Customer Reviews

The Kentucky Cycle.

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Using two family histories, The Kentucky Cycle charts the tragic sequence of events that show the American heritage of greed and violence. Good impulses in individuals are overrun by bad ones, until the earth itself is destroyed. Success is always corrupted by selfishness--the craving for power and wealth. Indians, Irish immigrants and black slaves contend with these cravings, and are ultimately overpowered by more powerful earlier settlers of the U.S. It's a heart-breaking and realistic set of plays, reminiscent of How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewelwyn, who wrote of Welsh coal miners.

"The Kentucky Cycle" is simply put, a blaze of theatrical energy. Mr. Schenkkan has written a masterful piece of descriptive literature that leads the reader on a journey where each protagonist is forced into devastating behavior and choices, only so they could ultimately survive. And survive they do, and ultimately live lives filled with ambition, loss, love, and ultimately, redemption.

Indeed following the lives of two warring clans, as well as the battle for land taken from its rightful owners, The Kentucky Cycle weaves cross-cultural lore in and out of its words, beautifully and sometimes painfully mingling the beliefs and truths of differing societies. Easily of the most haunting of moments is the segment which introduces to the reader the character of Morning Star, captured early on in this story. She is a free-spirited Native American woman, essentially taken hostage by one of the Rowen men, maybe looking for a wife, or maybe just a conquest. But her ploy and her grace are so beautifully drawn out in her dealings with her new husband and later on with her only surviving child. I say "her only surviving child" due to the fact that her husband only desired male children, and made good on the threat that he would kill any daughters born to him. This girl child does ultimately survive, as the triumphant ending of this masterpiece attests to, but the crushing blow to Star's spirit when her daughter is initially taken from her is easily one of the most wrenching portions of the entire work.

As an actress, I would dearly love to be involved in a production of this play. As an audience, I would be equally mesmerized. For the earlier reasons, it has some of the most evocative, stunning audition material I have ever read. As an audience member, the spectacle of The Kentucky Cycle leaves me absolutely speechless.

I highly recommend this piece, both as a stunning read as well as ideas for future productions of same.

I've seen a production of this play, and the only word to describe it is "masterpiece"--and an extraordinary one at that. In my opinion, this is *THE* great American play. The Kentucky Cycle is an incredibly ambitious play that doesn't reveal its cards too quickly. Stay with it and be patient, and the payoff will be immense. I think some of the other reviewers here have missed the whole point of the play--while this is nominally about Kentucky, it's ambitions are far bigger, and Kentucky is nothing but a metaphor for America. This is an "alternative" telling of the story of the United States' domestic history, and it's a brutal story without the heroics and glorious themes that popular history teaches us. There is a lot of truth that Schenkkan explores and puts forward that gets whitewashed over in the conventional historical narrative. We overlook this truth not because it's not true, but rather because it's uncomfortable. This is provoking, challenging, and very powerful stuff. Anyone who crosses the path of this play and does not read it (or even better, see it) is cheating themselves out of a great, transcendent experience. If Robert Schenkkan ever sees this--thank you for creating something so magnificent. The Kentucky Cycle deserves every last bit of praise it has received--and then some.

This play is wonderfully beautiful (not to mention action-packed, bloody, and thrilling). There are so many symbols repeatedly used throughout and a ton of different cycles represented in abstract and literal ways. It's a stunning look at American history. Also, the music 'beat' punctuation of this play is quite interesting. The intricacy and connectivity between the different parts are really surprising and astounding.

My favorite part is the ending. A total explosion.

I have never read anything like this play before. I really want to see it in person.

I came into contact with this work in college, at a school in Kentucky. I know all about the controversy--that it portrays Kentuckians as brutal thugs and backwards rubes, that it's not true. Having spent time in Kentucky, having been around Appalachian culture all my life, I can say, what he may have missed in the details, he got in the overall story. You can not look at history through rose-colored glasses. What happens in this play HAPPENED in real life, throughout Appalachia. There are parts of the play series that are hard to get through, but there is also an honesty that makes it worthwhile. You see yourself in the characters. You ache for the characters, for what is taken from them. You get angry at how the coal companies treat them, how they treat each other. The play makes you ask yourself hard questions and that is why we have theatre; to entertain, but also to shine a light into the dark corners of our history and ourselves.

I just absolutely love it! I have to read it for school, and it sounded really boring, but it turns out that it's one of the best books I've ever read. I strongly recommend it.

This is an epic story tracing a family over 9 generations. It is AMAZING. I could not put it down. The style of Shenkkan's writing and the ambition of the story reminded me of Gone with the Wind. Anyone involved or interested in the theatre must read this book!

An excellent adventure drama which parallels the growth of a rowdy young nation.

Living in Kentucky, I was looking forward to reading this. However, it took only a few pages to see that the dialogue didn't ring true. The thoughts and conversations seem more like what a 20th century playwright would think, rather than an early American settler.