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Wallace Shawn on the privilege of watching
Published: 7/11/2012 7:00 AM
Last Modified: 7/10/2012 2:57 PM

The latest edition of the Paris Review features an interview with writer and actor Wallace Shawn. Shawn is maybe best known for his role as Vizzini, the character in "The Princess Bride" who doesn't quite understand the meaning of the word "inconceivable," and as the person on the other side of the table during "My Dinner with Andre."

But Shawn is also the author of a number of uncompromising, intellectually and emotionally challenging plays, such as "Aunt Dan and Lemon" and "The Designated Mourner."

In this passage, Shawn talks about why he loves going to see live theater:

"I suppose my favorite plays to see are very realistic plays -– naturalistic plays in which the actors are able to make me believe that they really are those people and that I’m looking at life. I have an enormous appetite to see life as I know it presented in front of my eyes.

"That seems strange –- after all, why don’t I just walk out into the street? But the thing is that you can’t really look at things out in the street, much less in your own apartment or in your friends’ apartments. You can look in the theater in a completely different way from the way you can look in life. You’re allowed to really look at a play -- even stare.

In life, you are a character in the scene. When you’re a character in the scene, you can’t really look at the scene. If someone’s talking to you, you must respond appropriately. You can’t just stare at the person. You can’t look at life with the degree of attention and focus that you can employ when you look at a play, because you have to participate. And the people you’re staring at would find it rude. But if you’re sitting in an audience watching a scene, you can focus your entire being on looking at that scene. It’s a very special privilege."




Reader Comments 1 Total
PrayingHam (7 months ago)
Wally is one of the most entertaining men to talk to I have ever met.
And when I say entertaining, I mean in a physical way. He is extremely animated, becomes more animated the longer he speaks and because of his short height, he is constantly scanning you up and down.
That being said, he is also about three thoughts ahead of you as the conversation races along. He is a great student of life.

If you ever get the chance to speak with him, make sure you are both standing up.
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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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