Sam Shepard, born Samuel Shepard
Rogers the IV in Fort Sheridan, Illinois 1943, his parents were both teachers,
and his father was also a farmer who served as a bomber in WWII. He spent
teenage years working on a ranch, which we can see influence being drawn on for
his formation of “Cowboy” characters. He dropped out of college to join a traveling
theater troupe
He first became involved with Off-Off-Broadway theatre (also
sometimes referred to as Indie theatre) in 1962 around the age of 19.
In 1976 relocated to San Fransisco where he became resident
playwright at the Magic Theatre, where
Was on the Cover of Newsweek Nov. 11, 1985 after Fool for
Love had been made into a film version, A Lie of the mind was on an Off-Broadway
run and he was getting steady film work.
In 2001, he was cast as General Garrison in the film Black Hawk Down which put him
back in public spotlight.
Joseph Chaikin, director, playwright & founder of a group
called “Open Theatre” is a noted major
influence on Sheppard's works, the two having closely worked together writing
plays Savage/Love & Tongues.
Notable
awards include Pulitzer prize for Drama for Buried
Child (1979), Academy award nomination
for Best Supporting Actor for his role of Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1984), Nominated for Best play Tony for Buried child (1996) & True West (2000). Won Multiple Obie awards (10)
for Playwriting, new plays, Direction and more, across multiple works (12) from
1966-1984 (18 years).
Critics consider Fool for Love part of the ending portion
of a quintet of plays written across 1978 to 1985, alongside A Lie of The Mind - in addition to what
is referred to as The Family Trilogy, which includes True West,Curse of The Starving Class & Buried Child
Fool for Love written 1984,
follows a lovers spat in an Arizonan hotel, as their outside dates/affairs get
involved, when soon their relationship is revealed to be incestuous all the
while living under the shadow of their same father.
For me to address a play in which
“Love” is such a central theme, I must first address my own stance and
interpretation of love. Some of those among you may already know that I, as a
person, do not believe in “Love” as a concept. That is to say that I believe
that we do not come up with our own model of love as individuals. We are given
one by circumstances we experience at a young age, primarily from two sources;
the media we are exposed to, where we get storybook and Disney versions of
love, and from our parents, which is often the biggest example of love we will
ever be exposed to. And we do not get a new model of Love until we have to
remold, rebuild, or repair a new idea of love after our old one is broken by
our own contradictory life experiences. Often we may find - whether or not we
realize, that this will again fall into the same model as our parent’s model of
love, minus any degree of youthful censorship. We become our parents, &
that which we do not become, we attract or are attracted-to.
I find this is also the case in Sam
Sheppard’s Fool For Love where we can find a great deal of Eddie & May’s
actions mirroring the relationship dynamic of their father’s & respective
mother’s actions.
First off, in regards to their
shared father: They both effectively take the same course of action, or at the
very least they try to. This is in the sense they both attempt to follow the
pattern of leaving their lover and eventually returning in a cycle mirroring
their father’s actions. I use the word attempt in reference to May’s attempt to
leave, which we observe during the course of the play, as potentially being the
only time she turns away from, instead of accepting Eddie’s love. All the while
we receive reference of Eddie’s history being more directly akin to their
father’s and him being more successful in this pattern of leaving and returning
his lover. We are even witness to Their Old Man attempting to make direct
connection to Eddie when arguing against May.
As for their Mothers I find that
the Woman in the Black Mercedes-Benz referred to as The Countess, plays a
representative role of their mothers. For example, May’s mother followed their
father to an insane degree, sneaking into yards, peering into homes, with a
daughter being dragged in-tow. The Countess we might assume has been lead to
the hotel by Eddie, who has claimed to have traveled thousands of miles to
reach here. As for Eddie’s mother, The Countess is willing to fight for her
man. Violently. As in, with a fucking gun. Just like Eddie’s mom.
- How do you define/ find the difference between a “Man” and a “Guy”?
- What is a "Fantasist" in context of the play? Out of it? And compared to realism in/out of context?
- Who is Barbara Mandrell? (The woman the Old Man claims to be in the non existent portrait.) How might she relate to the two Character's mother's?
- Who do you believe the Countess to be? What were her motives on being at the Hotel? Where was she/what did she do during the period of time between her two assaults?
- At the end of the play where do you believe Eddie went Did he leave with the woman in the car? Did he walk off like his father once did? Was he about to come back?
- Is this May’s first time not taking Eddie back?
- Does Eddie have multiple lovers? Just the one? Does he leave for affairs, or does he seek more legitimate reasons for leaving?
- What parallels can we draw between Eddie & Lee?
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