‘Prostitute’raises questions
Dan Brunell Emerald
(Above) Katie Plien, Sarah Turnquist and Talia Thelen (left to right) warm up for
Sunday night’s rehearsal, and Annie Branson (right) puts emotion into her charac
ter before the production runs before an audience tonight.
r
■The student production
takes on a much different
setting than the original play
REVIEW
’Ihe Kespectful Prostitute’
By Mason West
Oregon Daily Emerald
The-moral backbone of American
life, or perhaps just life in general,
has just been ripped out a la Mortal
Kombat in “The Respectful Prosti
tute,” a play by Jean-Paul Sartre.
The show, opening in the Pocket
Playhouse today at 5 p.m., deals with
the darker side of humanity and
morality. More specifically, it poses
the question: What does it take for
people to abandon their morals?
This question is even apparent in
how one interprets the title of the
play. Is it that there is a prostitute
who is trying to be respectful, or, to
make “prostitute” a verb, is the re
spectful person one who prostitutes
his or her morals?
Although Sartre set the play in the
American South during the 1940s,
director Kim Harmon has reset it in
World War II Germany. None of the
dialogue has been changed, which
may cause the audience to have
some difficulty associating the name
“nigger,” which Sartre uses in his
play as a slur against African-Ameri
cans, with the non-black Jewish or
homosexual characters that Harmon
has created.
The play itself is about a prostitute
who has witnessed a black man be
ing murdered by a white man with
out cause. The white men have creat
ed an alibi, saying the black man and
his companion tried to rape the pros
titute and the white man came in and
brought justice. The prostitute is then
confronted by people during the play
trying to break her resolve to the truth
and sign an affidavit agreeing with
the alibi.
“It’s not pleasant, but I think it’s
fascinating,” said Harmon.
Harmon’s interest in the script not
only shows in the acting but in the set
and lighting design. The visual aspect
that Harmon has created for her play
is an important part of how she con
veys the message to the audience.
“I wanted to set the play up so vi
sually, you see a different story than
people are talking about,” Harmon
said.
The lighting is dramatic and well
above average for a Pocket produc
tion. The lights and set are designed
in the Brechtian style, which is
specifically minimalistic.
“The style was designed so that
audiences can see what is’going on
in the play and process it intellectu
ally but not get involved in it emo
tionally,” Harmon said.
This creates a certain problem for
the audience because the play is act
ed emotionally. To watch that kind of
openness without any sort of sympa
thy is irritating. The goal is certainly
to be made uncomfortable with the
situation, but audiences may with
draw from the play because of lack of
desire to engage in it intellectually.
Harmon accomplishes her goal of
showing one person’s moral corrup
tion and the effects of that process.
Whether the audience members
take the play home with them and
question their own breaking point
is up to them.
Without any judgment, the play
is an interesting adaptation and ex
periment in theater. It isn’t good for
a fun night out on the town, but if
you want to go sit and drink coffee
and smoke afterward — if that’s
your thing — this will give you a
good starting ground for an interest
ing conversation.
The play shows at 5 p.m. today
through Saturday in the Pocket
Playhouse.
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