Six Degrees of Separation (play)

Infobox Play
name = Six Degrees of Separation


image_size = 180px
caption = Vintage Books edition
writer = John Guare
characters = Ouisa
Flan
Paul
Kitty
Hustler
Detective
Doug
Policeman
setting = New York City
premiere = 16 May 1990
place = Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
New York City, New York
orig_lang = English
subject =
genre = Drama/Mystery
ibdb_id = 8061

"Six Degrees of Separation" is a 1990 play written by John Guare that premiered at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center on 16 May, 1990, directed by Jerry Zaksand starring Stockard Channing. The production transferred to the Vivian Beaumont Theater for its Broadway debut on 8 November 1990.

Background and inspiration

"Six Degrees of Separation" explores the existential premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else in the world by a chain of no more than six acquaintances, thus, "six degrees of separation."

The plot of the play was inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, a con man who managed to convince a number of people in the 1980s that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier. After the play became a dramatic and financial success, Hampton was tried and acquitted for harassment of Guare; he felt he was due a share of the profits that he ultimately never received. [cite news | author=Larrt McShane | title=Six Degrees' Inspiration Hampton Dies | url=http://slick.org/deathwatch/mailarchive/msg01075.html | work=The Associated Press | date=19 July 2003 | accessdate=2008-08-17]

Plot synopsis

A confidence man, Paul, shows up at the home of art dealers Flan and Ouisa Kittredge who live overlooking Central Park in New York City, bearing a stab wound. He claims to be the friend of their children at Harvard University and he calls them, looking for assistance. They are trying to sell a landscape by Paul Cezanne and now have this wounded stranger in their home. Paul claims he is in New York to meet his father, who is directing a film version of the Broadway musical "Cats." Paul continues to charm them with his story, except that what they don't know is that the story is false: Paul is not a Harvard student but obtained their name and phone number through another male student he had seduced. Eventually Paul uses their home for a gay encounter with a hustler but is caught "in flagrante delicto." The police are called and Paul is arrested. Ejected from the Kittredges' home, Paul starts up another con against a sensitive young man named Rick and his live-in girlfriend named Elizabeth. The young couple is new to the big city and, based on Paul's con, invites him to live with them until he gets everything sorted out with his fictional wealthy father. While the trio become good friends, with Paul spinning a tale of being estranged from his racist father, the girlfriend tells Rick not to lend Paul any money. One night Paul takes Rick out on the town, and seduces him in order to get the money. Later that night, Rick tells Elizabeth that Paul is gone, that he has all their money, and that he and Paul had sex. In a fit of fury, she cruelly suggests that Rick's father had always questioned his son's sexuality. Soon afterwards Rick commits suicide.

In desperation, Paul calls the Kitteredges for assistance. Partly due to strained relations with her children, Ouisa finds herself feeling emotionally attached to Paul, hoping to be able to help him in some way despite the fact that he has victimized them. Over a protracted and laborious phone call, he agrees to give himself up to the police; however, during the arrest, he and the couple are separated. Despite their efforts—Ouisa's more than Flan's—his fate is unresolved, except for a possibly tragic end. Towards the end of the play, in a climactic moment of reflection, she delivers the play's most famous monologue:

Cultural Influences

A strong influence on the play is the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. There are some very overt references to it, as when the protagonist explains the thesis paper he has just written on "The Catcher In The Rye" [http://www.geocities.com/exploring_citr/sixdegrees.htm] to the family who takes him in for the night. [cite web | author=Colin L. Ryono | title=Six Degrees of Separation | url=http://www.whysanity.net/monos/sdop.html | publisher=Colin's Movie Monologue Page | date=2008 | accessdate=2008-08-31] There are also more subtle allusions made both in the script and in the cinematography of the film version, such as when various characters begin to take on Holden Caulfield-esque characteristics and attitudes.

Cast

* Stockard Channing — Ouisa
* John Cunningham — Flan
* James McDaniel — Paul
* Kelly Bishop — Kitty
* David Eigenberg — Hustler
* Brian Evers — Detective
* Evan Handler — Doug
* Philip LeStrange — Policeman
* Peter Maloney — Larkin
* Paul McCrane — Rick
* John Cameron Mitchell — Trent
* Robin Morse — Tess
* Mari Nelson — Elizabeth
* Stephen Pearlman — Dr. Fine
* Anthony Rapp — Ben
* Gus Rogerson — Woody
* Sam Stoneburner — Geoffrey Eddie

After the transfer from the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater to the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Courtney B. Vance stepped into the role of Paul and Robert Duncan McNeill played Rick. Kelly Bishop moved into the lead role of Ouisa later in the show's run, and Laura Linney made her Broadway debut as a replacement for the role of Tess.

Film adaptation

Guare adapted the play for film released in 1993 directed by Fred Schepisi with Stockard Channing (reprising her role), Donald Sutherland, Sir Ian McKellen, and Will Smith.

Awards and nominations

;Awards
* 1991 New York Drama Critics' Circle
* 1993 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play

;Nominations
* 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play
* 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
* 1991 Tony Award for Best Play

ee also

* Small world phenomenon
* Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (game)
* Erdős number

References

Further reading

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*

External links

*ibdb title|4622|Six Degrees of Separation
*iobdb title|1215|Six Degrees of Separation