Back in 2015, at about the same time I read Emily St. John Mandel's novel Station Eleven, I went to see a production at the Guthrie Theater that stronBack in 2015, at about the same time I read Emily St. John Mandel's novel Station Eleven, I went to see a production at the Guthrie Theater that strongly complemented the themes of the novel, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play. Reading the published script of the play may not quite capture the feelings of absorbing it in its full Guthrie production, but it was worth going back to explore the ideas in the work. Especially since live theater itself may be a thing of the past, at least for the foreseeable future. Written by playwright Anne Washburn, the play is witty, humorous, and yet dark and mournful, both flowing together into a bittersweet mix.
After what seems to have been a pandemic resulting in the collapse of the power grid, Mr. Burns follows the evolution of a certain episode of The Simpsons from a few survivors reminiscing about their favorite TV shows around a fire to, nearly a century later, as an epic pantomime of the newly formed culture recalling the world of before. I have never really watched The Simpsons personally, though from my friends and general pop culture osmosis I seem to have absorbed quite a bit of its mythos over the years, which is definitely what Washburn was going for. Reading the script brought me back to these questions, as we watch people begin to fashion a new oral history from the common culture that surrounds us all.
I write about some more books discussing the past, the future, and the uncertainty between the two in my latest Harris' Tome Corner entry, Anxiety of the Future #2....more
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