|
by Liza Weisstuch |
December 11, 2008
As rational and comforting as the five stages of grief identified by
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross may be, when it strikes, rationalization goes
out the window. We’ve known songs, books, and movies that strive to
capture the anguish and despair, but few have come close to Joan
Didion’s crystalline prose in her recent memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking,
which chronicled the way her world was upended when her longtime
husband and fellow scribe, John Gregory Dunne, died of a heart attack
at home and their daughter fell mysteriously ill. (In the time during
which she adapted the book into a one-woman play, their daughter died.)
But as she did in her essays on San Salvador decades ago, she again
shows us that casting a reporter’s eye on catastrophe helps the spirit
prevail. The Lyric Stage (140 Clarendon Street, Boston,
617.585.5680)
offers the New England premiere of this touching work. Local thespian
Nancy E. Carroll plays Didion. Get tickets ($25 to $50) at www.lyricstage.org or call the box office at 617.585.5678. ...
|
