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Belleville Amy Herzog

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I recently attended a Sonorous Road production of Belleville written by Amy Herzog. The story explored the life of newlyweds Zack and Abby as they struggled to find solace in a strange territory. The American couple moved to France in order for Zack to pursue his career as a doctor. As the story unfolds however, we discover that Zack has lost his job and is 3 months overdue with rent. As he scrambles to come up with a solution to the lack of income, Abby struggles with homesickness and depression. After a suicide attempt it becomes evident that she is emotionally unstable and feels trapped with no way to advance her life. A mix up with the Visa’s makes it impossible for the couple to return home for Christmas which devastates Abby because …show more content…

Amy Herzog explores the idea of the American dream and its unattainable standard. Multiple times throughout the play Abby expresses how she feels she is not where she should be in life and is letting her family down. She is amazed that the landlord is only in his 20’s and is so successful. She feels that if she does not achieve the same financial and social status as her peers, then she is a failure. This is probably what leads to her depressed state of being. Zack on the other hand, has accepted that he will never achieve the American dream. So instead of striving for it, he fabricates it. By pretending to be a successful doctor he provided Abby a false sense of security thus giving him a false sense of confidence. When the truth is revealed, Zack is forced to face the fact that he has given up on his dreams and it’s too much for him to …show more content…

The designers did a great job creating realistic effects. For example in one scene, Zack is smoking weed with the landlord to try get the payment deadline extended on the rent. He lights the pipe and real smoke blows from his lips. (I admit I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how that happened.) Another scene showed a drunk Abby blowing chunks onto the stage. There were also scenes including partial nudity, sex and drugs. The directors choice to visually display some of the more graphic content of this play instead of merely alluding to it, gave the piece a raw and relatable feel. The audience was able to put themselves in the characters shoes and truly empathize with their

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