Newintown, there are several reasons I can accept Mark looking at David and falling in love with Melinda, all of which put me (although we reach different conclusions) in the camp of those, like you, who remain intellectually engaged and don't turn off their brains while watching a show.
First is that I accept Mark's imaginative powers (just as easily as I can accept a person falling in love with a character in a book through the powers of his or her imagination). Second is that I accept that Mark can fall in love with a woman he is having interpersonal communication with although he has never seen her (as easily as I can accept Georg can fall in love with Amalia before he has ever seen her, or that Amalia might still love Georg although he might be old, bald, and even, as Ilona worries, a knucklecracker). Third is that while David is experiencing transference (falling in love with his therapist), Mark is experiencing countertransference (as Sharone keeps reminding him) (falling in love with his patient, but in this case referred to the patient's alter ego/past life). Fourth, having already been asked to accept reincarnation, we - or rather, I, let me speak only about myself so as not to commit the error you ascribe to marknyc (although by his use of "we," clearly marknyc was merely speaking in the commonly accepted vernacular and was not presuming to speak for everyone who saw the show) - as I was saying, I was primed, to "open my eyes" (expand my consciousness) and accept remarkable things. Most importantly, I can accept there is the ability to love another human being beyond the physical, well beyond the physical, and even among people who don't consider themselves bisexual, and have never had any real reason to consider themselves bisexual, there is the ability (among some) to open their hearts and love another human being of the same sex (and yes, even love another person of the same sex erotically; although here, of course, Melinda is not of the same sex as Mark so it is somewhat beside the point as it is only a concern to the degree that Melinda is currently incarnated in David's body, which for reasons stated herein, don't cause me too much distress). With all due respect, to accept this theme in a show like Prelude and not be able to even begin to do it here seems rather shallow in my humble opinion (not to imply that one has to like this production of On A Clear Day, or Prelude, or that there is a basic problem of consistency or inconsistency in preferring one or the other on this or any other ground).
By the way, newintown, I'm curious how you dealt with the converse issues of credibility in M. Butterfly? There a man sleeps with a man for decades and still believes he's in love with a woman.
And there: No reincarnation. No transference/countertransference. Hell, it's not even a musical! (all of which suggest, and in the latter case requires a suspension of disbelief)
Still, it's said to be a true story.
Updated On: 12/10/11 at 11:04 AM
