Bøker av David Wiltse

A golf magazine is the setting for David Wiltse's farce on the intrigues of the office. "The editorial office of a golf magazine seems an unlikely place for a comedic farce. But it makes perfect sense in the context of SCRAMBLE! By David Wiltse ... Actually, SCRAMBLE!, isn't about golf at all; it's about a very typical small office and the Byzantine romantic intrigues that go on there. The fact that this office houses a golf magazine is merely secondary to the struggles over sex and power that are the real focus of the staff's interest. The play's title, SCRAMBLE!, does owe a nod to a variation of the game of golf by that name. In the basic game of Scramble, each member of a four-person team tees off on a hole, then the best of their tee shots is selected and all players play their second shots from the location of that best tee shot, continuing on until the ball is holed. There are numerous variations on the theme, such as Texas Scramble, Florida Scramble, Reverse Scramble, and so on; there is even an organization called Scramble Golf America that organizes Scramble golf tournaments. Wiltse's play is a lot like the game, in that nobody knows quite who's on top and who's doing what to whom from one moment to the next. The plot is almost secondary to the jokes and silliness that result ... Wiltse is one of today's most versatile playwrights, but although he refuses to be limited to one genre, he is consistent when it comes to creating memorable characters. The split-second exits and entrances, the double entendres and the mistaken identities are all delivered in classic farcical style, but the characters are the ingredients that make SCRAMBLE so much fun to watch. The six players in SCRAMBLE all inhabit the too-close-for-comfort headquarters of a golf journal that is reportedly about to be sold, making all the employees extremely nervous about the future of their jobs. But even with unemployment looming, that doesn't stop the three men and three women from trying out several variations on the theme of interoffice love (or, as some would call it, workplace sexual harassment). There's sexy Temple, who doesn't know much about golf but definitely wants to get ahead in the publishing world, no matter how she has to do it. There's Jane, a high-strung copywriter with kooky layers of mismatched clothing and the unfortunate habit of talking so fast that only her true friends can understand what she's saying. There's Carter, who is a bit too comfortable in his job, considering how hard he works at it. On the management level are Sam, an editor with the instincts of a dominatrix, and Otis, the only member of the staff who seems to actually play golf. Finally, there's Johnson, a tongue-tied newcomer and Man of Mystery. Is he a genius? A poor nebbish? A spy dispatched by the new owners to report on the antics of the staff and decides who should stay or go? When these six characters collide, anything can happen. Wiltse has shown once again that he can master any stage genre ... There are plenty of quick sight gags, sound effect jokes and pratfalls going on here, in addition to all of Wiltse's clever wordplay ..." -Jackie Lupo, Scarsdale Inquirer

Based on a true story, SEDITION follows an innocent man accused of sedition during the war hysteria of World War I. "Passing Veterans Green on my way home from the Westport Country Playhouse last week, I was struck by the suddenly ambiguous statue of a World War I doughboy carrying his kit bag, helmet and rifle. Somehow, he looked burdened rather than glorious, more worn-out than brave. Surely the memorial hadn't changed; it was me. I was coming from David Wiltse's new play and my head was full of questions about America's participation in that tragic, famously unnecessary conflict. A playwright who rattles the way you see things must be doing something right. In SEDITION, Mr Wiltse reaches back to his own family history, chronicling his grandfather's World War I run-in with the enforcers of patriotism. It's a compelling story in itself, but Mr Wiltse pointedly underlines the parallels between Woodrow Wilson's decision to enter the war against Germany and George W Bush's decision to invade Iraq ..." -Sylviane Gold, New York Times "David Wiltse's political drama SEDITION ... is an eloquent, incisive and witty play sure to push a theatergoer's buttons and trample raw nerves. In the tradition of Ibsen's AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, Miller's THE CRUCIBLE and Mamet's OLEANNA, SEDITION is a passionate plea for personal freedom, honor and justice. Just as Miller's THE CRUCIBLE examines a (then) contemporary injustice - HUAC's bullying effort to ruin liberalism through the prism of a bygone travesty, the Salem witch hunts of the 1690s - Wiltse's use of the past begs the question of the present ... SEDITION is provocative theater filled with complexity and expressiveness. To whichever side one leans, it is highly unlikely that the play will leave anyone feeling indifferent." -E Kyle Minor, New Haven Register

A MARRIAGE MINUET tells the witty tale of two married couples who know the temptations of monogamy all too well. For these middle-class suburbanites, flirtation leads to temptation, and temptation leads to infidelity. Five sophisticated characters provide a theatrical glimpse into the never-ending dance that we call marriage. "Go see this play ... This is the kind of play that could change your life ... I loved this play ... here's something I really like: art that is serious and sincere and tries to tell us something true and reform us and make us whole. That is what I liked about this play. Maybe that doesn't matter to you. Maybe what you'll like about this show is that it's cleverly structured and theatrically innovative. Maybe you'll like that it's really funny ... what had me blinking back tears and jumping from my seat at the show's end was that it tried so hard to tell me - simply, directly, honestly - something important. The dialogue is wickedly clever, mixing realist conversation with baldly generalized substitutions and vocalizations of private thoughts, which critically expose the characters' intentions, hypocrisies and insincerities. It mixes over-the-top silliness with bitingly smart observations about marriage and other social constructs. The jokes are sharp ..." -Eric Delp, Herald (Bradenton, FL) "Bonbon adjectives and fizzy feelings come into play when contemplating David Wiltse's A MARRIAGE MINUET, including words that haven't been used in reviews for awhile, like 'delightful' ... The play's outline is as old as French farce ... But Wiltse's approach is ultimately modern, powered by a glib style that skips over the tedium of small talk and goes straight to the snappy lines, epigrammatic observations and libidinous foolishness. If some of the technique and stylings evoke writers such as David Ives, Woody Allen, Elaine May, and Jules Feiffer, well, it's not such bad company to emulate ..." -Frank Rizzo, Variety "The mark of a good (or even great) playwright is the ability to write in many genres. Will Shakespeare, who wrote the deep tragedies of KING LEAR and ROMEO AND JULIET also wrote the slapstick farces THE COMEDY OF ERRORS and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. Even Neil Simon, today's undisputed laugh master, has leavened his work with many serious moments. Now David Wiltse, who authored last season's powerful THE GOOD GERMAN, has stepped up with a change of pace with A MARRIAGE MINUET ... Whether dealing with comedy or tragedy, Mr Wiltse is a master of words, and he uses them to create bright, brilliant, brittle epigrams that elicit strong and consistent audience laughter. An obvious admirer of Oscar Wilde, Wiltse writes in a style that not only does justice to him, but also to Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Phillip Sheridan as well. Wiltse is a keen observer of humanity, and as such, he cannot help but develop a certain cynicism and an acerbic wit. MINUET is a study of the realities and the illusions of marriage, love, the mating game and sex. It states that morality is an illusion, a self-deception, and that all of us are buffeted by the winds of time and victims of opportunity ..." -Jerry Layton, Curtain Calls "Romantic comedies don't get any more clever than David Wiltse's new A MARRIAGE MINUET ..." -Jack Zink, Sun-Sentinel (Florida)