to certain political factions, so I can unfortunately imagine the bad things that happen in this play happening any day, anywhere in this country.  Which made the play even more striking to me.  I think Lynn has really caught something here and is forcing us to look at the people who are so disenfranchised, they can actually consider voting for a ticket that would destroy this country.  I mean, there was a woman sitting behind me who was railing against illegal immigrants.  At the Public Theater in New York City!  Chills my blood.

So, I know that's all rather vague, but I don't want to give too much away.  The play is wonderful, the cast is wonderful, actually everything is terrific - the set, the original music, everything.  I highly recommend Sweat.  Its run has been extended, so I really think you should go.  I think, like Lynn's Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined, this is going to become one of those plays that people talk about for years.  Both plays (well, all of her writing, really) tells a specific story about specific people in a specific time, but they're completely universal about everyone in our time and of all time.  Genius.

Seat-neighbor-wise, last night was a doozy.  The elevators were out of service and Sweat is playing in the theater on the third floor of the Public, so imagine, if you will, subscribers of a certain age, having to hike up those stairs.  I was huffing and puffing, so I can't even imagine how bad it was for some of the older patrons.  We started late, I think due to people taking so long to get to their seats.  Finding restrooms, finding the assisted listening devices - it all became more and more complicated because of the elevator situation.  One gal of a certain age in front of me decided to call her friend who was seated THREE ROWS IN FRONT OF HER, because once she sat down, that was it.  The gal sitting next to me suddenly came down with whooping cough, but only after the show started, and for some reason, she needed to put her handbag on my lap as she looked for cough drops and kleenex.    She also kept getting quite confused about the plot and had to ask her other seat neighbor for help.  Good thing the play was so compellingly good that I didn't have to shush anyone or push anyone's handbag off my lap.

They have a standing room/standby rush type thing at the Public, so I may have to try to see the show again later in the run.  Now that I know what happens, I can really settle in and focus on the how and why.  I love that.  I really think you will, too.