| Knowledge of our own absences often escapes us. How we influence others even when we are not in their presence will remain unknown unless we become conscious of our influence. This reflection on absences provides worthwhile interpretive possibilities for the study of drama. What do we make of the absent characters who nonetheless wield tremendous influence on the action and contribute to the conflict of a play? What would Waiting for Godot be without Vladimir's and Estragon's waiting for Godot? What might happen to a play if all references to the absent---yet present---characters were omitted? If Martin from That Championship Season, Martha's father from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Mitch and Murray from Glengarry Glen Ross were removed, then what kind of play do we have? I suggest that a play loses the crux of its conflict and the catalysts for action if one eliminates these absent characters. In fact, providing an active presence even in their absence, these absent characters function as the absent Other---they act as a form of reflective consciousness which helps the audience to understand the motives and identities of the characters who are physically present in the play. In other words, the concept of the absent Other applies to those characters who do not appear on stage but serve as a mirror by which we judge, identify, and/or understand the characters who appear before the audience. And given that my own play, April in Akron, uses living absent characters, I will focus my primary attention on living absent Others who occupy an absent presence in four American plays: David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross and Oleanna , Jason Miller's That Championship Season and Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?... |
