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Classic Literature. Drama. Fiction. Literature. HTML: A timeless statement about human foibles...and human endurance, The Skin of Our Teeth is Thornton Wilder's brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning play, now reissued with a beautiful new cover and updated afterword by Wilder's nephew, Tappan Wilder. Time magazine called The Skin of Our Teeth "a sort of Hellzapoppin' with brains," as it broke from established theatrical conventions and walked off with the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama. Combining farce, burlesque, and satire (among other styles), Thornton Wilder departs from his studied use of nostalgia and sentiment in Our Town to have an Eternal Family narrowly escape one disaster after another, from ancient times to the present. Meet George and Maggie Antrobus (married only 5,000 years); their two children, Gladys and Henry (perfect in every way!); and their maid, Sabina (the ageless vamp) as they overcome ice, flood, and war�by the skin of their teeth. Witty, clever, and provocative, The Skin of Our Teeth showcases Wilder's storytelling genius and his extraordinary talents at delving deep into the human psyche..… (more)
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This play is a revolution, and it’s ironic that because of his language (and perhaps the over-exposure of ‘Our Town’ in high school drama classes), Wilder is considered ‘quaint’. Aside from the deep questions, there is a darkness here – rape, murder, violence, adultery, and suicide all surface over the course of the play. As in ‘Our Town’, Wilder zooms out and has characters not only directly addressing the audience, but talking about the content of the play, as well as having one character share her low opinion of it. In style and content this play would influence Beckett, Williams, Miller, and probably many others.
Written in 1942, it was perfect for the time, with one theme being how people dehumanize others - and yet it’s timeless. But who is evil here? As extinction looms, the ordinary suburban family thinks oh, if only all these people were out of our way, what a better world it would be, or oh, those others won’t feel pain and suffering as deeply as we would in their places, as they view them from positions of greater comfort. The insidiousness in humanity that leads to Hitler and Mussolini starts with these kinds of thoughts, and are probably within us all.
And yet we persevere. Our best hope? Act three shows it to be books, and learning, and those from our past who were most enlightened, and who reach out to us over time to impart wisdom, and to warn us of the mistakes their generation made. Are they successful in doing this? There are no easy answers here, and the play may be a litmus test. Many early viewers found it “defeatist” and left the theater before it was over, possibly having been also overwhelmed by the absurdity of it at a time when other performances were light comedies or musicals. The recurrence across the three acts may have you concluding the same thing. And yet Wilder himself was an optimist, and saw it as a message of hope. Personally, I think it says that we are our own enemy, and yet we must hope – and while this paradox is absurd, it’s the reality of our condition.
Easily 5 stars. Stunning and a must-read.
Quotes:
On fathers and daughters; this from the mother:
“Don’t you know your father thinks your perfect? Don’t you know he couldn’t live if he didn’t think you were perfect?”
On fortune telling:
Fortune Teller: “I tell the future. Keck. Nothing easier. Everybody’s future is in their face. Nothing easier.
But who can tell your past, eh? Nobody!
Your youth, - where did it go? It slipped away while you weren’t looking. While you were asleep. While you were drunk? Puh! You’re like our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus; you lie awake nights trying to know your past. What did it mean? What was it trying to say to you?”
On love:
Sabina: “There’s that old whine again. All you people think you’re not loved enough, nobody loves you. Well, you start being lovable and we’ll love you.”
On Man’s achievements in the face of possible annihilation; I loved these lines:
Telegraph Boy: ‘Then listen to this: ‘Ten tens make a hundred semi-colon consequences far-reaching.’
Mrs. Andrews: ‘The earth’s turning to ice, and all he can do is make up new numbers.’
Telegraph Boy: ‘Well, Mrs. Antrobus, like the head man at our office said: a few more discoveries like that and we’ll be worth freezing.’
On women; go Thornton:
Mrs. Antrobus:
“It’s a bottle. And in the bottle’s a letter. And in the letter is written all the things that a woman knows.
It’s never been told to any man and it’s never been told to any woman, and if it finds its destination, a new time will come. We’re not what books and plays say we are. We’re not what advertisements say we are. We’re not in the movies and we’re not on the radio.
We’re not what you’re all told and what you think we are:
We ourselves. And if any man can find one of us he’ll learn why the whole universe was set in motion.”
In Act I, the Antrobus family, George and Maggie with children Gladys and Henry, and their perpetual maid, Sabina confronts the great ice age. Valuing intellect with an eye towards the future, George invites in refugees of Homer, Moses, the Muses, and a doctor. To make room for the refugees, he takes out the family pets – a dinosaur and a mammoth. (Get it? Haha.) Meanwhile, he has invented the wheel, alphabet, and math. This was my favorite act.
In Act II, George has been elected the President of the Mammals party (vs. other species) and was partying at a convention where two of every species gathered. Naturally, the act ends with the great flood.
In Act III, they have just survived the war. Their son Henry was a general of the enemy side. The need to recover from war is physical (a nifty straightening out the house on stage) and mental (rebuilding of the family unit, despair). The source of comfort is books! I.e., knowledge. Everyone puts on the same outfit as the first act. The cycle continues – the resiliency of the human species.
Style wise, this play was revolutionary in its days employing audience engagement, having the actors playing the actor’s roles and themselves and even critiquing aspects of the play (most affecting in Act III), and the occasional stage manager participation. Its non-standard format resulted in audiences leaving the show early (confused?), so much so that the Playbill was updated with a leaflet to better explain the context of the play.
As I read the Afterword of Wilder’s hopes and the message he seeks to deliver, I thought of the present day – the threat of nuclear war, multiple major natural disasters throughout the world, and ethnic/racial/religious hatred towards each other. A side of me feel as though we just might be heading towards the end of an act with a dooming disaster in the horizon. But Wilder’s point is that we keep going, we persevere. We return to books for guidance. Amongst George’s closing statements: “…We’ve come a long ways. We’ve learned. We’re learning...” Seeing the world as it is now, that last bit is quite an understatement. There is a crap-ton to learn yet!
What a play. When I was done, I sat there holding the book thinking how thoroughly complete and perfect it is. I sure hope to see it performed someday.
Two quotes:
On inventions, this was so creative:
Telegraph Boy: ‘Then listen to this: ‘Ten tens make a hundred semi-colon consequences far-reaching.’
Mrs. Andrews: ‘The earth’s turning to ice, and all he can do is make up new numbers.’
Telegraph Boy: ‘Well, Mrs. Antrobus, like the head man at our office said: a few more discoveries like that and we’ll be worth freezing.’
On women, from Mrs. Antrobus:
“It’s a bottle. And in the bottle’s a letter. And in the letter is written all the things that a woman knows.
It’s never been told to any man and it’s never been told to any woman, and if it finds its destination, a new time will come. We’re not what books and plays say we are. We’re not what advertisements say we are. We’re not in the movies and we’re not on the radio.
We’re not what you’re all told and what you think we are:
We're ourselves. And if any man can find one of us he’ll learn why the whole universe was set in motion.”
Granted, poetry and plays are not my favourite forms of literature. It's not that I dislike them, it's just that I often lose my patience with them. I also find that there
I have to admit that I preferred Our Town. Although the plot of this play was certainly interesting - it follows an unusual family that manages to live through all of the world's biggest events - I found it easier to relate to Our Town. The message was great - history repeating itself and whatnot - but it's still second on the list.
There was an amazing humour in these characters though. I loved how they would turn to the audience to issue the occasional sarcastic line. It was clear that this play didn't take itself too seriously, and it was really all the better for that!