PROJECT#2 STATEMENT

“The show takes place not over a period of time, but in an instant in Roberts mind, perhaps on a psychiatrist couch, perhaps at the moment when he comes into his apartment on his thirty-fifth birthday.”

-Stephen Sondheim, 
from his book Finishing the Hat

The script specifically places our setting in New York City but when it comes to the time period of the play the script is far less specific. The script tells us to set this show “NOW” which in turn gives this play a timeless quality. After careful reading of the script the date of Roberts 35th birthday could be logically placed between 1970 and the present year. The scenes that proceed between Robert and his friends are products of Roberts memory, so it stands to reason that the night with Harry and Sally could have been from the day before the birthday, the wedding of Amy and Paul could very well have been last year and the drunken night at the club with Joanne could have taken place years before any of the scenes. This interesting chronological concept gives the director a chance to make the choice to set the scenes in any decade they see fit. Meaning that after careful review of the scene if it seems possible and nothing is anachronistic, the scenes that take place between Robert and his oldest friends could reasonably and understandably switch from one decade to another.  What is interesting about the formula of Company is that there is no real plot, the events that take place in the life and mind of our protagonist Robert can happen in any order at any point in time, be that many years or a matter of a few hours.

For our purposes this production of Company takes place April 26, 1970 in New York City, which is the date of the show’s original opening. The scenes that follow are all set in a span of roughly five years, 1965 to 1970. This date is not only important because the show originally opened on this day but also because this was a tumultuous time for New York. The era of peace and love was coming to a rapid and violent end. The draft is picking up men left and right fueling national disgust of the war in Vietnam. Drugs have evolved making them both stronger and in turn far more destructive bringing with them to New York City crime and multitudes of homeless addicted adolescent “hippies” who jumped on to the sixties wave right as it came crashing down. These destructive turns would be the catalyst for the poor state of the city in the next 20 years. It wouldn’t be until the 90’s that the city of New York would experience a cleansing and reimaging bringing the city to a new glory.

Life in New York may have been scary and difficult for the lower classes during the turn of the decade but, as is true in all things there is always the other half. For those who had money in the 60’s and 70’s life in the city was glamorous and respectable. Besides being drafted there really wasn’t very many worries for the wealthy and seeing as how these men who had money were either doctors, lawyers or other men of distinction their chances of getting drafted were rather slim. It would affect them in that they would surely know people fighting in the war against their will and that in turn would create some stresses but as far as our cast is concerned the possibility of being drafted doesn’t seem to pose a real threat.

Also the extreme class distinction is not a factor in the lives of our upper middle class characters. True, they live in a homogenous setting mingling largely with others like themselves. This sticking with ones own kind is usually true throughout human interaction so the idea of Robert and his friends not integrating with those unlike them is not an offensive or unsettling issue. Even when there is a character who is considered “different” from the norm in the play, Robert finds an unusual charm in the character Marta and her ideas. She also serves as an outside perspective, which brings Robert to the realization that “I seem to meet people only like myself.”

Throughout the play there are multiple references to alcohol and drinking. The role of alcohol in this play is a kind of social lubricant between certain adults in awkward situations heightened by sexual tension from some of the women who view Robert as a man without any plan or ties. A dependable bachelor who cares for his friends, what's sexier than that to a married woman? In the case of the husbands there is a feeling of envy when viewing their friend Robert. They admit to the difficulties of marriage but realize that without it they'd be alone, just like Robert. The song sorry-grateful is sung by Harry after he takes a drink of bourbon behind his wife's back. This song gives us some of the greatest insight into the situations these husbands face everyday. On the other side, at the end of the play Joanne, after multiple vodka stingers, sings the song ladies who lunch which voices her frustrations with the upper class housewives who, in her opinion have begun to lose touch. then following the song she propositions Robert to have an affair. Her intentions seem purely sexual but in reality she wants to take care of Robert, it's just that after a few drinks the line between infatuation and concern begins to blur. Consequently it's this very proposition that opens Roberts mind and heart into realizing what he's been missing, someone he can take care of.

What really needs to be known in order to understand the basic world of this play is that the life and times of a single person is made up of moments. These moments however great or insignificant turn into ideas and those ideas, if the person so chooses to adopt them, make up the identity, the character of the individual. In the case of Robert his experiences with the characters that we meet in the course of the play lead him to the realization that what he truly wants in life, more than anything, is someone to make him alive.