Eight Gay Friends

            If a historian read Love! Valour! Compassion! By Terrence McNally I think the biggest thing they would have trouble understanding is the difference between reality and illusion. I believe this would be an issue because even I had trouble understanding this. It is very hard to tell when the characters are talking to each other or when they are having an aside to the audience. It is also heard to determine how this era feels about T-Truth. Does it exist? Love! Valour! Compassion! Is very different than anything we have read before such as well made plays. There is nothing that is really a secret in this play. All of the men are very open with each other. Yes you could say that the fact the Bobby and Ramon had a sexual encounter is a secret, but it is not a secret that drives the plot of the play. There is some dramatic irony taking place here. This play is also different from other plays we have read because it includes a cast of all male characters. The thing that stands out the most to me as the biggest difference between this play and the others we have read is the fact that this play deals with issues that are current. This is partially because it was written in 1994, but I also think it is because the difference between this and well made plays is that it is now ok to talk about issues that are relevant in today’s society. I am sure there were controversies back when The Glass of Water was written, but it was thought that when going to the theatre we wanted to see something that took us out of our everyday life and made us forget. Today theatre is moving into a place that we want the shows we see to make us think about our own lives. Playwrights are writing plays that make us think and hopefully react.