Given Circumstances/PLACE

PLACE is important in the world of the play. The title alone---A WEEKEND NEAR MADISON---suggest its significance. The play takes place just outside the city of Madison, in Dane County, Wisconsin. The setting is bucolic---there’s a barn and a river within walking distance from David’s and Doe’s cabin where the action takes place. Madison, Wisconsin, is a pretty bland choice as locales go and spending a weekend “near” Madison in a place that is never named transcends bland---fiercely bland? This suggests a wan alternative to what must be happening just a few miles away in MADISON. This mirrors the sense of yearning within the characters---the longing for a more engaging life that MUST be out there somewhere.

In a more practical sense PLACE forces behavior. Sam and Nessa must move with urgency from time to time in order to get back to the urban center to fulfill their various concert responsibilities. Likewise, David must acknowledge and adjust to the distance between himself and his patient Tilly, both when he is ragged and trying to ESCAPE the intense responsibility and when he is panicked and eager to RETURN to tend to her. He uses the distance to avoid Doe, exploiting the travel from UNIVERSITY to HOSPITAL to HOME to unwind and forget. Even when he IS at home he creates a routine of jogging that will pull him out of the cabin, and away from Doe and the white elephant, whenever he feels like it.

PLACE offers Jim and DOE a simple retreat, although for Doe the isolation is not necessarily a good thing because it has allowed her to settle into a state of passivity fueled by denial. In a couple of crucial scenes when Nessa is at a CONCERT, Sam is at the RIVER, or David is at the HOSPITAL, PLACE allows Jim and Doe time alone and forces them to confront their problems together.

For Nessa and Sam PLACE suggests toil---monotony. BELOIT, Milwaukee, Appleton, Green Bay, Minneapolis, Iowa City, Grinnel, Omaha. Not only do the very specific places mean BUSINESS, WORK, and OBLIGATION for the band but none of the places sound like very nice places to visit---no offense to the Midwest but Beloit? Green Bay? Geh! A baby would mean a real reason for Sam and Nessa to change their way of living---to settle down and stop traveling. Sam’s phone calls to her father and friends make it clear that she has roots and misses them too. She wants a family and she and Nessa NEED to make this baby happen soon.