Though a New York City native, Israel Horovitz calls My Old Lady his love letter to la Ville Lumiere, the City of Lights. Though it does not begin with a formal salutation to the city itself, it is still a letter in its style. It is a story filled with the intimacy of a place we read and see a lot about, but perhaps rarely get a chance to experience firsthand. It has Horovitz’s signature and Paris’ perfume all over it.
Of course, Horovitz is not the first writer to use Paris as a backdrop for his work. Paris seems to be a location that transcends time. We’ve seen it photographed in black and white and painted in vivid color. We’ve seen it lit up with light and dampened by rain. We hear it in music, are exposed to it on film. French The Eiffel tower looms over newly engaged couples and honeymooners. Pont des Arts used to be weighed down with the locks of lovers. Perhaps most of all, we read about the City of Love in centuries of writings, which makes Horovitz’s story of love, loss, and the space in between a natural addition to Paris’ history as setting.
Horovitz gifts us with a multi-dimensional view of Paris by treating it like the fourth character in his play. Beyond the windows of the apartment we see the Gardens of Luxembourg. Mathilde takes us to the Paris suburbs with her tales of teaching. We get an education of our own about French real estate and iconic Parisian apartments. We can feel the season in the addition of robes and shedding of coats and jackets.
Yet the city is not only present physically in My Old Lady; it permeates the language of the world of the play. Those who know basic French will understand Mathilde and Chloe’s relationship on a level we cannot describe in English. References to Anais Nin, Francois Mitterrand, and Django Reinhardt pepper the dialogue. At first they might seem like they’re included only to root us in time and place. But a quick search will reveal their own love stories embedded in the streets and sites of Paris. Their inclusions are a reminder of Paris’ long history with lovers and artists and wanderers.
Without the Americanized icons of Paris realized on stage – the lights of the Eiffel Tower, the banks of the Seine, the loaves of French baguettes – Horovitz transports us to a city he himself has visited many times. It’s a place marked by his friendship with Samuel Beckett and his admiration for Ionesco. It is a place he first visited in the 1960s and now a city he views as a second home.
Because of this, Horovitz does not treat us, the audience, as tourists. He invites us into an intimate space with familiar characters, just like he might if we were in his own New York City apartment. He does not demand subtitles. He does not explain references. Instead, he draws back the curtains and lets Paris speak for itself.
Don’t just take my word for it:
You can listen to an interview with Horovitz and Kevin Kline, who starred in the film adaptation of My Old Lady, here: http://variety.com/video/kevin-kline-my-old-lady-director-israel-horovitz-on-writing-a-love-letter-to-paris/
Or you can read an excerpt from Horovitz’s notebook, written from France in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, here: http://www.wbur.org/artery/2015/01/22/horovitz-paris-notebook
And for more about his latest project, Out of the Mouths of Babes, you can read an interview here: http://frenchculture.org/archive/interviews/interview-playwright-israel-horovitz
Come experience a part of Paris when Kansas City Actors Theatre presents Israel Horovitz’s My Old Lady at Union Station’s H&R Block City Stage from January 11th to the 29th, with audience talk-backs following performances on January 15 January 18, and January 27. For tickets, call the Central Ticket Office at 816-235-6222 or go to www.kcactors.org.
–Alyson Germinder
