María Irene Fornés (1930–2018)

My first Fornés play, Fefu and Her Friends really threw me for a loop. The characters and their interactions are both bizarre and at times tender delivers an existential gut-punch that left me intrigued and thoroughly confused at the end. The whole scope of the play, the second part being acted out in four pieces, four times, simultaneously, makes me curious to see the work staged. Fefu is a work that is both intellectually trying, stimulating, and compelling. Perhaps I'll have more to say show more later or I may just be too busy rereading. show less

I participated in a reading of Fefu and her Friends with a bunch of actors, and enjoyed it very much, though I'm not an actor. The play concerns a group of women, friends since college, who meet at Fefu's house to plan for a charity event. Their attitudes toward men, toward each other, toward death and toward community are explored. Possibly some of them are mentally ill. The work is reminiscent of Wendy Wasserstein's play Uncommon Women and Others but a little more pessimistic and show more mysterious. I'm not sure which is the better play, but both require really good actors (of which I certainly am not one). show less

I saw this play about a month ago, and found it to be rather lacking, which I attributed to the acting. Having read it, I think that it reads much better than it plays, but that it is still a rather plodding work. Good, but not great.

Thank god this was short, because it was really bad. It made absolutely no sense, the characters were odd, the dialog completely unrealistic, and the action baffling. I will, however, acknowledge that maybe this is edgy and post-modern and whatever and I'm just too stupid to get it.