I am a huge fan of Friends, the famous 90s sitcom. I have a tremendous respect for Matthew Perry and for his work. He's definitely a very sensitive actor with a very special comedy timing. Friends was a huge hit and I can't imagine living in the shadow of a character like Chandler Bing. I do appreciate his attempts of reinventing himself, like writing this new play, The End of Longing, and bringing a very deep confessional tone to it.
There was definitely a crescendo in the play. The first scenes were nothing new to me, nothing I hadn't seen before, the conflicts and character's challenges were familiar, the dialogues were very straightforward, slightly predictable. But that's my problem, not Matthew's problem as a writer, not a play's problem. As an actor, I watch and read so many plays and films about relationships, that I become to aware of everything. I see people talking in a cafe and I dream of turning that moment into a scene. I want to film their tragedies and random conversations, I want to take that moment to a stage. There's not much left to say or to write about love and death, passion and boredom, guilt and dreams.
I am a pessimist, I know. That's why I haven't finished my script yet. I always have a little voice chasing me and whispering :"I saw this ending before", "I hear people talking about this everyday". I'm stuck because the turning point where I should surprise people is just not surprising to anyone anymore, or at least, it's not surprising to me anymore and this is artistically painful. At the same time, you don't want to try hard, you don't want to create something different just because you want to be different. I'm not interested in watching a rational and intellectual process of storytelling that was designed to be original. Just original.
I am gonna tell you what I loved about The End of Longing even though it wasn't an original play. The End of Longing was nothing new to me but it was honest. You know when Billy Elliot says "I feel electricity in my body when I'm dancing". I felt electricity in Matthew Perry's performance. I value his honesty and how vulnerable he became. I value his courage. His performance was real and truthful and it moved me. I read critics but what I do like is to follow the discussion between readers, the debate. I don't let myself get influenced by reviews thought. The End of Longing is a different play, it's written in a television format and although many people criticize that, it didn't bother me at all. I felt the difference but it didn't disturb me. The characters struggle to be a better version of themselves, they aim for a change which is delightful and inspiring to watch.
I watched terrible plays that had amazing reviews and the opposite is also true. When I go to the theatre I want to be moved at some point and I was moved by The End of Longing.
As I said, this play is a crescendo, by the end everyone was silent. We laughed in the beginning and there was an uncomfortable silence in the end. I cried when Matthew was performing his last monologue and, today, as I was reading a review of the play, I connected to the critic's words:
"Given Perry’s well-documented, and happily conquered, period of addiction, the play feels at times like a piece of confessional therapy: when the audience applauds Jack’s climactic account of confronting his personal demons, you are not quite sure whether they are cheering the character or the actor."
I didn't know if I was crying for Matthew or for his character Jackie. That's true. This can trigger another topic - as an actor, should we take the risk of using the stage as a big therapeutic couch?
"Theatre is not therapy", they say. This is so subjective. A subjectivity that is rooted on the word "fear". Fear of seeing an actor collapsing emotionally on stage, fear of disrespecting someone's privacy and exposing an intimate story and problem on stage. I read an interview with Olivia Williams by the time she was on stage in London playing Marianne from "Scenes from a Marriage" directed by Trevor Nunn.
According to the interview, Trevor mentioned before the rehearsals began that actors shouldn't bring any of their marriages to the rehearsals. "Privately you can draw on whatever you like - indeed, I think you have to - but we don't get it out in front of each other. It will turn the play into therapy and we'll end up being unfair to on our partners, lovers, ex- lovers..."
If I had the chance to work with Trevor Nunn, I would nod, off course, but I would secretly not follow the direction and I would throw everything at the other actor as if he was my real husband or someone who, deep inside, I have issues with. I am being playful now ( am I?)... Ok... Many times, actors are in trouble inside, they are always collapsing inside at some point, but pretending to be in control, pretending they did an intensive research because they didn't know anything about the topic. Maybe they knew. That's secret. You want to pretend this is not therapy, that you're not vulnerable. You're just confident, you did your homework and you're being professional. Some actors have a huge imagination an they will provide you a truthful performance. They will win an Oscar for it. Others will give you a truthful, emotional and disturbing performance and they will take a risk! They will risk their secrets for it, their sanity. Which one do you prefer to watch? That's why I loved The End of Longing and I truly wish to see Matthew doing more cinema and dramatic roles and taking more risks and disturbing us even more with laughs and tears and uncomfortable silences.
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