Second Hand Memory

Woody Allen (USA)

SECOND HAND MEMORY (VZPOMÍNKY Z DRUHÉ RUKY)

3 m, 3 ž

Ve své nové hře se Allen vrací do rodného Brooklynu z padesátých let, k rodině, která řeší dva základní problémy: lásku a peníze. A nutno dodat, že je řeší s menším množstvím allenovského humoru, než bychom čekali.

Hlavní hrdina Eddie Wolf, prostý brooklynský kluk z nepříliš bohaté rodiny miluje dívku, jež ho opustí kvůli hollywoodskému magnátovi, a Eddie si kvůli tomu vezme jinou holku, kterou pak zas musí opustit on, protože si prostě nemůže pomoci. V Allenově vzpomínkách je obsažena i inspirace Arthurem Millerem: vrací se k nesmyslnosti amerického snu. Millerovsky prázdný život vede ve hře tatínek Lou Wolfe, jemuž jde jen o jeho nepříliš úspěšný byznys prodeje šperků a pár tisíc v sejfu, které mu syn Eddie nakonec ze zoufalství ukradne. Cynickou modernost představuje ve hře Eddieho sestra Bey. Ta se nejvíce podobá Allenovým filmovým hrdinkám, protože se nikdy nevdala, toulá se světem, ale na rozdíl od zbytku celé své dobré židovské rodiny z Brooklynu jí to vůbec nevadí proto je jediná v pohodě.

Světová premiéra Allenovy hry se konala 22. listopadu 2004 v Divadle Atlantic Theater Company.

Alma is our narrator. She begins by explaining that she can go anywhere in time and space, because the play we are about to see, set in 1950's Brooklyn, is memory - not even her memory. This memory is a fantasy of certain events described to her in letters by her kid brother, Eddie. The good child. Not the one who had an abortion and ran off to Europe. But she says little else of herself and instead explains that the first act is about the dreams the family has pinned to Eddie that he'll take over and revive his father's jewelry business, that he'll be a good husband to his new wife and a good father to the child or children in her womb; in the second act, Alma promises to show us what she terms the rude awakening. The transformation that we are supposed to witness is Eddie's slow turn from a docile boy who lives with his parents and works full time at the family store to the restless and resentful young man who has seen the world (i.e., Los Angeles) and come to realize that the old neighborhood is a maze of dead ends. Maybe Fay, his mother, shouldn't have called her Hollywood-agent-brother, Phil, and asked him to take Eddie under his wing. For upon arrival, Eddie is assigned a job in the mailroom and promptly falls in love with his uncle s secretary, Diane (who is having an affair with her boss). This last bit of devastating news, along with his father's frantic reports of some serious trouble at the jewelry store, swiftly puts Eddie's angsty butt on the next flight home. Needless to say, he's now a different man, and his old clothes don't fit anymore.