Playwriting 101: The Condi Monologues

Forgive me for seeing everything as a play, but it did occur to me yesterday as Condoleezza Rice took the stage on the floor of the United Nations Security Council to talk about the importance of dealing with sexual violence as a security issue (and of course it is crucial and long overdue) that we were all witnessing bad theater.

Usually there is an arc to a character. A journey. A path. What happens in the first act has something to do with what happens in the third act. I have spent my life inventing characters, plotting out the narratives and trajectories, their ascents and descents, working hard to understand their motivations and needs. In this case, I am completely befuddled. Who wrote the script?

In the third act, our lead character, Ms. Rice, suddenly reveals herself to be a passionate spokesperson for women suffering sexual violence in armed conflicts. Note her dialogue in response to the question Should the UN protect women in these crisis zones?: "I'm proud that today we respond to that question with a resounding 'Yes.' It is our responsibility to be their advocates and defenders". Suddenly Condi Rice emerges as a Republican Mother Courage, defiantly speaking truth to power.

But how'd she get there? What of the Condi Rice of the first act: willing and enthusiastic defender of one of the most disastrous wars in history. A war that rendered Iraq into a barbaric state where sexual violence towards women is so rampant and so accepted it is actually no news at all. A war where one out of three American women soldiers fighting in it have been raped and sexually assaulted by their comrades.

How did enthusiastic war-defender become indignant global defender of women in war? What part of the play did we all miss? Did it happen off stage during intermission? Was there a scene where Ms. Rice accidentally stumbles into the Walter Reade Hospital and meets Ana, 27-year-old U.S. veteran, tied to a respirator in a sexual military trauma ward, after just attempting suicide? Was there a scene in Baghdad, where Condi slips away from a military briefing and is brought by a group of women to an underground shelter where she meets Amira, who shows her the bruises on her body, traces of the rape and torture she endured at the hands of authorities in a detention center? Was there a scene where, after mile-10 on the treadmill, Condi, in an endorphin-driven state, commits to changing her legacy and making her mother proud? Or, was there simply a career crisis scene, where Ms. Rice found herself in the last days of a dying administration, needing to repackage herself?

Maybe there is something deeper all together. Whatever it is, in order for the third act to ring true, have meaning, and not be an insult to the intelligence of the audience, we need accountability. There is always the moment of confrontation in a play where the lead character is forced to reckon, in one way or another. You don't get to be a defender of rights that you are responsible for destroying without a comeuppance, without passing through a dark night of the soul, without admitting wrongs done.

But these days we live in bad theater. The world is run by people who get away with doing all kinds of horrible things, who seamlessly morph into new characters, with even more fabulous careers.

Good monologue. Bad casting.

Comments

[ld]

Wonderful writing!

The answer is, of course, that Condi believes in the content of her speech only to the degree that its anti-violence content is not inconvenient for Cheney/Bush foreign policy pursuits. Otherwise, the speech is purely empty PR rhetoric, and Condi knows it.

[ObamaEdwards]

Perfect post. Ms. Ensler has nailed it. We all know this is true, and yet our congress has decided to let the monsters of the Bush Administration get away with it. Why do they not understand: If a country is to have a sense of morality, it has to purge and punish when its leaders thwart and mock that morality. Our leaders have done this, and if they are not held accountable, then we are ALL guilty.

[TheHandyman]

Actually it seems quite clear to me, this play. The Condi character was willing to lie about ev erything to get what this administration wanted in Act One, and she is still lieing in Act Three. It is all about perception!

[Spitzerhopper]

she done wrong

[captcoyote]

I agree with RedDogBear. I also believe that there is another factor that needs to be taken into consideration. It is that "new age" mentality regarding "my reality." In a self absorbed society the only thing that matters is what happens to me, and what I think is what is most important. This type of mentality has a tendency of rejecting anything negative that is said about you. It also believes everything that may be considered positive. It is simply delusional and narcissistic, and is centered on the idea that if I believe it, it is true – it is after all, my reality. I honestly believe that most of the administration believes the same thing. This is why they can believe that all is well with the war and the economy.

[EvgenyLibek]

Condi would tell you to keep reading, I suppose.
She would argue that, in order to understand this latest Act , you must read the following Acts...

[note Braveheart Act I, Scene 1: History is written by (those) who have hanged heroes.]

Maybe our Condi character will deliver a moving speech about the plight of women caught in mythical mushroom clouds (working title: the lady doth cry havoc too much).
Perhaps you're missing the introduction of a new character, and the post hoc foreshadowing of a fast moving bus, and the artsy pentameter of a retrograde collision course.

You see? Modern characters are not bound by rational trajectories -- witness John McCain -- they have editorial control of the authors (MSM), and their journeys are achieved by (oft repeated) Hyperspace Button (read: rewrite).

What critic does not appreciate a woman bouncing of age story?
Did I mention Happy Ending?
The unsinkable lead character -- the protagonist for the sake of protagonism -- no longer applies only to The President (see Reagan's Law: all things manufactured will tend to trickle downward).

So what if the arc is lost?
A consistency is gained...
At the end of every scene, History will look back upon itself and declare, "I never had to repeat myself."

[nyboomer]

Since being appointed to her current job, she has accomplished so little that I doubt most people would know how to answer the question, Who Is The Secreatry Of State today?

Colin Powell declined to out the incompetents in charge and aided and abetted them in going to war. Condi was one of those incompetents and she has declined to expand her horizons.

As a rich woman she will make even more money as a consultant, lobbyist and lecturer in the next few years. She may even compose a book defending her defense of the indefensibly lacking. That book should bring her a quick few millions.

She may be trying to belatedly set up a legacy that obscures some the egregious lies and fantasies she parrotted as a version of reality.

[gerireig]

Condi didn't fail. Her job was to leave chaos undisturbed. The Bushies can't pillage under a cloudless sky. They need cover.. Rice is as amoral as they come. It would be interesting to hear her true views-perhaps under hypnosis. The depths of her detachment would be frightening.

[Passenger57]

EXACTLY,ge­rireig...t­his is why I get so mad when someone calls the Bush administration post-Saddam Iraq "lack of planning" a "failure".It's all going according to plan. None of them-Rummy­,Wolfie,Co­ndi,Dickie­-are fools.Anyone who tried to inject logic into the "plan' was removed,resigned, or "retired".
Now they're trying to get what they wanted all along-military bases and soon, control of the oil-rammed through before Bush leaves.THAT was the real plan all along...

[TheHandyman]

Yes indeed. People complain that they are incompetent, blundering fools. They have screwed everything up, woe is us. These people knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish and they had hoped for a better ending but what they have gotten is still so much more than what they started to accomplish they are giddy. The rich have gotten richer beyond their wildest dreams and the Power simply oozes from those that started all this. It is easy to prove that who the incompetent, blundering dolts were was the People who voted, not once, but twice for this admnistration, but who have also sat at home wringing their hands instead f taking to the streets!

[researcher]

she is on her way to stanford to work with rummy.

private elitist school that loves war mongers

will make sure your kids get a good education

in how to invade and occupy countries and set up puppet governments and steal thier resources ie oil

american imperialism is even taught in our elitist universities

that is the power of the industrial military complex and its grants

please note neither obama or mc war plan on reducing its size.

imperialism runs deep in american politics and in middle america and southern america and it well you get the picture

[realpolitic]

Condi is as Machiavellian as the rest of the brood of vipers in this administration.

[blueshield]

It's apparent everyone in the Administration is scrambling to put up anything they can for their "legacy". If I'm being charitable to Condi, I'll note that her position on this came out after Rove, Rummie left the WH, and while Georgie was busy touring in Europe. Since the beginning she's been left out and up a creek to play a role that has never fit her prior convictions. On the other hand, she's an accomplice to horror.

[boogie]

The bureaucrat theory along with the peter principle make lots of sense. I think though that her motivation to be such a criminal includes her personal relationship with Bush. Remember when she referred to him as "my husband, oops, I meant my boss"? The media immediately shyed away from that comment but I believe it is quite telling. Maybe he is really into Jimmy Choos.

[proudprogressive]

Ms. Rice's behavior reminds some of us in Illinois of former governor George Ryan's sudden, impassioned opposition to the death penalty just as federal prosecutors were closing in. Coincidence or a feeble attempt to make a silk purse from a sow's ear?

[TTigerX2]

Condi dolls are already in production for the fall, in time for Christmas and a run as McCain's VP. What.. and you expect a puppet to have morals?

[JScott]

Didn't the previous person in CR's position-Madeline Albright, actually perform/dramatic read the 'Vagina Monologues'? I don't see CR ever doing it tho.