The Sweet Bird of Youth: Act 1 Scene 1
Soooooo, based on the background we already know prior to reading, Princess is middle aged but her career is based on her youthful looks and mannerisms. She’s a sex addict, so she’s made her way around the block a few times, if you know what I mean. Maybe that gives her some wisdom? In a weird way? But another thing that stuck out to me, other than her fancy illegal Moroccan drugs, was the way in which she spoke. She sounds like an overdramatic grandmother to a snobby, dependent grandson. If I didn’t have the background and I never saw an actress playing her role (as an actress ha-ha), I would probably instead picture a much older woman, solely because of her diction.
First, a huge bell-going-off-in-someone’s-head is definitely when she freaks out without either of two things: her breathing machine and her glasses. Uh, OK, so she can’t breathe or see I guess. When she says to Chance, “Wouldn’t that be pretty? A year in jail in one of those model prisons for distinguished addicts. What is it? Don’t you know what it is you beautiful, stupid young man? It’s hashish, Moroccan, the finest,” she throws up a few red flags. The biggest one is when she calls him a stupid, young man. She obviously knows he’s younger, but I’d assume most other women in her position would be at least somewhat ashamed to admit they just slept with a man half their age. Then again, she even admits to Chance that she’s “not common.” But also, back to my earlier exploitation of her dialogue, she then depicts an entire, dramatic image for being caught with her illegal substances, overdramatizing the event in a way that any regular woman wouldn’t do and any youth just wouldn’t care to take the time to do. But I guess back to her whole spiel of “In all respects I’m not common,” line. To me, however, the whole useless imagery she paints makes her sound pretty darn old. And definitely not middle aged having existential crises every few hours. Like nearing her deathbed old.
2.) Princess talks. A LOT.
Honestly, right after I realized Princess talked with ancient language, I decided she uses way too much of it. Her dialogue takes far too long to explain far too little. She could easily condense her thoughts into a couple of words. But I understand she’s in the acting career and she has to add some flair to what she has to say in order to get any respect as an actress. And after being successful and in the industry so long, it most likely is just ingrained in her consciousness to use as much space as possible to say as little as possible.
For example, when she had that huge “remembering” of how she was so embarrassed that people saw how she was losing her youthfulness that she tripped over her dress trying to run away from the audience. She used twenty sentences to say what I could in two. “I was so embarrassed when I tried to come-back to acting with a youthful look and people in the audience audibly gasped that I ran away from them and tripped over my over-elaborate ball gown. Then I was more embarrassed because I fell.” Maybe it just doesn’t have the same dramatic effect she did. But, all talk of dramatic effect aside, Princess takes up far more lines than Chance does in this scene. Which left a huge impression on me right off the get-go that Princess likes to have the spotlight on her… Literally and metaphorically.
And honestly, maybe I’m a culprit of using so much space to say one statement right now in this blog. Using 296 words to say what realistically could be done in seven; “Princess talks a lot more than Chance.” But where’s the dramatic effect in that?
3.) Is Chance just dumb?
I was struck with the impression that maybe Chance is just an idiot. Maybe 65% of the way through the reading I was hit with that realization. Right at the time where he’s all smug about busting her drugs with the tape recorder and then she counters him with her (might I add lengthy) speech about how bad he is at playing the villain. She says, “You are trembling and sweating… You see, this part doesn’t suit you, you just don’t play it well, Chance,” drawing out his insecurities and calling him out for poorly executed acting. She’s pointing out that, despite his tough face and strong attempts, he just isn’t cutting it. Which could potentially spiral Chance into a black hole of thinking he wasn’t good enough and that’s why his acting never took off, etc. showing how Princess knew exactly how to manipulate him (maybe her wisdom does come with her sex addiction).
Then, after realizing that maybe Chance was not intelligent, through reading the rest of the play and skimming back through the beginning to test my theory, Princess somehow convinces him that she needs to “forget” through the “act of love-making” and that the only person she “wants” for such a deed is him. Chance was so ready to lock her down and force her to sign his contract to get him on a super-talented-and-respected acting career but the second she started to chip away at his exterior, he melted straight into a puddle of pure puppetry, his every thought being controlled by Princess. Is he dumb or is he just insecure?
4.) Why’s Chance such a weenie?
4.) Why’s Chance such a weenie?
“Oh, I’m so cool I can blackmail older women and sleep with them in the same day. I’m so cool for being a male prostitute and then also trying to force the women I’m with into signing me for a record. Oh, it’s so cool that I’m such a great, undiscovered actor who does drugs and probably has a drinking problem. Ohhhhhh, I’m sooooooo cool for being so sneaky about bringing this older woman who can’t even remember what she had for dinner last night to St. Cloud so I actually can just hook back up with my old high school sweetheart I ditched a bunch of years back. Ooooo I can get mad at my old friends for getting engaged to my ex-girlfriend after I ran away from town and left everything behind. So cool.”
I feel like Chance is a big weenie. I started getting that feeling when he called Princess a, “plump lady,” and when he wanted, “the Bromo first,” when Fly was at his hotel room and when he was only focused on Heavenly, even after finding out his mother had passed away (but seriously how did he not know that?!). He’s vibing straight rudeness half the time, a condescending attitude half the time, and clear ignorance the other half of the time. Maybe I’m just feeling negative about this guy but I really am not painting too good of an image. Might I restate the fact that he didn’t even know his MOM DIED, yet even after he did find out he still NEGLECTED TO CARE. Uh, if he doesn’t spell out W-E-E-N-I-E, I don’t know what else does.
OK you're cool.
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