ABSTRACT
Sweet Sue (1986) opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York City on January 8, 1987. 1 On the surface, the play tells a simple story: a woman and a younger man become attracted to each other but do not follow through, obeying instead the dictates of a society that frowns deeply on such liaisons. This simplicity is complicated by the use of two actors for each character. The two Susans and the two Jakes are most often on the stage at the same time and acknowledge each others’ presence through the dialogue. The play was not well received. The problems that developed between Sweet Sue and its critics seem to arise from the lack of traditional doubling. Susan and Susan Too are not alter egos fighting for supremacy, nor are Jake and Jake Too. This type of doubling is what we, as audience, are conditioned to expect, and most reviewers of this play seemed distracted by what they perceived as a flaw in the use of this device. Gurney, however, insists that he was not trying to create alter egos. His instructions in the script copy of this play make that clear:
“It would be a mistake to break the parts down into different psychological aspects or alter egos of the characters. Rather we should see two different but complete approaches to each role” (6). This notion triggered my thinking that this play foregrounds the act of writing a play. Gurney has certainly examined this art in other plays, most notably in the earlier The Perfect Party (1985) and the later The Cocktail Hour (1989). But here we have a play whose very essence suggests metadrama, a self-conscious pointing to itself as play, in all senses of that term.
