[NEohioPAL]An Actors Thoughts...

[DOUMONT3 at cs.com]

I think back to all of the great novels I was supposed to read in high school English classes because, well, I guess my grades depended on them.  I also remember the never-ending fight at local libraries and bookstores for the Cliff Notes to these great novels because, well, most of us didn’t want to actually own a book, let alone read one.  We certainly weren’t going to deal with it if it was a “thick” book, and especially if the book had been turned into a movie and we could just watch that.

Thinking back, I’m sure I can tell you the names of most of the books I was asked to read, but I probably couldn’t tell you much, if anything, about their content… except one, that is: Of Mice and Men.  In high school, if you knew much about the books you were asked to read, you really just weren’t cool.  However, John Steinbeck, even then, was cool to read.  There are a select group of writers that will always be cool.

There is an old joke in the theatre among actors that if you’re ever asked what a play you’re in is about and you either don’t really know or maybe don’t feel like explaining, a safe and simple reply is, “the human condition.”  Over the years I have heard many theories and discussions regarding the concepts in Of Mice and Men.  It has been called a character study or an actor’s piece about: the true meaning of friendship; innocence lost; class structure and poverty; misogyny; racism; sexual repression; human-animal relationships, etc.  The beauty of this piece is that it is all of these.  

At one point the character George is asked what stake he has in his partner Lennie because never has one guy taken so much trouble for another guy.  Why does George take so much trouble for Lennie?  I believe it is this question that lies at the heart of this play, and I believe the answer is a simple one… dreams.

It has been argued that Of Mice and Men, like many plays, is about the death of the American Dream.  Unfortunately, it seems the American Dream has always translated into materialism and the pursuit of financial greed.  Lennie is often called an overgrown child.  Children instinctively view the world with non-prejudicial eyes, relishing the simplicity around them.  We live in a society that often contaminates children with the opposite, teaching them to seek power outside themselves and not within.  George sees in Lennie a constant reminder of the importance of holding on to the uncorrupted and simple dreams of youth.  George understand that if you lose sight of these dreams, however small, you haven’t learned what it means to live out what the American Dream should be, and should have been.

I guess I have to side with the joke and say Of Mice and Men is about the human condition, or perhaps human nature, and not what it lacks, but what it sometimes never had.  In this play the things these people miss the most are things they haven’t ever obtained.  Loneliness can be the result of desperation to find something or someone to believe in, or the revelation that the real dreams and powers we have within are the only things we need to find.

It has always fascinated me that Steinbeck never explains the reasons for Lennie’s condition or how he came to know George.  Although Lennie is the most unintelligent person in the play, he is the one everyone wants to be, even if they’re not aware of it.  Steinbeck knew it is not important why these men are here, but rather how they cope with the cards they’re dealt, and where they’re going.

Of Mice and Men is my favorite play because, unlike any other, it is capable of reflecting the absolute best and worst the “human condition” has to offer, and it does both with equal fervor.  It affects me the same way now as it did when I first read it in high school, and it is for this reason that I wanted to be a part of this production.  These are a good group of guys on stage, and I hope you can watch them through the eyes of your own inner child, and think about dreams you may have lost along the way.  Maybe you can come up with some new ones, and share with us how cool John Steinbeck is, and what the American Dream can be.

-Daniel McElhaney



John Steinbeck's
Of Mice and Men
                         
September  16th & 17th at 8:00pm

Presented by The Royalton Players

Edwin S. Griffith's Masonic Lodge (across from Arby's)
6320 Royalton Road, North Royalton

Call 216-556-0415 for Reservations

Tickets: $10 for Adults, $8 for Students