Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

Lips Together, Teeth Apart is a play that shows the fast pace society that we call America. Touching on issues such as extramarital affairs, homosexuality, and AIDS, McNally exhibits a culture that we know exists, but want to deny the facts. It may take another read or two in order to see the humor in the dialogue. Having read other plays such as Angels in America, Lips treats society with a kind hand and a turn of the cheek. Each character has a problem, resulting in their own monologue to find their true personality. Read it with an open mind and an open heart!