Product Description

"The Day Room", Don DeLillo's first play, is a black comedy that explores the chaos caused when the onlooker is unsure of the status of a team of medics in a psychiatric unit. Are they really bona fide staff or patients just pretending to be?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2324420 in Books
• Published on: 1987-12-12
• Released on: 1987-12-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 101 pages

From Library Journal
DeLillo ( The Names, White Noise) is a well known novelist with a loyal following; this is his first play. As one would expect, it is a fractured view of reality, a black comedy. For those who thought absurdism was finished as a stage language, here it is, full blown, still able to puzzle, shock, and amuse. Set in a hospital, the play rapidly destroys the distinctions between patients and staff until it is impossible to tell who is ill and who is not. Our fears of hospitals, death, and insanity are allowed full reign. Language breaks down, and finally, the perception of reality dissolves into questions about personal identity and the possibility of meaningful communication. This is not for everyone, but it plays well. A new turn in DeLillo's career. Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

The Day Room has it's good moments, but ultimately is a bit random
This play is definitely an interesting read, but I can't see how it would play out on the stage when the audience can't read the stage instructions (like letting you know that a guy in a straight-jacket is the TV, and other such low-rent "quirks" that this script has).

The Day Room definitely contains raises interesting questions about what is real and what is an illusion. The circular ending really saves the entire play, but it can't make up for 111 pages of confusion before that. While trying to build up to the shocking and consciousness-raising ending, the play sputters for a while in pseudo-intellectualism and leaves the reader wanting at least a little clarification to hang their hat on. Some randomness is beautiful, too much leaves nothing solid to hold the randomness up, and throws the reader off.

Delillo's style is reminiscient of Beckett and other experimental minimalists. There's not a typical plot, with a character arc to follow. There are hospital patients, and hospital workers, and the audience never really knows who's who or what's going to happen next. At times this is exciting, but at other times it separates the reader from the story.

There are some very good monologues sprinkled throughout the play, both in Act I and Act II, but sometimes long-winded monologues can get boring and slow a show down on stage. And if you're looking for good monologues, look somewhere besides a long-winded production set in a psychiatric ward.

An Interesting, quirky play
We did this play in my high school dramatic production class. It is an interesting view on the meaning of reality versus illusion. Although a bit convoluted in parts, it is worth a read if you are into that sort of thing

i saw god
This is one of the better books ive read. Buy it, read it and lend it to a friend.