In the old cartoon series The Far Side, one comic depicted a man lying on his bed, saying, “I like her so much. I hope she likes me. I wonder what she’s thinking about right now.” There’s a split screen, and the woman says, “Vanilla. I like vanilla ice cream best.” The caption of the comic reads, “Same planet, different worlds.”
I share this example because I thought about that comic while reading The Performance. In this book, three women are at a theater in Australia watching a play, Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days. Margot is a professor nearing retirement, who is beset by professional and personal crises; Summer is an usher in the theater who is concerned about the wildfires occurring where her girlfriend’s family lives; and Ivy, a wealthy philanthropist who has built up her life after much tragedy.
There are chapters devoted to each of the women. They depict the women’s internal thoughts as the play is going on, as their focus on the actual play drifts in and out. Their thoughts are scattered, drifting between past and present, and then also incorporate their interpretation of the rather odd play, and their fellow theatergoers.
The book then has an interlude of sorts during intermission, in which the plot unfolds like a play, with the three women essentially performing. That portion of the book is written in script form. Then the book shifts back to the second act of the play and the women reacting to what happened during intermission.
This was an interesting story, mostly told through the women’s thoughts and reactions, as well as recollections of things past. It’s well-written and there are interesting things about each character, but as a whole this never quite came together for me. I liked the concept but I guess I’m more of a traditionalist when it comes to fiction.
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