Dream Of A Common Language
by Heather Mcdonald, Heather Ruth Mcdonald

Name: Dream Of A Common Language
Brand: Heather Mcdonald
SKU: 9780573693748
Rating: 3.59 (25 reviews)

Dream Of A Common Language Book Cover — Dream Of A Common Language Cover

Highlights

Small Cast

Female

Male

120 mins 19th Century Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle) Exterior Set Period Costumes American

Synopsis

This intriguing work produced at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in New York was inspired by an actual incident: women were banned from the artists' dinner to plan the first Impressionist painting exhibit in 1874, even though works by women were to be shown.

In the play, the dinner is at the home of Victor, a successful artists, and Clovis, an artist who no longer paints.

After helping with the preparations and being excluded from the dining room, Clovis devises a "women only" dinner to be held outdoors.

Press Reviews

"Well written… its message is as unobtrusive as it is insistent… McDonald shows her own linguistic ability in the not-too-common language of art history."
— New York Post

"Ends with a recreation of Manet’s Picnic on the Grass. Here, however, it is a man rather than a woman who is nude. This is the kind of point McDonald makes well."
— New York Daily News

"Complicated, blunt, and poetic… Heather McDonald’s lyrical, intelligent play seems to be a modern fiction featuring historical figures – a mythobiography of late-19th-century women artists and the male artists who loved them but dismissed their work… this worthy play uses feminist utopianism to reinvent history, hoping to inspire a more liberated present."
— Chicago Reader

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Clovis Victor's wife. A painter who hasn't painted in some time. Beautiful and sad. She has lost something about herself. Someone who was vibrant, passionate, curious. A strong woman who has been knocked over. Not someone easily given to depression. She is actively trying to understand something.	female	—	Victor's wife. A painter who hasn't painted in some time. Beautiful and sad. She has lost something about herself. Someone who was vibrant, passionate, curious. A strong woman who has been knocked over. Not someone easily given to depression. She is actively trying to understand something.
Pola Their friend who makes pilgrimages. A painter. A not conventionally beautiful woman. Odd-looking at times, with a taste for colorful, exotic clothes.	female	—	Their friend who makes pilgrimages. A painter. A not conventionally beautiful woman. Odd-looking at times, with a taste for colorful, exotic clothes.
Marc A painter a few years younger than the others. He wears fine clothes well. There is a bit of the dandy about him, but he’s not silly. A walrus moustache waxed and twisted up at the ends. Fingernails buffed to a fine polish. A fastidious man, he has a horror of being out of control.	male	—	A painter a few years younger than the others. He wears fine clothes well. There is a bit of the dandy about him, but he’s not silly. A walrus moustache waxed and twisted up at the ends. Fingernails buffed to a fine polish. A fastidious man, he has a horror of being out of control.
Mylo Clovis and Victor's son. A thin, nine-year-old boy with yellow hair and pale grey eyes. Something sad and lost about him.	—	—	Clovis and Victor's son. A thin, nine-year-old boy with yellow hair and pale grey eyes. Something sad and lost about him.
Dolores A nurse/companion to Clovis and teacher/governess to Mylo. Of another place and culture suggesting magic, mystery, secrets. Dresses simply, plainly. Catholic. A comforting presence but not grandmotherly.	—	—	A nurse/companion to Clovis and teacher/governess to Mylo. Of another place and culture suggesting magic, mystery, secrets. Dresses simply, plainly. Catholic. A comforting presence but not grandmotherly.
Victor A painter. Thick-haired and full-bearded. A large, burly man with a powerful male energy. Vigor. A bouncing gregariousness as though he is anxious for people to think well of him.	male	—	A painter. Thick-haired and full-bearded. A large, burly man with a powerful male energy. Vigor. A bouncing gregariousness as though he is anxious for people to think well of him.