Gem

Ahh, you don't really want to hear what I thought of Gem of the Ocean, do you?

I mean, if a theatre writer doesn't write about the show until like two weeks after it opens, she usually thinks, What's the point? The Chronicle already made the bold statement that the play was"striving to fulfill its place in American theater history, at the expense of its dramatic integrity." Well, like the Chron, I can forgive it that.

So, two weeks later what stays with me is Wilson's intense poetry, his sharp dialogue where every word works doubletime (I'm especially thinking of the aching scenes between Citizen and Black Mary). Really, those are my reasons for seeing the play.