Lidless (Yale Drama Series) by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig


Lidless (Yale Drama Series)
Title : Lidless (Yale Drama Series)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0300160305
ISBN-10 : 9780300160307
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 96
Publication : First published January 1, 2010

It’s been fifteen years since Guantánamo, fifteen years since Bashir last saw his U.S. Army interrogator, Alice. Bashir is now dying of a disease of the liver, an organ that he believes is the home of the soul. He tracks down Alice in Texas and demands that she donate half her liver as restitution for the damage wrought during her interrogations.

But Alice doesn’t remember Bashir; a PTSD pill trial she participated in while in the army has left her without any memory of her time there. It is only when her inquisitive fourteen-year-old daughter begins her own investigation that the fragile peace of mind that Alice’s drug-induced oblivion enabled begins to falter.

Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s powerful drama asks important and difficult questions: Is guilt a necessary form of moral reckoning, or is it an obstacle to be overcome? Will the price of our national political amnesia be paid only by the next generation—the daughters and sons who were never there?

Upon awarding the prize, David Hare wrote, “We admired the play because—although it was stylishly written, although the governing metaphor and basic realism were held in a fine balance—it also recalled the political urgency which had propelled a previous generation of writers into the theatre in the first place.”

Lidless (Yale Drama Series) Reviews

  • Kat

    holy shit I was emotionally destroyed by this play. it really grabs you by the lungs (and liver?) and rips.

    incredible circle of ideas and objects being explored. as a good play should do, everything resonates, connects, comes full circle.

    yes it is political and about guantanamo and that is important historical context, but amazingly it transcends that specificity. guantanamo ends up only being an incidental and symbolic thing in some ways, and the extraordinary, unimaginable experiences really brush up with the mundane in such a powerful way here.

    wow wow wow.

  • Juliette II

    I purposely read this play on 9/11 and it’s one of the best plays I’ve read in a long time.

    Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig fundamentally understands that the most realistic stories of war are gray and disjointed. These characters are so incredibly well developed as to be both entirely unique yet deftly composite.

    Not every veteran wants to be thanked or even known. US troops were not the only lives altered and lost in the war in Afghanistan. Not everything the US did was noble. These are uncomfortable truths that Lidless explores with fierce empathy while withholding complete absolution. These are stories we must tell.

    3 M / 2 W (doubling)

    Diverse casting opportunity. Pakistani and Iraqi roles as well as roles that are racially ambiguous.

    Minimalist / flexible set required as scenes are fluid and rapidly change. There are no super challenging tech requirements but ample opportunities.

  • Bridgette Hayes

    This play was very disturbing; I actually almost put it down because it was making me feel sick.

    Very interesting subject material (Guantanamo Bay and the aftermath of cruel American interrogation tactics), but the dialogue felt forced and parts of the plot seemed implausible. I’m not sure if this was meant to be a realistic drama or some type of fever dream.

    I rarely say this about plays, but I think it would have been better if it was longer, if the playwright had expanded scenes and left some room for the reader/audience to breathe.

    Also, I must have missed something…I don’t understand the title. Anyone?? Just me?

  • Rachel Saper

    I don’t know how to review this. I don’t want to live in the world, I don’t think I could read it a second time and I don’t know if I would want to be involved in a production. That being said, I would go to see it. I can recognize the power and the sharp edges. The playwright is playing with important themes and interesting techniques that would be impactful…

  • Aaron Thomas

    Solid! It doesn't totally work. What happens to the daughter at the end feels a little out-of-left-field and unearned. But perhaps that breathing ritual of hers would take up more space (and thus more meaning) in performance.

  • Justin Torres

    Incredible.