The Blue Room: A Play in Ten Intimate Acts [Paperback]

David Hare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 1998

Arthur Schnitzler described Reigen, his loose series of sexual sketches, as "completely unprintable, " and indeed its premiere in 1921 spurred an obscenity suit. It was only when Max Ophuls made his famous film in 1950 that the work became better known as La Ronde. Now David Hare has reset these circular scenes of love and betrayal in the present day, with a cast of two actors playing a succession of characters whose sexual lives enmesh like a daisy chain. The Blue Room is a meditation on men and women, sex and social class, actors and the theater. With deft insight about the gap between the sexes, The Blue Room takes the treacherous Freudian subject of projection and desire and reinvents it in a bittersweet landscape that is both eternal and completely up-to-date.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Hare's] play slides up on one insidiously-always suggesting more than they first suggest, planting depth charges in the mind, subtly laying a minefield in the self-confidence of one's first impressions." -New York Post

"A witty, contemporary reworking of Arthur Schnitzler's nineteenth-century shocker La Ronde." -The Mail on Sunday (four stars)

"In the jungle of this city, sex is a driving force, a commodity and a need. . . . This play could almost be a vividly illustrated Freudian textbook: the erotic drive in action, amoral and ruthless. Hare's version is, in the deepest and most essential sense, completely faithful to Schnitzler." -John Peter, The Sunday Times (London)

"Hare-buttressed by Freud and Proust-has turned sexual disappointment into something more interesting, the idea that what we are in love with is part illusion." -Kate Kellaway, The Observer

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

From the Back Cover

Arthur Schnitzler described Reigen, his loose series of sexual sketches, as "completely unprintable," and indeed its premiere in 1921 spurred an obscenity suit. It was only when Max Ophls made his famous film in 1950 that the work became better known as La Ronde. Now David Hare has reset these circular scenes of love and betrayal in the present day, with a cast of two actors playing a succession of characters whose sexual lives enmesh like a daisy chain. The Blue Room is a brilliant meditation on men and women, sex and social class, actors and the theater. With deft insight about the gap between the sexes, The Blue Room takes the treacherous Freudian subject of projection and desire and reinvents it in a bittersweet landscape that is both eternal and completely up-to-date.

"[Hare's] play slides up on one insidiously-always suggesting more than they first suggest, planting depth charges in the mind, subtly laying a minefield in the self-confidence of one's first impressions."-New York Post

"A witty, contemporary reworking of Arthur Schnitzler's nineteenth-century shocker La Ronde."-The Mail on Sunday (four stars)

"In the jungle of this city, sex is a driving force, a commodity and a need. . . . This play could almost be a vividly illustrated Freudian textbook: the erotic drive in action, amoral and ruthless. Hare's version is, in the deepest and most essential sense, completely faithful to Schnitzler."-John Peter, The Sunday Times (London)

"Hare-buttressed by Freud and Proust-has turned sexual disappointment into something more interesting, the idea that what we are in love with is part illusion."-Kate Kellaway, The Observer

David Hare was born in Sussex in 1947. He is the author of seventeen plays, the best known of which-Plenty, The Secret Rapture, Racing Demon, Skylight, and The Judas Kiss-have all been presented on Broadway.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (December 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080213596X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802135964
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick, easy, witty, but not earth-shaking, June 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Blue Room: A Play in Ten Intimate Acts (Paperback)

David Hare's dry humor underlies most lines in this play and, as a result, it is a funny enough read. Prior to reading Hare's adaptation of La Ronde, I saw the Broadway version. The audience at the theater failed to laugh at the underlying humor as it was not emphasized. The text, however, brings out this facet of the play very well. Overall, however, there is nothing special about the the play itself. It is a cursory analysis of sexuality and sexual politics. But it's not the Kinsey report.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Le Ronde Redux, October 16, 2010

By 

bongo (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Blue Room: A Play in Ten Intimate Acts (Paperback)

The play is structured like this - Character A hooks up with Character B in scene 1. In scene 2 Character B hooks up with Character C. In scene 3 Character C hooks up with... you get the idea.

Here's an example of what I mean by 'hook up':

Girl - Watch out, or we'll both be in the water ...
Cab Driver - Great ...
Girl - We'll both be in the water.
Music engulfs them. The lights go out. A projected slide reads: THREE MINUTES.
***
Light returns. The GIRL is lying on the ground. The CAB DRIVER is kneeling beside her, his hands on his knees.

The same thing, more or less, happens in each of the ten scenes. You get two scenes with each character. In the first a character will act one way and in the next they'll act a different way. For example, in one scene a politician is with his wife and he's serious and sincere, and then in the next he's with a coke snorting model and he's talking slick. That's about it. The Blue Room is random people talking just before and just after sex.

When I got this I thought it sounded cheeky and offbeat but actually reading it was a let down. Pretty much nothing happens. Yeah, you get to see people committing adultery, patronizing prostitutes, etc, but since you don't know anything about them, who cares what they do?... Actually, you learn a little about them: the actress was flippant, the cab driver was crass, the au pair naive, etc. There is some characterization, but it's pretty weak.

It moves along briskly and I give it points for being different, but overall it's dull and about as risque as the Saturday night movie on Cinemax.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riviting and Exciting!, May 18, 2001

By 

Charles Hilton (Blacksburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blue Room: A Play in Ten Intimate Acts (Paperback)

David Hare's adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's "La Ronde" is nothing short of amazing. The twisting strand of relationships that course through the scenes is filled with mirror images of ourselves. Either in the lives we lead, what we invision in our mind, or in the world we see around us. There are so many difference's between the ten characters, but what makes it truly interesting is when you realize just what might be the same about them.

This play is a first rate pick!