| February 2008 |
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the owner. No
reproduction
without consent.
THEATRE REVIEW
Sylvia Plath Must Not Die
Sylvia Plath Must Not Die ran January 8-12 at the Vertigo Theatre as part of One Yellow Rabbit's High
Performance Rodeo.
reviewed by Kirk Ramdath
I went to see One Yellow Rabbit’s Sylvia Plath Must Not Die expecting to see a play, and found instead a
poetry reading with theatrical elements. Maybe just to say it was “theatre” is the best way to describe it.
Saying that the performance was a “glorified poetry reading” might suggest that poetry readings are not
usually glorious. I do not wish to make that suggestion in the context of reviewing this theatre performance,
this play, this glorified poetry reading, because in every way it is poetry that is the star of this show. Props
consisted mainly of two wing-back chairs and an occasional cigarette in the hands of Denise Clarke, who
played the role of poet Anne Sexton. The sparseness of the stage allowed the words to be more
prominent. Twenty-four poems by Plath and Sexton are performed during the almost-two hours running
time. There is not really a narrative, although the performance roughly charts the relationship of Plath to
Sexton and their relationships with their husbands. Sylvia and Anne are shown dancing and smoking and
talking incessantly about death. These interludes serve to provide context for the poems, which are
performed well by Denise Clarke as Anne Sexton and Onalea Gilbertson as Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath’s
name is in the title, which is a line taken from an Anne Sexton poem, but it is both Denise Clarke and Anne
Sexton that steal the show. Plath’s poems are the more pristine and perfect, but Sexton's are more raw
and real, more fused with unrefined emotion. The differences in the words spoken by their characters
manifests itself in the performances, and Clark conveys Sexton with a memorable ragged sultriness. As
someone who was previously unfamiliar with the poems of Plath and Sexton, the performance was a great
introduction, and definitely induced a desire to find out more about these women, their lives, and their
poetry. These topics were the focus of the performance, although there was a strangeness about watching
the lives of these two artists unfold, knowing that they both met untimely ends at their own hands. The last
Plath poem performed by Gilbertson, “Lady Lazarus,” perfectly captures the full scope of this macabre
voyeurism with the chilling lines:
For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heart
It really goes.
And there is a charge, a very large charge
For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood
I left the play feeling that I had been witness to something worth more than the price of admission.
Sylvia Plath Must Not Die
Sylvia Plath Must Not Die ran January 8-12 at the Vertigo Theatre as part of One Yellow Rabbit's High
Performance Rodeo.
reviewed by Kirk Ramdath
I went to see One Yellow Rabbit’s Sylvia Plath Must Not Die expecting to see a play, and found instead a
poetry reading with theatrical elements. Maybe just to say it was “theatre” is the best way to describe it.
Saying that the performance was a “glorified poetry reading” might suggest that poetry readings are not
usually glorious. I do not wish to make that suggestion in the context of reviewing this theatre performance,
this play, this glorified poetry reading, because in every way it is poetry that is the star of this show. Props
consisted mainly of two wing-back chairs and an occasional cigarette in the hands of Denise Clarke, who
played the role of poet Anne Sexton. The sparseness of the stage allowed the words to be more
prominent. Twenty-four poems by Plath and Sexton are performed during the almost-two hours running
time. There is not really a narrative, although the performance roughly charts the relationship of Plath to
Sexton and their relationships with their husbands. Sylvia and Anne are shown dancing and smoking and
talking incessantly about death. These interludes serve to provide context for the poems, which are
performed well by Denise Clarke as Anne Sexton and Onalea Gilbertson as Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath’s
name is in the title, which is a line taken from an Anne Sexton poem, but it is both Denise Clarke and Anne
Sexton that steal the show. Plath’s poems are the more pristine and perfect, but Sexton's are more raw
and real, more fused with unrefined emotion. The differences in the words spoken by their characters
manifests itself in the performances, and Clark conveys Sexton with a memorable ragged sultriness. As
someone who was previously unfamiliar with the poems of Plath and Sexton, the performance was a great
introduction, and definitely induced a desire to find out more about these women, their lives, and their
poetry. These topics were the focus of the performance, although there was a strangeness about watching
the lives of these two artists unfold, knowing that they both met untimely ends at their own hands. The last
Plath poem performed by Gilbertson, “Lady Lazarus,” perfectly captures the full scope of this macabre
voyeurism with the chilling lines:
For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heart
It really goes.
And there is a charge, a very large charge
For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood
I left the play feeling that I had been witness to something worth more than the price of admission.
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arts, culture, media, and activism
magazine. We feature the work of
emerging and established writers and
artists from Calgary and beyond.
Eleventh Transmission believes that
art involves awareness and
connection -- to the community, and to
what goes on in the world at large. We
have a special interest in work that is
socially engaged.
New issues debut the first Monday of
every month. Next issue March 3.
If you like the magazine, or any
content in particular, please take a few
moments to share the link with your
friends.
Feel free to join our Mailing list or our
Facebook group.