TW for this article: pedophilia, suicide, abuse, loss
Also: SPOILERS
Recently, I was able to attend a showing of the new play, Kissing The Floor, written by Ellen McLaughlin and directed by Ianthe Demos, who is one of the heads of the BA Acting International Performance Ensemble major here at Pace University. The play is a modern adaptation of the Greek tragedy, Antigone. Set in Depression-era America, the play utilizes the infamous story of the dysfunctional family to discuss the unfortunately ever-relevant issues of pedophilia, trauma, and loss.
The play begins with Annie (Antigone), played by Christina Bennett Lind, laying on the floor and tapping morse code into the ground with her knuckles and stopping to listen for a response. Her sister, the narrator of the play, Izzy (Ismene), played by Akyiaa Wilson, explains that Annie is communicating with the dead. She claims she can hear them, but she can’t reach the one she really wants to hear from, her late father, Oedipus. Izzy goes on to describe the road trip Annie took with their father, how he taught her sign language, and how Annie returned without him. “I drove all the way home with his ashes in the creases of my hands,” Annie says before exiting the stage. She enters again wearing a coat and carrying a suitcase and Izzy informs her that their brother, Paulie (Polynices), played by Leon Ingulsrud, is in prison again and we quickly learn the atrocious reason why.
On the surface, the decision to make Paulie a pedophile may seem uncalled for and rather out of place in a retelling of Antigone; I must admit I was skeptical at first. The performance that I attended did not have a talkback, but one of my colleagues had the privilege of discussing the show with its writer and learned that her decision to make Paulie a pedophile came from the question of what it means to be a traitor to society in the modern day.
In the original story of Antigone, when the rule of the city is passed down to the two brothers, Polynices and Eteocles (Eddie in Kissing the Floor), they do not share it peacefully, ultimately killing each other in battle. When their uncle, Creon, assumes the throne, he declares Polynices the traitor and Eteocles the rightful ruler. Therefore, Eteocles is to receive a proper burial while Polynices is not to be buried or even mourned. Antigone, loyal and devoted to both of her brothers, takes great issue with the condemnation of Polynices and gives him a secret proper burial. She is discovered and imprisoned for her crime and she later kills herself.
In the play, despite having been abused by Paulie herself as a child, Annie is still bizarrely tolerant and caring towards her monster of a brother. She talks to him, trying to extract even the slightest hint of remorse from him, but she can’t find it. Knowing he will never get better, she buys him a vial of poison and asks him to drink it. She uses the metaphor of euthanizing a loved dog to explain why she needs him to kill himself, and he seems to understand. But when she leaves him alone on stage to carry out the assisted suicide, he doesn’t drink. She returns and begins making breakfast for them… except when he is facing away from her and towards the audience, she turns quickly and plunges a knife into his back. I suppose this is the modern social equivalent of the desire to bury a traitor. After learning of the playwright’s intentions, the decision to make the primary conflict in the play be that Paulie is an unapologetic pedophile makes more sense. It is still extremely difficult content to take in and the show is definitely not for everyone, but I appreciate that it does not try to make the topic any easier to digest. Subject matter like pedophilia should make people uncomfortable and upset at the very least. It is vital that these ugly, taboo social issues are not permitted to hide in the dark, and so I commend everyone involved in the creation process and production of Kissing The Floor.
Feature image via https://www.ellenmmclaughlin.com/upcoming-events/2023/2/24/kissing-the-floor-by-ellen-mclaughlin