Show: 4
Title: The Fever
Category: Drama
By: Patrick O'Brien
Written by: Wallace Shawn
Location: Phoenix Theater
Summary: A one-man play about a privileged man who begins to think about how the other half lives, travels to poor countries, and is forever changed.
Highlights: This play is incredibly thought-provoking and unsettling. It'll make you question our entire world. I could definitely relate to this man who lives a comfortable life because of the "vast fertile field" that his parents and others who came before created for him. It's an accident of birth that I've never had to worry about having food to eat or a roof over my head, while others work 15 hours a day and still can't afford to feed their families. In what is essentially one long monologue, Patrick O'Brien takes us through this man's awakening to what really matters in life and his place in the world. Patrick is such a masterful storyteller (see also Underneath the Lintel) that I could easily see with my mind's eye the different places he described, and feel his character's torment, confusion, and guilt. If you want to feel uncomfortable about your comfortable life, and question why or if you even deserve it, go see this play.