SHE RODE HORSES: ON THE EDGE
Edward Albee once said famously in reference to the meaning of his plays:
“It’s about everything that happens in the course of the play to each of the characters, why it happens, why it should happen, why it shouldn’t happen. Why one character decides that one thing is true and the other is a lie. It’s about all of that. Any play that can be defined and whose meaning can be stated in one sentence… that play should be one sentence long.” - Edward Albee
This quote has given me great comfort throughout our company’s journey towards unraveling and inhabiting She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange by Amelia Roper. Because quite simply, it is about everything. And also nothing. All at the same time!
My guide through this work has been more of a feeling than a thought. The feeling you get in your gut when you’re standing on the edge of something. Something so much greater than you know, and the majesty of that; sending everything else swirling into perspective. And although this play is set ten years ago now, in 2007 on the eve of the GFC, in a funny way it feels like we’re about to arrive at a similar place in history once again, at the precipice of a future that may not be as sustainable as we once thought.
Image: Clare Hawley
Image: Clare Hawley
Image: Clare Hawley
This play explores the mythology of the American Dream, like a petri dish for Western culture. (While similarly, being set in a park feels like a petri dish for people watching and capturing casual human interaction.) A dream that fuels the self-made man, with pressure to own property and succeed in business. But what is it’s true cost to both society and individuals, when profit is created via the downfall of others? Where is one to place culpability? Perhaps we each play a role in this web of consumerism?
Above all, this is a play that places it’s characters at it’s heart. And these are four characters I honestly don’t believe I’ve seen portrayed on stage before. This is the next generation navigating a brave new frontier of gender roles and expectations; Roper conjures a world that examines a crisis of masculinity alongside feminism. Two perspectives that I strongly believe need to be part of the same conversation.
“I like plays because two characters can say entirely contradictory things and both be right. Or the truth is somewhere in the air between the actors. Sometimes. And sometimes no one knows what the hell is going on and the play becomes about the struggle to articulate. Simplifying big ideas is something artists can do, need to do, and not because simple means stupid (simple is incredibly difficult).” - Amelia Roper
Sometimes when I think about the sustainability of our society, and of our planet, it feels like looking into the sun. And what I admire most about Roper’s script is the accessibility of her humour and dialogue. My wish for our dear audience, is to enjoy your night out and have a great big laugh; whilst warmly inviting you to let some of these big ideas resonate and follow you home for later.
Image: Clare Hawley