Intermission In Eno's Play

Will Eno’s play “Intermission” is arranged as a play in between a play, with all of the action inserted during the intermission of a play that the characters are attending. From the beginning of this play it is noted that the four major actors have issues with time, reality, and boredom by their conversations. The same could be said for the intermission during Andrew Lee’s performance. In considerations of Eno’s play and Lee’s performance, what are the effects of and intermissions insertion or absence in a real or imagined event will be analyzed. The issue of timing is established at the onset of the play. To establish this Eno explains that characters are attending the performance of a play called “The Mayor, [and] the time is the intermission between Act One and Act Two” (58). This information is important since the reader is able to establish that the play is in medias res, since the work that the performers are suppose to be attending has already begun. Lapses in time are noted in this play during a …show more content…
In the stage directions he writes, “We see the four people, seated as an audience, facing the real audience, applauding. Recorded applause plays. One or two people hold programs for a play…The lighting onstage gives the impression of house lights” (60). The actors facing the audience makes it seem as though the players are watching the spectators like they are the ones performing. They face the “real” audience and applaud, however, the recorded applause can be heard as well. This adds to fantasy and reality merging because a fake audience is watching a real one, while a pretend audience claps for make believe actors. The lighting on stage assists in blurring the lines of reality, since the “House lights” make the stage assume the appearance of it being a theater. Still, it is the conversations between the characters that gives Intermission a close look at their