Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker's stunning 'Infinite Life' has its world premiere off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company in a co-production with Britain's National Theatre.
The plays of Annie Baker take up a question that preoccupied Anton Chekhov at the end of the 19th century. How much propulsive action must a play contain to hold an audience’s attention?
A play about pain is itself a kind of paradox. The stage is a public showcase, but how do you make visible what is experienced alone? As she did in her previous works, including the indelibly brilliantBaker sets up a provisional community. The characters are relieved to be quickly understood by their fellow patients even as they scrupulously protect the privacy that their medical conditions have jeopardized.
“It’s in my nerves,” she explains. “There’s not a cure, but apparently sometimes it goes away. Sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not life-threatening.”Eileen, who’s from Wichita, Kans., lived for a time in Los Angeles, when her teenage daughter wished to study with the best classical violin teacher in the country. The daughter eventually decided not to pursue her musical dream, allowing Eileen to leave a city that never felt like home.
Where is “Infinite Life” heading? The healthcare staff is offstage, so the play doesn’t seem to be building toward a conventional medical crisis. Besides, these women understand that their conditions don’t have cures. They are accustomed to living with pain. Restraint helps keep them sane.
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