Four Baboons Adoring the Sun and Other Plays

Rating:
Summary: BABOONS equals brilliance--the rest...I'm not sure
Review: John Guare has always been a curious playwright. He has also always been one of my favorite playwrights. His unique combination of giddy surrealism and downright perfect human emotions is thrillingly evident in his two high profile works, SIX DEGREES of SEPARATION and THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES.

FOUR BABOONS ADORING THE SUN ranks, in my opinion, with the two aforementioned near-classics. Guare weaves in mythology and drama and the result is spectacular. The characters are real and you can easily relate to the main couple's struggle to join their two families together.

The one act plays featured in the published book are more unconvinving. A DAY FOR SURPRISES is the standout. Guare takes a laughable premise (the New York Public Library's enormous stone lion is in the bathroom eating unsuspecting workers) and makes it both funny and heartbreaking.

Is the book worth buying? I think so. I've leafed through it more than I've read it, but when I do read a play like FOUR BABOONS, it is energizing. Guare is in class of his own.