Proof: Positive?
Is it about genius or madness? Is it about mathematics or mental illness? In David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama Proof we find these questions, but are the answers ever clear or positive? In reader response criticism we, as the reader can ask any of these questions as long as we are ready to search for the answers. There is one reason to tolerate this play, but there are many reasons not to love it. It is supposed to be a drama about real people, but the characters are extremely cliché and unrealistic. The plot was very transparent, easy to dissect and just plain not entertaining. Bruce Weber says in his New York Times review of Proof, “– if you know what a prime number is, there won’t be one single line of dialogue you will find perplexing” (Auburn 1248). There was nothing perplexing about the play and knowing about prime numbers is the least of its problems. Brenner 2 performing art in which each reader creates his or her own, possibly unique, text-related performance” (McManus).
First the tolerable, mental illness is a great ingredient for any project because the topic can never get enough exposure. It is a silent and potentially deadly disease if not treated properly. David Auburn should be applauded for adding this component to his play and scolded for not elaborating on it with more originality and detail than he has. Only once does he mention just a symptom of Roberts’s illness and that is through Catherine, his daughter, “He was a graphomaniac” (1.1.248). It is hinted by Catherine in a conversation with older sister Claire that she may have mental illness also, “devoted some of your energies toward scouting out another type of- / living facility for your bughouse little sister” (1.3.140-143). This play would have been much more pertinent, believable, and meaningful had as much detail been given to the mental illness angle as has been given to the mathematics angle. The Complete Review states, “Mental disease is a tough...