A review by greensalbet
100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater by Sarah Ruhl

hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

There is so much wisdom in this tiny book of essays, musings I wish I'd thought of, and connections I've made but never articulated as gracefully as Ruhl does. I particularly enjoyed her essays about the depth of familial love, delight in her young children's wonder and awe; and, finally, her experiences with the creative process as a playwright.

Here is one snippet from this lovely book of Essays:

Umbrellas on stage

“Why are umbrellas so pleasing on stage? The illusion of being outside and being under the eternal sky is created by a real object. A metaphor of limitlessness is created by the very real limit of an actual umbrella indoors. Cosmology is brought low by the temporary shelter of the individual against water. The sight of an umbrella makes us want to feel both wet and dry: the presence of rain, and the dryness of shelter. The umbrella is real on stage, and the rain is the fiction. Even if there are drops of water produced by a stage manager, we know that it won’t really rain on us, and therein lies the total pleasure of theater. A real thing that creates a world of illusory things.

I have an umbrella with a picture of the sky inside. My daughter Anna said, when she was three and underneath it, ‘We have two skies, the umbrella sky and the real sky.’ When I went out with her in the rain recently without an umbrella, she said. ‘It’s all right, Mama. I will be your umbrella.’ And she put her arms over my head.” (6).

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Content Warnings

There is so much wisdom in this tiny book of essays, musings I wish I'd thought of, and connections I've made but never articulated as gracefully as Ruhl does. I particularly enjoyed her essays about the depth of familial love, delight in her young children's wonder and awe; and, finally, her experiences with the creative process as a playwright. Here is one snippet from this lovely book of 100 Essays: Umbrellas on stage “Why are umbrellas so pleasing on stage? The illusion of being outside and being under the eternal sky is created by a real object. A metaphor of limitlessness is created by the very real limit of an actual umbrella indoors. Cosmology is brought low by the temporary shelter of the individual against water. The sight of an umbrella makes us want to feel both wet and dry: the presence of rain, and the dryness of shelter. The umbrella is real on stage, and the rain is the fiction. Even if there are drops of water produced by a stage manager, we know that it won’t really rain on us, and therein lies the total pleasure of theater. A real thing that creates a world of illusory things. I have an umbrella with a picture of the sky inside. My daughter Anna said, when she was three and underneath it, ‘We have two skies, the umbrella sky and the real sky.’ When I went out with her in the rain recently without an umbrella, she said. ‘It’s all right, Mama. I will be your umbrella.’ And she put her arms over my head.” (6).