I remember buying this book as part of a package. There were three books in the package – Fat Pig, The Laramie Project and How I learned to Drive. The Laramie Project is the last book of the three that I have chosen to read, and yet the first book that I want to write a review on, simply because it resonates more with me even though it is written based on a real tragedy that happened in 1998, Laramie, Wyoming that is miles away from Singapore and years before I even started this blog.
I have to admit that it is one of the most difficult play I have read in years, not because the content was difficult to understand, but the gravity of it all; the implications it could possibly have on the generations in our time and the future and that whole idea of trying to be that impartial and unbiased reader—totally a next level challenge. (Am I using the millennials’ lingo correctly?)
Just to side track a little: I have been trying to adopt this whole habit of reading while in transit; either on the bus, MRT or plane. It hasn’t been easy for me as I usually gets motion sickness when I attempt to read on a moving vehicle. However, reading this book has been a breeze, no motion sickness at all. It could have been I was too captivated by the choice of words and choice of characters that Kaufman have chosen for the script that I totally forgotten that I have motion sickness. Every interaction between the characters and the audience/ readers are so well-timed and every one of the characters helped to piece up this massive of a jigsaw puzzle as to what happened that fateful night when Mathew Shepherd was killed, allegedly due to homophobia. I remembered when the friends gave an account of what they think might have happened; it was a tear-jerking moment. I cried reading the pages. It got so bad that a girl who was commuting with me on the same bus, literally just stared at me in shock, probably because she has never seen a grown man cried.
This piece of theatre, according to Kaufman is known as verbatim theatre, i.e. every word in the script are words that come out from the interviewees, residents of Wyoming. They were particularly concerned that the piece will be over-sensationalised, and this is quite understandable given the fact that the whole incident has been over-sensationalised by many reporters from different TV stations and newspapers. While they want to share their stories with the world; they are also concerned about how the world would judge them over the incident, given the sensitive nature and reasons why Mathew Shepherd was murdered. I have to say Kaufman really laid their concerns to rest—the whole piece was so well-balanced. As an audience/ reader, we get to hear the stories from all sides/ parties involved; from the sheriff to the bar owner to Mathew’s family as well the alleged killers’ families. Many plausible reasons were put forth as to why Mathew was killed, but the one that stood out most is on the ground of homophobia.
Personally, as a writer/ director myself, there are times when I feel that I am in a moral dilemma. On one side, I want to be impartial and non-judgemental and present a piece that is open enough for the audience to make their own conclusions. But I feel at the end of the day, when you start to sit down and write about something, you would already have an agenda. The reason you write is because you felt a certain injustice have been done and that you need to do your part to expose it. And that is something I would speculate about when I read this piece—that Kaufman already knew what he wanted the audience/ readers to think about and feel for. In spite of all that, I really salute Kaufman for putting forth his view without sounding preachy or make it sound like as if he is taking the moral high ground. That is something I can appreciate.
The Laramie Project. I strongly recommend you to read it at least once. Better still, if you can catch the play, go for it!
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