The Author’s Voice is an interesting tale about the tumbling chase of quick fame by a self-proclaimed handsome writer, written by Richard Greenberg, a Tony award winning American playwright, who holds nearly twenty five successful plays to his credit. The Author’s Voice happened to be one of the major hits of New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Marathon’87. This play falls under the genre of comedy and illustrates a complex and equivocal liaison between the author and his muse. The portrayal of the muse, who is the fountainhead whence the author’s inspiration outflows, brings
Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame to the mind.
Infatuated with her latest talent, a handsome young writer who is an epitome of “beauty and pain”; an young, attractive and energetic editor arrives at his apartment to find his source of inspiration as well as some
private moments of intimacy. Her yarning for a mutually rewarding creative and personal comradeship is evident from her willing advances toward the writer, who in turn keeps an arms length and never lets his emotions to land up unbraced. Looking around meticulously for “clues”/ “leads”, she experiences an unnatural sniff around the barred door of the adjoining room. Throughout the first
scene of the play, “the Author’s Voice”, the adjacent room is treated as the central point of Portia’s curiosity and the discussion between Portia and Todd. In the second scene the secret of the room is revealed before the audience exploring the dramatic technique of exposition. The private chamber is not the neighbour’s place, as Todd claims to Portia in the first scene; it is the “lair” of an ugly, Quasimodo-like
gnome, Gene, who does the writing for the handsome author. This horrible-looking gnome pursues all brilliant literary activity for the so-called writer whose only credit to his masterpieces is his exquisite jacket photograph. Much to the amusement of the audience, the word “litany” stands central to the dialogue between Todd and Gene during the second scene. Todd and his personified inspiration have entered into an irrevocably agonizing companionship. Gene faces horrible confinement and Todd leads an uneasy life, as he confesses to the gnome-“You’re the whole problem of my life, but without you I don’t have any life.”
During the course of the play when Gene’s surreptitious expedition is exposed before Todd, the later does not shudder for a moment to inflict untold misery and assault upon the gnome. Later Todd’s wrath thaws and he compromises with Gene again. Gene prepares Todd for a beautiful romantic evening together, by teaching him the styles of romantic approach and effective dialogues. Gene’s sudden entry dampens the romance of the night down and he is penalized to be locked in the private room till he finishes a book, “a goddamn publishable item”. When the marketable book is finally in print, Todd discovers to his horror that this time the gnome has taken all possible revenge. His literary fate is also submerged into the cesspool of plagiarism.
The symbolic figure of Gene stands central to the plays theme. This figure can metaphorically be taken as the extreme artistic inner passion, the ardent face of talent of a creative artist. The simultaneous cohabiting of the ugly talent and handsome maneuvering exploiter are mutually complimentary and interdependent. Through the funny and interesting twists of the plot, the playwright has aptly hinted at the cynical profit-oriented publishing business and the break-neck hurry and competition among the budding writers for ready-made success, fame and dollars.
More summaries about the The Author''s Voice