Books |
Harry Clarke
By
Published: Sep 28, 2021
Category:
Drama
“Harry Clarke” was the best play I saw in 2017. It came back briefly in 2018. And is now gone. Forever. [Do not despair. There’s an audiobook. It costs a fraction of the cost of the Off Broadway ticket you can no longer buy. Click to listen to a sample.]
“Harry Clarke” is a long monologue, a one-man show. Harry is Billy Crudup. He delivers an astonishing performance, not only for the feat of memorizing a 90-minute monologue, but because he’s playing many characters. 19 characters. Mostly, he’s two of them: an alienated Midwestern boy now passing himself off as a very connected Brit.
Passing himself off — that’s to say, he’s invented himself. Came from somewhere. Thought it was nowhere. Saw he didn’t want to go through life as that person. And… is reborn. As his true self. It costs me nothing to say I did that. And — this is a very modest wager — I bet you did too. Because nobody doesn’t want more, nobody doesn’t want better.
The New York Times review was a flat-out rave. The Los Angeles Times review thoughtfully served up the character and his machinations:
Harry Clarke is the alter ego of an insecure Midwestern straggler named Philip Brugglestein, who works as a barista in New York.
The play unfolds through Philip’s point of view. He’s our narrator, taking us through his bizarre adventures after moving to New York after his parents died — an orphan with a loose hold on reality and an even looser hold on morality.
The crux of the drama revolves around Philip’s (or, actually, Harry’s) relationship with Mark Schmidt, the scion of a wealthy family with identity issues all his own. Mark is drawn to Harry, who has wormed his way into his life. Neither understands the strange pull of the other, but it’s irresistible — worryingly so.
As extroverted as Philip is introverted, Harry claims to have worked for years as the singer Sade’s personal assistant. Mark tries to pass himself off as straight, but Philip knows better and, liberated by his wild boy British persona, he boldly seduces Mark on his parents’ boat before proceeding to other members of the Schmidt family, who are impressed by the Sade connection.
Watch the video. Then consider the audiobook. Because “Harry Clarke” is that good.
