Motifs & Repetitions & Other Plays

Rating:
Summary: Dark, Brooding Drama for the Thinking Reader
Review: C. E. Gatchalian's skill as a playwright is as finely honed as an old-fashioned straight razor in the hand of an old-fashioned barber. If the barber's touch was too heavy, the result would be unpleasant. If the playwright's hand had been even a little too heavy, these plays would have been tilted into farce. Instead, with the sure hand of an artist, this young playwright has created four disturbing works sure to make any reader think.

This little volume contains three one-act plays: "Motifs and Repetitions," "Hands," "Claire," and a monologue, "Star." As with any good drama, the reader is left with more questions than answers.

"Motifs and Repetitions" is a love triangle...or is it? Or is it more about people who think they love other people... but are not even sure they love themselves? Could it be just the emotional confusion of three people who don't really know what they want?

"Hands" is about a dysfunctional family; no question there. And yet, the reader can't help but wonder whether any of the characters truly want the dysfunction to end or whether they are so invested in it that they couldn't handle normalcy. There's a deep sadness to this play. Not entirely because of the loss of physical and visual contact between family members, which is always sad, but also because all emotional contact has been lost as well. Who, you wonder, has rejected whom?

"Claire" is described as a comedy, but don't settle down and expect to laugh. It's comedy only in the sense of being an inverted comedy of the absurdity, basic falseness, and ultimate tragedy in every relationship in the play: gay lovers, straight married couple, a father and young daughter (who is the Claire of the title). It's an emotional kaleidoscope in shades of black shot through with blood red.

"Motifs and Repetitions and Other Plays" is not a book for the faint of heart or for someone looking for light Sunday afternoon reading. C.E. Gatchalian's plays are dark, brooding, and sardonic. And they're dangerous because they make you think. And they take you places in your mind where you might rather not go. But go anyway! It's worth the trip.