Word: gurney
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...illustrate, prisoners usually start with July 22, 1991. At 12:10 a.m. on that date, Whitley presided over Louisiana's final execution by electric chair. Later the same day, orders reached the prison metal shop to construct the gurney that would henceforth be used for lethal injections. Two inmate welders balked; then 375 convicts joined their "work buck." Confronted by every warden's worst nightmare -- a prisoner rebellion -- Whitley did the unthinkable: he backed down. He publicly called the idea a bad one and said a private contractor would build the table instead. "He admitted he was wrong," says lifer...
...concept of the play would appear to be both simple and unique, and it probably would be for any other playwright--but not for A. R. Gurney. To get some perspective on this play, look at two other Gurney plays that have been produced recently in the region, namely, The Fourth Wall and The Cocktail Hour. Including The Dining Room, the three plays have strikingly similar concepts: a certain object or tradition is chosen as the title and focal point of the play, and then the characters reveal their plot all in the context of the object...
Granted, the characters and conversation subjects do not have much in common. Sure, one could consider the structuring of the plays around an object an interesting concept, and, looking at Gurney's repertoire, one could consider this method an element of his style. But there is sometimes a fine line between creative expression and gimmick, and Gurney may have crossed that line at some point during this play...
...structure, the play does have many aspects worthy of praise. The variety of scenes and characters is a novel concept, and was deftly handled by the playwright. One might fear that the numerous scenes and characters would be utter chaos on the stage with a cast of six, but Gurney's handling of the scenes lives up to the playwright's fame...
Through the maze of The Dining Room's skits we hear Gurney's futile, nostalgic plea for the return to the America that he knew in his youth--an American tradition of which the "dining room" is a part. Depending on the age of the spectator, one may find himself either weeping with the author over his lost childhood or tiring of Gurney's whimperings and yearning for the future, not a unretrievable past...