User:Nixxicar/Ancient History (play)

Ancient History (play) Ancient History is a one-act play written by American playwright David Ives in 1990, and then revised in 1996.

Plot

A play described in The Village Voice as consisting almost “entirely of digression” opens with the ominous ringing of an off-stage telephone. As the lights come up Ruth and Jack, a couple in their mid-thirties, are dancing in their apartment. The telephone rings again, the couple stops, the music backs up a few measures and they begin to dance. Ruth and Jack dance on and converse about what a good time they are having; after a few lines the telephone rings, the music backs up a few measures and the conversation also goes back a few lines and this time changes direction. A few lines go by and the phone rings again, and the conversation once more rewinds and re-starts, yet again changing focus. This pattern of rewinding and re-starting the conversation in a different vein continues throughout the play whenever the unseen telephone rings. This convention is similar to the bell ringing in Ives’s previous work Sure Thing (one of six plays in the collection All in the Timing). As the play progresses the audience learns that the couple is in a tenuous state in their relationship and the happiness seen as the play opens is not the prevalent mood. Ruth is Jewish; Jack is a former Catholic. Ruth believes in hard work and success; Jack is lazy and has no goals. Ruth desperately wants to be married; Jack hates the idea of marriage. With each ring of the phone, the love affair dissolves into a more intense argument about religion, the future or marriage; however, this does not prevent a build-up of hope with each ring that perhaps the couple may work out their differences and come to an agreement. At one point Ruth and Jack even switch positions: Jack argues for marriage, Ruth argues against it, and it is this final argument that leads to the dissolution of their relationship. After a slew of “fuck you’s” from Jack and “leave’s” from Ruth, the two realize they can no longer be together, but they also do not know how to function without one another. The play ends with a final phone ring and the couple beginning to dance as they did in the start of the play.

Memory Theatre

Ancient History is an example of Memory Theatre, or theatre that seeks to perform history that is often suppressed or erased, especially from a shared past. The play repeats the night a couple chooses to end their relationship and replays the night in many differing scenarios. The scenarios blur together, the reality of the events is not clear, probably because of the events repression, and therefore they are not lucid when recalled. At the end of the play, the audience discovers that they are viewing Jack’s suffering, for he states: “Hell isn’t other people. Hell is remembering other people.” This contrasts Ruth’s view of the situation: “Six months from now, we’ll be ancient history.”  The audience believes that Ruth has moved on from the night of the break-up, but that Jack is living it repeatedly in his mind. The final line confirms this as the couple dances and Ruth asks: “Will we ever stop?” indicating that she is ready to stop once Jack is ready to let go of his memories.