Valparaiso: A Play

Great play from one of my favorite post-modern writers. The play explores the involvement of media in helping determine our choices and our experience. One online critic described it as a dark side of 15 minutes of fame. There are many interesting turns of phrase and late in the play there is an interesting switch between the media interview and the questions asked of the interviewer.

This plays differs soemwhat from the way in which it was described in a story on NPR. It was characterized as the story of how being the subject of endless interviewes leads to a kind of transendence for the Michael character. However, I would describe it as a logical extension of media-centered society. There is a dream-like quality to much of the play, similar to the best parts of Underworld. The plane setting inevitably brings to mind the "gleaming silver death machine" from White Noise. It is more outwardly funny than some of his other work, or at least it could played that way. I hesitate to give it 5 stars in that I found the "Delphina" character to be poorly drawn. Otherwise a very satisfying read for Delillo fans.

'Valparaiso', DeLillo's latest drama, is a poignant, cynical decension into the dephts and trivia of talk show-crazy America. Michael Majewski experiences his five minutes of news stardom as he gets involved in a media frenzy for having involuntarily travelled to Valparaiso Chile, while originally starting off for Valparaiso, Indiana. Being questioned about his motives for undertaking this journey and succesively yielding to the reporters' every attempt of utter exposure, his marriage and finally his very existence come under scrutiny. In the end we see all of this coming to an absurd showdown on a TV talk show, proving that to be 'real' has come to mean 'to be watched' - and vice versa. In this skillfully arranged piece, DeLillo has accomplished to create an uptempo, modern drama: humorous, brilliantly written and relaxed as it befits the genre, yet not quite as daring and ingenious as the novelist DeLillo has time and again proven to be.

If you examine Mr. Delillo's body of work as a whole, each piece plays a part in defining his question: Where/how do we find/create meaning in contemporary society?You (or I, on another day) may disagree with my supposition, and to be fair if his work can be pegged to a central premise, it is likely a tad more subtle and complex, but I think it is a good place to begin.In Valparaiso, Delillo sends us on a preposterous postmodern journey to god knows where (only here, he situates god knows where in Chile). He grabs the uneasy in each of us and throws it up on the stage. "Here, look at this: Remember how uncomfortable contemporary society can make you? When's the last time you had a meaningful conversation with your spouse? When's the last time you had a meaningful thought?"Delillo adds depth to the otherwise hackneyed proposal that our `individuality' is merely a creation of our preferences as consumers. His characters here may not reveal their complex inner lives, but one suspects that they may be more than an amalgam of what they buy on Amazon or see on cable.Sure maybe it's all affectation. Maybe D's being insincere in the way he poses the questions. I don't think so. I think what you'll find is a smartly crafted, mildly apocalyptic tale of suburban dis-ease. If it works well, you should feel a slight nausea at play's end.Valparaiso is very much worth seeing performed by a smart group of actors. It is also very much worth reading.

"Valparaiso" is a play by Don DeLillo. According to the book's copyright page, the play was first performed in 1999 at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The play tells the story of Michael Majeski, a man who has attained celebrity status after an unusual journey: his business flight to Valparaiso, Indiana had become an unexpected odyssey that was both strange and ridiculous.I read "Valparaiso" as a sometimes dark satire on television and the culture of instant celebrity. Majeski's story is also a reflection on individuality and free will (or the seeming lack thereof in the modern world). This is a surreal piece that is not, in my opinion, wholly effective, but nonetheless contains some sections with both real bite and pathos.

As a social commentary, Valparaiso ably tackles the "one minute of fame" phenomenon, our obsession with media, our existential search for meaning in anything as trivial as confused travel plans, the steady decay of human to human relations, and the general emptiness one confronts in everyday life. I feel that these are Delillo themes that are tackled better elsewhere. An entertaining interesting read, however, with only a few over the top moments to bring it down.

DeLillo is one of my enduring favourites. I have read almost all of his fiction work, and I thought of picking up Valparaiso as I was yet to read any of his non-fiction/dramatic work. Although the advertised discount was already reasonable, the sticker price of the book was 750, effectively making this a steal, but I have my apprehensions about the sticker price. DeLillo shines like always, and the play is a beautiful invocation to human relationships and constant movement.