Notes on "The Fourth" from Jenny

Robert and Patrick,

Great work this semester! You've made us all think so much harder about systems of communication, and in ways that seem to really be serving your play. I really look forward to seeing upcoming drafts of "The Fourth" -- I hope you keep me in the loop.

Comments,in no particular order:

-I love Mia

- It was really interesting to see the Seth/Adrian kiss scene yesterday, and people's reaction to it. You'd sort of expect us all to cheer when Seth gets Adrian, but it didn't play that way. Huh.

- I second George's love of the "subtext" voicemails, partly for the reasons Carrie described (it's what the listener is thinking when he/she gets voicemail) and partly, as George says, because it takes us further into the realm of the fantastic.

- I don't know that I WAS obsessed by the Fourth of July before we started working on this play (haven't seen fireworks in years) but thanks to you, I am now. I've actually been obsessing over this thing I read about ten years ago, when I lived in Valencia, Spain. I googled it and found it. It's in Spanish (so if you don't read Spanish, y'all, just scroll ahead) and it's LONG (sorry)...but I've been chewing on it and I didn't know if maybe you'd find something to chew on. Actually, you know what? I just tried to cut and paste it and it was WAY too annoying. The full text is on the following website.

http://www.marxists.org/espanol//////////////bajtin/rabelais.htm

I thought it got interesting beginning with the paragraph "La dualidad en la percepcion del mundo"

The upshot was its discussion of the cultural place of "la fiesta" -- the festival, the carnival, the holiday, loosely -- in ancient rome, in the middle ages, in "el pueblo" -- the town, the population, the people, loosely -- and how it both tears down and enforces the rules by which people live the rest of the time -- a temporary suspension of the Social Contract, if you will, to allow us to let off steam and live under it the rest of the time. It talks about high and low, official and unofficial fiesta, and the difference between the religious and state/official holiday. I got to thinking about where Independence Day might fall in that, and your characters, and I thought it might be useful to you. It's a little heady (yay, Marxist theorists discussing Rabelais), but it's something to read and forget and think about later. And I do think there's some resonance.

- At the risk of repeating what I said in class, part of me would like to see Adrian encounter more obstacles, or have whole journey twist somehow (Suzan's perception shift).

- Henry is still a character I'm really curious about.

- Jessica occupies an interesting space in this play. We haven't talked about her a lot, and I'm wondering what might lurk in the corners of this "straight ex-girlfriend," or how else she might represent Connor's world away from Adrian.

- Do Jessica and Mia know each other?

- Do Henry and Connor know each other?

- Do Henry and Adrian know each other?

- Who else does Seth know?

- How do these people act around each other normally? Is it the Fourth that has freed them?

Great, great work all semester. Your in-class exercises were so much fun, and so in the spirit of the play. I can't wait to read more!