Six Degrees of Separation (play): Difference between revisions
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
The plot of the play was inspired by the real-life story of [[David Hampton]][http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/dhamptonmug1.html], a [[confidence trick|con]] man who managed to convince a number of people in the [[1980s]] that he was the son of actor [[Sidney Poitier]]. After the play became a dramatic and financial success, Hampton was tried and acquitted for harassment of Guare; he felt he was due a share of the profits that he ultimately never received.[http://slick.org/deathwatch/mailarchive/msg01075.html] |
The plot of the play was inspired by the real-life story of [[David Hampton]][http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/dhamptonmug1.html], a [[confidence trick|con]] man who managed to convince a number of people in the [[1980s]] that he was the son of actor [[Sidney Poitier]]. After the play became a dramatic and financial success, Hampton was tried and acquitted for harassment of Guare; he felt he was due a share of the profits that he ultimately never received.[http://slick.org/deathwatch/mailarchive/msg01075.html] |
||
A [[confidence man]] Paul, shows up at the home of art dealers Flan and Ouisa Kittredge who live overlooking [[Central Park]] in New York City, bearing a stab wound. He claims to be the friend of their children at [[Harvard University]] and he calls them, looking for assistance. They are trying to sell a landscape by [[Paul Cezanne]] and now have this wounded stranger in their home. Paul claims he is in New York to meet his father, who is directing a film version of the [[Broadway musical]] ''[[Cats]]''. Paul continues to charm them with his story, except that what they don't know is that the story is false; Paul is not a Harvard student but obtained their name and phone number through another student he had seduced. As the play unfolds, the Kittredges and the audience learn the true story. Eventually Paul uses their home for a homosexual encounter with a hustler but is caught ''[[in flagrante delicto]]''. The police are called, Paul is arrested, and Ouisa finds herself feeling emotionally attached to Paul, hoping to be able to help him in some way despite the fact that he has victimized them. Towards the end of the play, in a climactic moment of reflection, she delivers the play's most famous [[monologue]]: |
A [[gay]] [[confidence man]] Paul, shows up at the home of art dealers Flan and Ouisa Kittredge who live overlooking [[Central Park]] in New York City, bearing a stab wound. He claims to be the friend of their children at [[Harvard University]] and he calls them, looking for assistance. They are trying to sell a landscape by [[Paul Cezanne]] and now have this wounded stranger in their home. Paul claims he is in New York to meet his father, who is directing a film version of the [[Broadway musical]] ''[[Cats]]''. Paul continues to charm them with his story, except that what they don't know is that the story is false; Paul is not a Harvard student but obtained their name and phone number through another student he had seduced. As the play unfolds, the Kittredges and the audience learn the true story. Eventually Paul uses their home for a homosexual encounter with a hustler but is caught ''[[in flagrante delicto]]''. The police are called, Paul is arrested, and Ouisa finds herself feeling emotionally attached to Paul, hoping to be able to help him in some way despite the fact that he has victimized them. Towards the end of the play, in a climactic moment of reflection, she delivers the play's most famous [[monologue]]: |
||
:''"I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The President of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find that extremely comforting, that we're so close, but I also find it like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the connection. It's not just big names -- it's anyone. A native in a rain forest, a Tierra del Fuegan, an Eskimo. I am bound -- you are bound -- to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people. It's a profound thought -- how Paul found us, how to find the man whose son he claims to be, or perhaps is, although I doubt it. How everyone is a new door, opening into other worlds."'' |
:''"I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The President of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find that extremely comforting, that we're so close, but I also find it like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the connection. It's not just big names -- it's anyone. A native in a rain forest, a Tierra del Fuegan, an Eskimo. I am bound -- you are bound -- to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people. It's a profound thought -- how Paul found us, how to find the man whose son he claims to be, or perhaps is, although I doubt it. How everyone is a new door, opening into other worlds."'' |
||
Revision as of 20:17, 17 June 2008
| Six Degrees of Separation | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Fred Schepisi |
| Written by | John Guare |
| Produced by | Arnon Milchan |
| Starring | Stockard Channing, Will Smith, Donald Sutherland |
| Distributed by | MGM |
Release date | 8 December 1993 (USA) |
Running time | 112 min |
| Language | English |
Six Degrees of Separation is a 1990 play by John Guare. Guare's play was adapted into a 1993 film directed by Fred Schepisi, starring Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland and Will Smith. It explores the existential premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else in the world by a chain of no more than six acquaintances (see six degrees of separation).
Plot
The plot of the play was inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton[1], a con man who managed to convince a number of people in the 1980s that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier. After the play became a dramatic and financial success, Hampton was tried and acquitted for harassment of Guare; he felt he was due a share of the profits that he ultimately never received.[2]
A gay confidence man Paul, shows up at the home of art dealers Flan and Ouisa Kittredge who live overlooking Central Park in New York City, bearing a stab wound. He claims to be the friend of their children at Harvard University and he calls them, looking for assistance. They are trying to sell a landscape by Paul Cezanne and now have this wounded stranger in their home. Paul claims he is in New York to meet his father, who is directing a film version of the Broadway musical Cats. Paul continues to charm them with his story, except that what they don't know is that the story is false; Paul is not a Harvard student but obtained their name and phone number through another student he had seduced. As the play unfolds, the Kittredges and the audience learn the true story. Eventually Paul uses their home for a homosexual encounter with a hustler but is caught in flagrante delicto. The police are called, Paul is arrested, and Ouisa finds herself feeling emotionally attached to Paul, hoping to be able to help him in some way despite the fact that he has victimized them. Towards the end of the play, in a climactic moment of reflection, she delivers the play's most famous monologue:
- "I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The President of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find that extremely comforting, that we're so close, but I also find it like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the connection. It's not just big names -- it's anyone. A native in a rain forest, a Tierra del Fuegan, an Eskimo. I am bound -- you are bound -- to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people. It's a profound thought -- how Paul found us, how to find the man whose son he claims to be, or perhaps is, although I doubt it. How everyone is a new door, opening into other worlds."
A strong influence on the play and film is the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. There are some very overt references to it, as when homosexual con artist Paul (the David Hampton character in the piece) explains the thesis paper he has just written on The Catcher In The Rye[3] to a family who takes him in for the night. There are also many more subtle allusions made both in the script and in the cinematography of the film version. While one has to be familiar with the original work in order to pick up on the inferences, there are references which fall somewhere between these two extremes; such as when various characters begin to take on Holden Caulfield-esque characteristics and attitudes.
The film features cameo appearances by a number of New York society types including Kitty Carlisle Hart and the artist Chuck Close.
Play cast
The play's original production opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center on November 8, 1990.[4]
- Stockard Channing — Ouisa
- John Cunningham — Flan
- Courtney B. Vance — Paul
- Kelly Bishop — Kitty
- David Eigenberg — Hustler
- Brian Evers — Detective
- Evan Handler — Doug
- Philip LeStrange — Policeman; Eddie
- Peter Maloney — Larkin
- Robert Duncan McNeill — Rick
- Zachary J. Winston — Trent
- Robin Morse — Tess
- Mari Nelson — Elizabeth
- Stephen Pearlman — Dr. Fine
- Anthony Rapp — Ben
- Gus Rogerson — Woody
- Sam Stoneburner — Geoffrey
Kelly Bishop moved into the lead role of Ouisa later in the show's run, and Laura Linney made her Broadway debut as a replacement for the role of Tess.
Film cast
- Stockard Channing — Ouisa Kittredge
- Will Smith — Paul
- Donald Sutherland — Flan Kittredge
- Ian McKellen — Geoffrey Miller
- Mary Beth Hurt — Kitty
- Bruce Davison — Larkin
- Richard Masur — Dr. Fine
- Anthony Michael Hall — Trent Conway
- Heather Graham — Elizabeth
- Eric Thal — Rick
- Anthony Rapp — Ben
- Oz Perkins — Woodrow ('Woody') Kittredge (as Osgood Perkins II)
- Catherine Kellner — Talbot ('Tess') Kittredge
- J. J. Abrams — Doug (as Jeffrey Abrams)
- Joe Pentangelo — Police Officer
Awards
Play Awards
- 1991 Tony Award Best Play [nominee]
- 1991 Tony Award for Best Actor in Play - Courtney B. Vance [nominee]
- 1991 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - Stockard Channing [nominee]
- 1991 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - Jerry Zaks [winner]
- 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play [nominee]
- 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play - Stockard Channing [nominee]
- 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - Jerry Zaks [winner]
- 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Written by John Guare [nominee]
Film Awards
- 1994 Academy Award for Best Actress - Stockard Channing [nominee]
- 1994 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical - Stockard Channing [nominee]
