the dreamer examines his pillow

by John Patrick Shanley

A play for 2 men and 1 woman. The first scene of the play is a conversation between two lovers, Tommy and Donna, who broke up some time earlier but who are obviously still attracted to each other. Donna is enraged because Tommy, a would-be artist, is now having an affair with her younger sister, but Tommy, stretched out on his recliner (which, apart from a refrigerator full of beer, comprises the entire furnishings of his spartan apartment), is seemingly unmoved by her harangue. In the second scene Donna visits her father, a once successful artist who stopped painting at the death of his wife, whom he had bullied and betrayed despite his professed love for her. Combative and complex (but also very funny) the father sits and drinks and eventually gives in to his daughter's demand that he force Tommy to marry her or beat him up. Then, in the third and final scene, the father and Tommy confront each other, with results that are sometimes menacing, sometimes antic, with a lively discussion about art and women eventually leading to a sort of tenuous truce—and a grudging recognition of the responsibility that love, in its various guises, imposes.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Fiction

47 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

John Patrick Shanley was born in The Bronx, New York City, to a telephone operator mother and a meat-packer father. He is a graduate of New York University, and is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre.

For his script for the 1987 film, Moonstruck, Shanley won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

In 1990, Shanley directed his script of Joe Versus the Volcano. Shanley also wrote two songs for the movie: "Marooned Without You" and "The Cowboy Song."

In 2004 Shanley was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame.

In 2005, Shanley's play Doubt: A Parable was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for Best Play. Doubt: A Parable, is featured in The Fourth Wall, a book of photographs by Amy Arbus in which Shanley also wrote the foreword.

In 2008, Shanley directed a film version of Doubt starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.

Reviews

[Kalliopi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This morning this book fell out of my bookshelf. I don't remember where I bought/found it, or how it came into my possession. It takes place in my neighborhood. The monologues are very strong. There are some timeless themes, and the property list at the end made me smile "3 cans of Budweiser beer, Tommy's self portrait, 1 litre bottle of vodka, 1 glass, wedding ring, Dad's painting of a nude woman". Quite short and can be read in 1 sitting.

[LYS. · Rating 4 out of 5]

DAD. Why don’t ya go inta yourself?
DONNA. Why don’t you?
DAD. I did my whole life. I cut an cut inta myself, an then one night I hadda dream, an I hit white bone. An I looked at my pillow, where I’d dreamed that dream, I looked at that hole where my head had been dreamin, and I said No more.
—page 45

what the fuck did i just get myself into. reading this play was just me getting knocked around for three walls and bodily thrown into the fourth wall. the insane, breathless pace. the full-scale, stream of consciousness monologues. the ending . . . the fucking ending. oh my god. john patrick shanley, you’re fucked in the head for this. maybe because i have greek tragedies on my mind, but i was struck by the similarities of the cyclicality of generational curses—how the characters sometimes aren’t even characters anymore, but puppets of fate or god. how donna and tommy don’t even want to go through with this (this, being a relationship), but they’re trapped and doomed to repeat this cycle just like donna’s dad and mom were trapped by each other. ugh. crazy fucking play. what the fuck.

anyway. love n light, guys.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite play. Touching, heartfelt. You can feel the character's emotions pouring out of each page. I read this at a time in my life where I had some of the same emotions, and this play struck a chord with me and has stuck with me ever since.

[Lise · Rating 4 out of 5]

a poor man's fool for love. still great. had a lot of fun playing donna in the opening scene for an acting exercise.

[Tommy Harkness · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pure insanity. Also pure genius. Written with the passion of youth for the young, but also filled with the wisdom of the old for the old. It’s for everybody I guess then. The dialogue screams out of these characters at 150 miles per hour, pure stream of consciousness, confessions of mad men and women. This is a work that should light a fire inside of you, unless you’re already dead.

[Matthew]

Would love to work on this. JPS you’re so good

[J Jewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Playing both Tommy and Donna in this play was an absolute blast. The amount of hidden subtext is too juicy to even begin to explain.

My particular favourite scene to perform out of the three that I did though, would have to be when Donna explains to her dad exactly how Tommy makes her feel, the overwhelming way he consumes her mind and soul, the way sex is used as a bargain chip to end things. And the true suffering of loving somebody so much you lose yourself.

Absolutely gorgeous scene that made me cry during both rehearsals and live performance.

Incredible play worth your time and your energy, and especially your passion.

[Kaysy Ostrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

....the ending of this play is MESSED. UP. but I really liked the first scene! ooooh Shanley...

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this play very much but didn't like the end!

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shanley never disappoints. A complex and thrilling tale on an emotional roller coaster.