How to Transcend a Happy Marriage at Center Stage

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2. How to Transcend a Happy Marriage

How to Transcend a Happy Marriage is an extraordinary new play by celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl - a literate, funny and dark exploration into the incompatibility of traditional marriage with our sexual, animal roots.

Into the lives of two, “happily” married, middle-aged couples comes the remarkable Pip, a woman who lives, loves, and sleeps with two male lovers and who will only eat meat that she has killed herself. Responsive only to the instincts of her own, internal drummer, Pip’s entrance onto the stage of the marrieds alters their understanding of relationships, marriage and life forever.

Ruhl poses the question: in order to function well in the institution of marriage and the raising of children, what parts of our animal nature do we sacrifice? What part of ourselves do we atrophy or simply cut off to be reliable, constructive spouses and parents?

While brilliantly written and extremely funny, Ruhl's new play suggests that our sacrifices are significant and debilitating. Director Peter Frisch adds: “the play is line by line smart, surprising and funny, we believe it to be her strongest piece to date.”

Authors

• Sarah Ruhl