Joan Didion
The Year of Magical Thinking was a book written by writer/screenwriter Joan Didion. It was a bout the sudden death of her husband, journalist, novelist, playwright John Gregory Dunne, to whom she was married for 40 years. He died in December of 1993, shortly after they got home from visiting their daughter, their only child, in the hospital in New York. She was gravely ill. They were at the dinner table and he suddenly collapsed and died. The daughter recovered. Briefly.
The Didion book, which came out a year later, was a huge success but I didn’t read it. I had been through my own year of magical thinking after my husband died and didn’t want to be reminded. To add to Joan Didion’s pain, her daughter died just as the book came out. I didn’t want to have to think about that either.
So it was with some hesitation that I went, a couple of weeks ago, to the Capitol Theatre to hear a play reading presented by Robert Latimer’s First Stages Theatre Company. Joan Didion had turned her award-winning book into a one-woman play; she had included the life and death of her daughter. Latimer, producer, director, actor and tour de force had acquired the rights to the book and had hired remarkable Canadian actor Patricia Yeatman to play Joan Didion. I cannot tell you how happy I am that a dear friend had persuaded me to go. The play and Yeatman were magnificent. Joan Didion has created a timeless document that everyone who has ever lost a loved one should see/hear/read.
And as for Patricia Yeatman, there are no words to describe how absolutely amazing she was. She was Joan Didion. Robert’s direction was brilliant; the experience was extremely powerful and one I cherish. It is amazing that we get the caliber of performances that we do in this small town. All thanks go to Robert Latimer and the First Stages Theatre Company. What a treat.
Selena Forsyth.
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