PROOF

I've slammed my share of popular plays (OLEANNA, SIGHT UNSEEN, and especially TALLEY'S FOLLY) but I don't hate all popular plays - and I've praised a few - OUR TOWN and PAINTING CHURCHES - but I've been critical more than I've praised.

 I'm going to have to write a piece about PROOF because in many ways it is a perfect play. I have an audiotape version and I've listened to it several times just to admire how finely-structured the plot is. And I even got to see PROOF on Broadway - my ex-boyfriend took me for my birthday one year.

It doesn't make for an especially dynamic movie, unfortunately, but I predict it will have a long life in theatre because it has a tiny cast, two decent roles for women and a tight, well-crafted plot.

Also - and I don't know if any critics have said this - but PROOF is sort of reverse Ophelia - what if, instead of falling apart after the death of her father and then killing herself, Ophelia falls apart but then gets her shit together by solving a famous mathematical puzzle?

I realize that a favorite theme of the theatre is the helpless suffering of women, but too bad - PROOF is what we call progress.