Proof: A Play by David Auburn Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Proof: A Play
Book Review: Had to read it for class but still....
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a journalism major and was required to take some form of art class, so I chose Theater 101. This isn't a bad play, in fact when I first heard the synopsis, I thought my God what a terribly boring concept for a play. The dialog and character development is what changed my attitude. I know among college students this is a requirement (pending on your professor) but for all you future playwrights out there, give it a try.Book Review: Just awesome. Q.E.D.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is simply an amazing play that haunts long after the book is put down. On the surface, it's about math -- a genius math professor has died and his two daughters are re-united as they prepare funeral arrangements. A former grad student of the professor's is the only other character. There's some geeky math humor (the grad student is in a band whose signature song, i -- as in "imaginary number" -- is actually three minutes of silence) and there's much talk about the beauty of numbers, but that's all surface. This is a play much more about the mysteries of the bonds we form than it is about the mysterious and elusive power of genius (although it has some interesting things to say about that, too). Faith, family, trust and love are the real puzzles here. The sisters argue as they inform the audience (reader) of dreams, disappointments, and sacrafices made. Meanwhile, a grad student is given a key to locked desk drawer which contains a notebook whose discovery will challenge the relationships between all three characters. The writing is concise and often witty. The play packs an emotional punch in a tight tiny package. It may not take more than an hour to read, but it will give you some things to think about for days afterward. Enjoy.Book Review: Life is not mathematics.
Summary: 4 Stars
David Auburn's play, "Proof," tackles the clear-cut vs. the unquantifiable elements of life. Robert and his daughter, Catherine, are gifted mathematicians. Robert was once a brilliant teacher who made groundbreaking discoveries in his field. Tragically, he became mentally ill in his twenties, and he has never fully recovered. Catherine, age 25, has sacrificed her formal education, her social life, and even her sense of self to care for her father and keep him out of an institution.When Robert dies suddenly, Catherine's older sister, Claire, flies in to Chicago from New York for the funeral. Claire is an actuary who has paid the family's bills for years, but she has led a full and successful life apart from her father and sister. The two sisters have a series of bitter arguments about guilt, responsibility and Catherine's future. Complicating the mix is a fourth person, Harold Dobbs, Robert's former student, who is interested both in Robert's notes and in Catherine herself.
Auburn's play makes the point that higher mathematics is elegant and complex, but it is ultimately quantifiable. A proof either works or it does not. Life isn't like mathematics. It is messy, emotional and open-ended. As the characters interact (including the character of Robert in flashback), all of the pain and suffering that they have felt for years come to the surface. All four characters reveal their hopes, fears and regrets.
"Proof" has an intimacy and an intensity that is extremely powerful. How much does a child owe his or her sick parent? What responsibility do we have to ourselves? How do we handle the situations in life that have no clear-cut solutions? Since life is not mathematics, there are no answers to these questions. However, Auburn implies, it is in the nature of people to keep trying, even though there are never any guarantees that our efforts will bring us happiness, love or fulfillment.
Book Review: Missed it on Broadway ?
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading this script I'm kicking myself for not yielding to the urge to see this show on a recent visit to NYC. What a fascinating and engaging story!I'm rarely one for reading plays in published form - it's an odd and fundamentally second-tier genre, no? Sort of like reading sheet music! But this book was nevertheless entertaining, moving and, at times, startling.
Although the story is ultimately a universal one, you might especially enjoy it if you are a fan of recreational mathematics or of stories about mathematicians - I am. Some of the recent splurge of fictionalized accounts include "Uncle Petros and the Goldbach Conjecture", "The Wild Numbers", and "The French Mathematician". They are great adjuncts to this story, sharing intimate looks at love, work, and insanity in the lives of those odd creatures - mathematicians. Of course the TRUE story of such a person and such an endeavor is that of Andrew Wiles' 1995 proof of the 350-years-old Fermat's theorem, described eloquently in Simon Singh's book, "Fermat's Enigma."
Notwithstanding that long reading list, "The Proof" stands alone as a powerful work and as, perhaps, the most human of them all. The mathematics of the play serves as an abstract but intriguing backdrop for the story itself, which is one of family, madness and self-discovery. The sparseness of the casting, with only four characters, adds to the elegance of the tale and doubtless allows a theatrical production to build elements of character and setting that are only imagined by the reader.
But go ahead and imagine. At 83 pages it will be, like any script, a quick read. Take the time to savor it.
Book Review: Not a Review of the Production
Summary: 5 Stars
A play, by nature, is not a tangible object, but a living breathing collaborative event. What we have here is only the script,which is the one constant of a play. Doesn`t anyone else wonder what went on with Catherine`s and Claire`s mother, assuming that there is only one Mrs. Robert; or what went on in Claire and Robert`s or Claire and Catherine`s past relationships? Auburn`s spare and straightforward script gracefully gives actors and directors the freedom to decide on and flesh out the characters` inner lives on their own. This humility and trust is one of the marks of good theatre. What a treat, as well as a task, this must be to work on! Furthermore, the lack of specifics in much of the characters` backgrounds contributes to the universality of the play. The examination of human experience, love, and choices is always great drama. This play, for all its references to science and math, really comes down to those basics. The genius of the play lies in its ability to communicate this to all manner of people.