Directing Wallace

Jo Bonney

pp. 227-229

in: Scott T. Cummings, Erica Stevens Abbitt (eds), The theatre of Naomi Wallace, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

Naomi's plays are very much about language. She gives her characters the gift of eloquence, of a lyrical form of speech, almost as if this is the language in their heart or the language of their imagination let loose. They are wonderful storytellers, as is Naomi. She comes from Kentucky and is part of the extraordinary history of Southern storytelling—although her stories take place all over the world. The characters in The Fever Chart and The Hard Weather Boating Party are everyday people: an Israeli soldier, a Palestinian mother, Kentucky factory workers, a Moroccan-Israeli who mops hospital floors at night. Some have an education but lack opportunities, others have little formal education, but they all give eloquent expression to the memory of a lost loved one or a vision of a hoped-for future or a longing for a dream unrealized. Naomi allows us to hear these people in a fresh way; a way that cuts through the stereotypes.