“Brighton Beach Memoirs” by Neil Simon

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Art is an essential part of human life and theater in particular. Nowadays everybody has a television at home, but television will never replace the theater. The theater is a different world, in which people live. Once Shakespeare said, “Life is theater and people are actors.” And he was right. Theater always lived its own life without paying attention to the surrounding world. And now we are going to plunge into this world using discussing Neil Simon’s play “Brighton Beach Memoirs”.

“Brighton Beach Memoirs” by Neil Simon is a comedy which was in October 2008.

Henegar Center for the Arts is a historic U.S. building located at 625 East New Haven Avenue, Florida.

Cast: Eugene Jerome male, leading part (14 – 17), Stanley Jerome male, supporting part (18 – 25), Jack Jerome, male supporting part (40 – 50), Kate Jerome, female supporting part (40 – 50), Aunt Blanche, female supporting part (35 – 45), Cousin Nora, female supporting part (16 – 22), Cousin Laurie, female supporting part (13 – 16).

There are a lot of aspects why I have chosen this play for my Course Work. This play was written in 1987 and received The New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award in 1983 as the best play. There was written in the newspaper article in The Washington Times (2006), “Neil Simon, like Mark Twain, has a unique way of exposing the American spirit by drawing on experiences in his own life and creating insightful and touching portraits of the world around him.” Besides, before the appearance of this play, the critics disdainfully talked about his works, and “Brighton Beach Memoirs” changed the points of view of many critics.

I did not have any preconceptions before attending the performance; vice versa I wanted to watch the play which was noble at writer’s career.

The play is almost autobiographical. It tells about a life of a teenager in 1937 in Brooklyn. The family is very big and lives very poorly. The boy, Eugene Jerome, dreams to be a baseball star, and very often plays imagine baseball in the yard. As writes Terry Barr (2000) in his newspaper article, “Brighton Beach Memoirs focuses in part on the very American dreams of the younger Jerome family members – dreams that include pitching for the Yankees, becoming a star in a Broadway musical, and becoming a hero in the army.” If Jerome would not be able to become a baseball player, he says about this situation this, “I’m going to be a writer like Ring Lardner or somebody–that’s if things don’t work out first with the Yankees, or the Cubs, or the Red Sox, or maybe possibly the Tigers… If I get down to the St. Louis Browns, then I’ll be a writer.” (Simon, 1995)

Jerome’s cousin also dreams, but not about the baseball, but the Broadway. And all these children’s dreams are “colored by the harsh realities of the Depression” (Heldig, 2006)

Helbig (2006) in his newspaper article describes the time when the actions took place in such a way, “the play is set at the height of the Great Depression and money, or the lack of it, compounded by the constant fear of unemployment, provides much of the drama in this otherwise heartwarming coming-of-age story. The fact that Simon captures the feel of that desperate time, while also telling an original story, is a testament to his grace and craft.”

Koprince (2002) recounts “Simon’s emergence from humble Jewish American origins to celebrated status as the most commercially successful playwright in the history of American theatre. She traces Simon’s style to Greek New Comedy, acknowledges his affinity with Jewish humor, and emphasizes the Chekhovian blend of humor and pathos that has become the hallmark of Simon’s writing.”

The play is built on the relationships within a family. The family is very important for them. Even after lots of problems which occur in the play heroes with money and health, try to save calmness in the family. Kate Jerome says, “This is a family. The world does not survive without families” (Simon, 1995). And these words were especially actual at the time of hardship.

I liked the play. Frankly speaking, I did not expect that the play would impress me so greatly. The narrator of the story, the boy who plays the leading part, Jerome, talks directly to the audience, “in series of monologues and asides, Eugene Jerome breaks through the imaginary “fourth wall” on stage, deliberately calling attention to the fact that audience is witnessing a play and not reality” (Koprince, 2002). The play is very emotional, even though it is a comedy.

In conclusion, I want to add that after going to the theater I felt calm. The theater and art, in general, opens in person something, which he did not notice in himself before. The feeling of lightness and carelessness appears in the mind. A person wants to do something good, his/her thoughts are full of light and love to the world. It should be mentioned that people should go to the theaters, to the museums and exhibitions. It does not give them to forget that they are people with souls, and art is food for the soul and we should feed not only our bodies and also our souls.

Works Cited

Barr, T. (2000). Eating Kosher, Staying Closer. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 24(3).

Helbig, J. A Fine Simon ‘Memoir’y Daily Herald (2006).

Koprince, S. (2002) Understanding Neil Simon. University of South Carolina Press.

Neil Simon Snags Mark Twain Prize; like Award’s Namesake, Writer Known for Memorable Characters. (2006). The Washington Times, p. B05.

Simon, N. (1995) Brighton Beach Memoirs. Plume.

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“Brighton Beach Memoirs” by Neil Simon

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