Never struck me the way it did when I saw Mike Nichols' production this weekend.
You never really understand this play until you've worked in an office, dreaming of outside...
BIFF: And suddenly I stopped, you hear me? And in the middle of that office building, do you hear this? I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw - the sky. I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and said to myself, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am! Why can’t I say that, Willy?
This brings back memories of a terrible job, in an office, and my escapes to Union Square to sit in the sun for a few minutes and drink a tiny bottle of S. Pellegrino. I recall really needing those escapes. Oh my, that job was miserable...
ReplyDelete