Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare

Last semester I decided to buy the suggested books for my Acting 1 class as opposed to just the required ones. I never actually read any of them until now. I had gone into Six Degrees of Separation without expectations, and I found the play to be extremely well written. The beginning of the show reminds me of a farce, very witty and quick, and it slowly immerses the reader (or viewer) into the philosophical.

The basic premise of the play is a wealthy couple, the Kittredges, are entertaining a friend of theirs when a young man, Paul, comes in saying that he has been mugged. He is very obviously wounded, and they soon find that he is the son of a very famous actor, and he is also the friend of their children. The Kittredges become enamored with Paul and beg him to stay the night. Suprprisingly, the next morning they find him with a male prostitute, and the two 'intruders' hurriedly leave. The Kittredges soon find out that this same young man pulled the same act on family friends of theirs, and a doctor. As they try to assess how this fraud knows all of them, it soon turns out that perhaps he isn't a fraud at all. Perhaps there is something much more deep within him compelling him to fake his life.

In addition to making you think. the play is riddled with social commentary. At the beginning of the play, the Kittredges and their guest, who is from South Africa, discuss apartheid, and the rich, white Kittredges frequently refer to (who they assume at the time is) Paul's father as a "famous black actor." In addition, when Paul tells Ouisa (Mrs. Kittredge) that he wants her to take him to the police because he's afraid he'll be killed, and she responds with "I don't think they kill you", Paul, very seriously responds with "Mrs. Louisa Kittredge, I am black." I found these inclusions to be very intersting. They were all so subtle, so intricately laid out within the script that you barely notice them.

Within the play, I found several scenes and monologues I could use.

• Pg. 53 - Pg. 60 - Ouisa and Paul's last conversation
This scene takes place on the telephone, however it is staged with two spotlights on Ouisa and Paul facing one another on a black stage. The feeling in the scene completely changes from the beginning to the end. The whole scene is very moving and I'd love to get a chance to perform it.

• Pg. 45 - Ouisa
In this monologue, Ouisa explains how everyone on the planet is related to one another by six degrees of separation. Just six. It's an extremely thoughtful monologue.

• Pg. 61 - Ouisa
Here, Ouisa calls Flan (her husband) out on trying to essentially cut Paul of their lives. Ouisa had tried to reach out to Paul, however, Flan is merely brushing the experience off. This monologue is very passionate and I really like it a lot, I may use it for generals next semester.