Week 12: Five Plays by Ronald Ribman (Avon, 1978, paperback)

I selected this book because I’m looking for plays to use for the college Reader’s Theater program. I’m taking over management/directing for the series next year and we need plays that work with minimal (or in fact, no) staging; plays that can simply be read by actors on stage, where the strength comes in the way the plays are read.

I’d seen a stage production, on television, of Ribman’s “Cold Storage” and remembered it as potentially fitting the needs of Reader’s Theater. I’m glad, though, that I was able to read more than that play. While only “Cold Storage”, of these five, fits the requirements of reader’s theater, there are other plays in this book that are well worth reading.

“Cold Storage” is a small play, in comparison to the others here. The rather low-key conversation between two men, Parmigian and Landau, on the rooftop of a hospital, as they face different bouts with mortality, explores the nature of memory and of the past. I like the quiet moments of this play. We only get glimpses of the past that makes Landau reserve, yet enough to make us appreciate his character and Parmigian’s need to engage him.

“Ceremony of Innocence” explores the political and personal crises facing King Ethelred of England (Æthelred the Unready) in 1013. The play opens with Ethelred at a monastery, as his royal court awaits his response to troubles with Danish Vikings. The play follows his attempts at ultimately failed attempts at appeasement of the Danes. I really liked how Ribman explores the struggle between peace and war that faces Ethelred—he must balance the reality that his country could lose a war, yet his court (in particular his rebellious son) push for retaliation. Ribman provides room for multiple character studies, including a Danish royal daughter given to the English court as a token of peace. This is not Shakespearean history, but still makes for engaging historical, character-drive drama.

“The Journey of the Fifth Horse” is a very unique play about a Russian reader in a publishing company with ambitions to move up through marriage to the owner’s daughter. He comes across a memoir, however, that reveals in its parallel story the lowly reality of his own life. The staging of this play would be remarkable to see: as Zoditch reads the memoir, we see through the failed love story of Chulkaturin, with interaction by Zoditch, enacted around him. The layering of stories builds throughout the play, culminating in a bare, powerful presentation of Zoditch’s delusions and failures.

“The Poison Tree” reveals the breadth of Ribman’s playwriting skills. We’ve moved from Czarist Russia, through 12th century England, to land in a contemporary American prison. The conflict here is, as expected, between guards and prisoners. What Ribman gives us, though, is another character study of the abuses of power and the need for humanity, even in the cellblock. This play provides insight into guards and prisoners and shows how the context of punishment can poison all that touch it.

“Harry, Noon and Night” did not work for me. It’s an absurdist take on an American reporter/expatriate in Munich Germany following WWII. There is clearly a level of humor here, with strange characters acting strangely; and I’m sure Dustin Hoffman, who starred in this opening production, gave it weight. However, I didn’t find it did much on the play besides being odd. Perhaps I like more straight-forward plays; or perhaps this is just not engaging absurdist theater.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this collection. I have much greater appreciation for Ribman’s works, and do hope to find them on display beyond our reader’s theater.

Next week . . . All I Asking for is My Body by Milton Murayama.