Was it the title of this play, The Women of Lockerbie, that put men off? That’s what I wondered as I looked around the predominately female audience last night at the theater. Mick and I went with two other couples went to see The Women of Lockerbie by Deborah Brevoort. Or was it because the play was a drama and might be emotional? It was both. It was also a riveting piece of theater.
It could also have been this attitude that men don’t go to the theater but that it is a woman’s thing, because Mick and I’ve noticed it at other plays we’ve been to, not only where we live now but in Orange and in Sydney. There’s always a higher ratio of women in the audience. And it’s a shame. Men miss so much.
Of the three husbands in our group they all agreed it was a compelling piece of theater beautifully acted by our local theater company. It was also a play that raised issues about the way a husband and a wife deal with their grief after the death of their only son.
If you’re not familiar with the play, it’s about a couple from New Jersey who go to Lockerbie, Scotland. The woman wants to find some trace of her son, one of the 243 passengers killed in the Pan Am 103 Plane Crash on December 21, 1988. While there, the couple meets the women of Lockerbie who have their own way of dealing with the hurt left by the tragedy.
After 7 years, the husband is at his wit’s end to know how to deal with his wife who keeps crying and grieving. In the process he has tried to keep his own feelings bottled up, which tended to give her the impression he didn’t care as much. But that is often a common reaction from some people. It may not be helpful to others in the family or to their marriage partner but it is the only way they can cope with their grief.
Afterwards as Mick and I talked, before sitting up to watch the football, another of our shared interests, Mick commented that the mans reaction was probably typical the way many husbands would react. But both of us could equally understand where the wife was coming from.
I love going to live theater that not only entertains, but make you think about the larger issues of life. This one certainly did. It’s good as husband and wife to be able to share those things and then talk about them afterwards. It’s one of the joys of being married and sharing common interests.
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