Jan 1 – Feb 3, 2008
TRANCED—Interview with Bob Clyman
In Tranced, African graduate student Azmera is suffering from panic episodes. She seeks the help of Philip, a prominent Syrian-American psychiatrist specializing in clinical hypnosis. After Philip puts Azmera into a light trance, she is finally able to describe an incident that took place in an African village in which she witnessed military police officers shoot several villagers in the course of quelling a riot. Her account of this incident is consistent with government reports, but her story jumps at a couple of points, and she cannot account for these gaps in time. When Philip hypnotizes her more deeply, allowing her to access repressed, unconscious memories, he realizes that she actually witnessed something that could have national repercussions: genocide under the guise of relocation.
Philip contacts Beth, a journalist, hoping that his taped therapy sessions with Azmera will persuade Beth to report the incident, but Beth suspects that the tapes are a ruse. Beth takes the story to Logan, the Director of African Affairs, for comment. He raises compelling doubts about Azmera and especially Philip’s credibility.
Accepting the premise that the most important decisions must invariably be made without enough information, Tranced explores the elusive nature of memory and the art of persuasion.
Q: What was the inspiration behind Tranced?
A: It’s hard to say what starts something off. It’s easier for me to write about mental health because I am a psychologist as well as a playwright. It gives me a leg up as far as authenticity. But for this play, somebody called me and said I should watch a "Charlie Rose" episode where he interviewed Samantha Power, who wrote A Problem From Hell, the history of genocide and America’s relationship to the countries that have participated in it. That stimulated me and got me interested in something political.
Q: This play certainly has political overtones, but there’s also a level of humanity to it.
A: Usually my interest is philosophical. I have never written a play this political, but I try to avoid coming out too strongly. I’m more interested in understanding genocide and what goes on. Coincidentally I saw another talk show where they interviewed Arundhati Roy, an Indian novelist who wrote The God of Small Things. She had become very involved politically, with the relationship with the World Bank and big dams, so I was reading about genocide as well as displacement and people losing their homes. At the same time I was reading a lot by Edward Said, a Palestinian who, like the character of Phillip in the play, lived all over the world and never had a sense of home. All of those elements were converging, and they came out in the form of this story.
Q: Genocide and displacement are unfortunately all too common in some countries, but why did you chose Africa over other countries as the topic of discussion in the play?
A: I was reading more about big dams and learned it’s not only an African problem, but as I read more African literature I understood what life was like for vulnerable people. Everything in the play is technically fictional, but in the course of seeing documentaries and reading books about Africa, I read about the people whose lives depend on small rivers. I did not have the burden of creating the inner life of that set of people, but I had to have a sense of what the character of Azmera (the African graduate student) would know about them. I have known people who are from third world countries who spend the majority of their lives experiencing Western influences and its superior education and opportunities. They identify from the country they came from, but at the same time they have no fundamental connection to those people. In this country we feel a sympathetic connection to those who are more disadvantaged, but do we really understand them? That’s what I wanted to create.
Q: You mentioned that you are a psychologist. Is that how the idea of hypnotherapy, and trancing, came into this play?
A: I knew about hypnotherapy, and I talked to a hypnotherapist who worked in this kind of way. It’s not abracadabra. They sit across from you and create paradoxes which will alter your relationship with reality, and without knowing it you’ll be much more open to suggestion. I talked to a guy who practices that way, and during a session you need to proceed like it’s a normal conversation. You want that person to be acting out of volition. The audience does not seem to have a problem with methodology. People accept that it is real, and researched.
Q: Did you encounter many challenges while writing this play?
A: I wrote one version that was more about the relationship with the state department, but as the relationship with the girl became the central focus, and as the reporter grew in importance, I had to pair down the government material. From the first draft, the work has been undergoing a process of pruning, and discovering how much of the information I have acquired is needed to tell the story. Cutting the narrative has created greater forward propulsion and has helped clarify issues. In doing staged readings of the play, you can get a sense of what is going on too long, you can sense the restlessness in an audience. You come to an important moment, and nobody is registering it as important and you know you haven’t focused that part.
Q: Despite the serious subject matter, there is also a lot of humor in this play.
A: It’s all character based comedy, I don’t write laugh lines. We need good comic actors for this role, actors who understands rhythm and language, someone with an ear. You need the right person that understands how to capture the mood and maximize the comic pop. I do not write actor proof plays, I leave a tremendous amount of responsibility to directors and actors.
