Genre: Drama/Comedy Length: 2 acts 67 pages Cast Size: 3 M, 2 W And it is here that we come to better understand this fragile and troubled character.Ī darkly comic script, but one so full of heart. The play itself, unlike the script, finishes with Billy Joel's 'Summer, Highland Falls' playing a song about bipolar disorder. Other reviews suggest he is a selfish, arrogant young man. It has only been in rereading the script that I have come to understand Ben better as a character: my immediate thoughts upon leaving the theatre were that he was a deeply troubled character in need of support from those close to him (such as his roommate, Kalyan, another well written and well rounded character). This translates well to the page, too, although in the reading of a script it is difficult to account for the quiet moments in the play which convey so much of the emotion. In the theatre this was laugh-out-loud funny in places, troubling in others and deeply moving elsewhere. This is exactly what Eisenberg has done with the character of Ben himself. He says that, for an audience to engage with a protagonist, they can not be immediately likeable: an author must give them a way to build and grow. There are some lovely, meta moments - such as when Eisenberg has Ben describe a convincing protagonist. The character swings from pole to pole: just as the reader, or audience, feels like they perhaps understand him just a little, we are suddenly diverted again by an inappropriate comment or action from Ben. Like so many other Eisenberg creations Ben is a character on edge - speaking quickly, almost philosophically, and all the time moving jerkily. Little about 'The Spoils' is easily forgettable. For me, this is a sign of a good piece of writing. Ben, much like 'The Spoils' at large, was not (for me) easily shaken off. Jesse Eisenberg has created, in the character Ben, both a intensely dislikable and simultaneously heartbreaking character. I reread the play today after having seen it last month at Trafalgar Studios.
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