Lips Together, Teeth Apart: A Play (Drama, Plume) [Paperback]

Terrence McNally (Author)

Book Description

Series: Drama, Plume | Publication Date: May 1, 1992

As two couples spend the 4th of July in a house left to one of the women by her brother, a victim of AIDS, they mask their fear with desperate wit and hide inside uncomfortable marriages--each character struggling to come to terms with a world of anxious isolation haunted by ever-present death. A powerful play Frankie and Johnny.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Plume (May 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452268079
• ISBN-13: 978-0452268074
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #387,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a little bit artsy and very cliche, September 21, 2003

By 

erica "ejs192" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lips Together, Teeth Apart: A Play (Drama, Plume) (Paperback)

Two couples - Sally and her husband Sam; Chloe (Sam's sister) and her husband John - are spending the weekend at the Fire Island home left to Sally by her brother, who has died of AIDS. The tensions between the four of them - tense marriages; old, uncomfortable relationships - and their isolation are played out over the course of one summer day.

Much has been made of this play, how beautiful it is, how expertly it shows the fear and ultimate aloneness of everyone, even amidst the tumble of our busy lives. And the script does make an enjoyable read, kind of a period piece of the late-eighties culture. It could be an affecting show, with the right cast.

But it's nothing great or memorable. Supposedly it deals with homosexuality and AIDS very honestly and poignantly. But it doesn't. It deals with the reactions of four overbred heterosexuals to the existence of homosexuality - reactions that range only narrowly, from mild repugnance to forced indifference. The loneliness and fear that it takes such pains to elucidate is also nothing new; every playwright from Shakespeare to Ibsen to Tennessee Williams (not to mention every novelist and poet) has shown the protagonist alone despite appearances.

The real uniqueness of "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" lies in its adolescence: it's all stagnation and angst, with characters speaking their lines largely to the audience or themselves. As an effect it's interesting, but it's a two-bit trick that can't carry the whole play. No relationships are developed, nothing actually happens between the characters. It's deeply lazy on the playwright's part, and deeply unrealistic. People do hear the words their companions say; the subtext is what goes unheeded. Loneliness comes from the conflict between text and subtext; eliminating the text and elevating the subtext reduces human interaction to a series of soliloquies. The real distance between people does not come from the fact that the person talking has a spotlight and everybody else is frozen in the dark.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this play should not be taken at face value, November 30, 2002

By 

The Erika "fancy lady" (norman, ok United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lips Together, Teeth Apart: A Play (Drama, Plume) (Paperback)

You will read lots of reviews from people telling you this play deals with homosexuality and AIDS, and 'isn't it a tough subject?' They're wrong. This play is about fear. If you can see that, you will fall in love with this play.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrence McNally = Art, January 1, 2002

By 

Sean (Boca Raton, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lips Together, Teeth Apart: A Play (Drama, Plume) (Paperback)

Terrence McNally is Art. He's never failed to astound me, be it in the way he deals with sensitive topics with humor, or the way he conveys the humanity is a comical situation. Lips is an amazing play that deals with tough issues, such as AIDS, extramarital affairs, homosexuality, and acceptance. It shows how people naturally want to sweep difficult issues under the rug and never really want to accept that which is hard for them to deal. All taking place on a 4th of July Weekend, Lips Together, Teeth Apart follows two couples staying at the home of a gay man who died of AIDS, and how they are unable to talk about it. Each of them has a story to tell, and a personal issue to deal with, though none of them like to discuss their problems with their companions. This is a play about coming to terms with yourself and those around you, lay all your cards on the table, and those who stick around, stick around. I reccomend this strongly to anyone in theatre and even anyone interested in reading a compassionate play.