The Busy World is Hushed

by Keith Bunin

With wisdom, humor and insight, THE BUSY WORLD IS HUSHED examines the contradictions we find in our faith, our families and ourselves. Hannah, a widowed Episcopal minister, is hoping to translate a long-lost gospel when she is challenged by both her scholarly assistant and her wayward gay son. But when family secrets are revealed, only the intercession of a stranger can help Hannah find peace.

Genres: Plays, Drama

Audio CD

First published January 31, 2007

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I wound up with a copy of this play, but when I finally did pick it up I couldn't put it down. It's a three-character drama about a woman minister who is writing a book about a recently discovered gospel that could be one of the missing sources used by Matthew and Luke. Jill Clayburgh played the part off-Broadway. She hires a young man to help her write the book, but when her wayward, wild, and chaotic son returns home unexpectedly, the fractures of this broken family come into focus. Love, pain, grief, belief, non-belief, all play a part in the story. It all works on so many different levels that you'll want to reread it again as soon as you've finished. And lobby your local non-profit theatre to put on a production if you can.

[Martin Denton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was extremely moved by The Busy World is Hushed, a play by Keith Bunin. It's about a mother, her son, and a young man who comes to work for her, only to find his life embroiled and intertwined with theirs. Busy World is a love story, and also a story of parents and children; most of all, perhaps, it's a meditation on faith in its many forms--on what it takes to make a life seem worth living, and on the ways we convince (fool?) ourselves that all those things we feel but cannot see (call it religion, call it soul, call it love) somehow comprise purpose enough to allow us to go on.

The play takes place in the library of an apartment in New York City, where Hannah, an Episcopal minister, lives and works. She is dedicated to discovering the real truth of Christ's teachings (in contrast with the pretty renderings of them that painters and bishops have made over the centuries). To this end, she's writing a book about some recently discovered Coptic writings that date from 50 or 60 A.D. and may be a gospel pre-dating the ones in the New Testament. She says:

Two thousand years ago something so extraordinary happened that many of the people who experienced it felt compelled to write it all down. But most of their stories have been lost to us forever. That's why this gospel could be such an enormous gift. In some small way it might cast a pure and necessary light. And then perhaps we can all get ever so much closer to a clear view of God.

Hannah says many remarkable things like this; one of the breathtaking aspects of Busy World is how far-ranging and genuinely curious are its inhabitants (and therefore, one presumes, its author). Lots of theological and philosophical notions are trotted out for inspection here, not so much for belief or disbelief, I think, but rather just to hear what they sound like when said aloud. It's riveting, stimulating stuff.

Brandt is the young man Hannah hires to be her assistant in preparing this book--her ghostwriter, in fact. His background isn't in theology, but he convinces her (and us) very quickly that he will be able to articulate her ideas with elegance and passion.

Brandt's job interview (for that's what the first scene consists of) is interrupted by the appearance of Thomas, Hannah's son, who has been missing for several months and now turns up a veritable mess, covered with dirt and bruises and with a dozen porcupine quills stuck in one of his legs. Hannah and Thomas have a very troubled relationship that began with his father's death off the coast of Maine a few months before Thomas was born. It's complicated, but at heart what Hannah seems most to want for Thomas is someone who he will consider family, and as she gets to know Brandt, and observes the way he and Thomas are getting along, she starts to believe that perhaps Brandt is the someone she's been hoping for.

Bunin puts a lot out there in his play: a woman who coped with widowhood by pursuing God and who now tries to engineer a stable relationship for her son; one man who never knew his father and runs from anything remotely resembling home as he tries to find his father and himself; and another man who is losing the father he loves dearly and buries himself in abstract ideas to cushion that loss and any others that may lay in his future. What unites the three characters, apart from their strong intelligence and sense of self, is a desire, possibly unrequited (possibly unachievable) to find an unassailable purpose. Love of another seems the best choice, but how often does that really happen? Where can we ultimately find that ineffable something that gives us light and grace?

Busy World is about religion, but I wouldn't call it a religious play: it transcends particulars to explore the most fundamental questions of humanity. We root for easy and happy resolutions but understand that they seldom occur and won't in this play; Bunin is trading in maturity and acceptance here, not romance or redemption.

The Busy World is Hushed is not neat or "well-made" but rather fuzzy and raw, the way real life is. It's an authentic play of ideas; a dramatic quest, in fact, for answers to life's most fundamental riddles. And though in the end no resolution can be provided with any certainty, the journey toward whatever each character chooses is resonant and essential.

[Gil · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Busy World Is Hushed”
By Keith Bunin
Narrated by: Jill Clayburgh, Hamish Linklater, Luke Macfarlane
Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
Published October 1st 2007 by LA Theatre Works (first published January 31st 2007)

There is a lot unfolding in this play. Religion and relationships seem to be the biggest so I'm going to try to focus on those, however there are a few other topics/feelings/philosophy that I may touch on. Just keep in mind this is a very heady play. I'm probably going to revisit this one soon. Next time I may read the hard copy of the play rather than listen to a performance, but only because there is so much to absorb.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this audio production. Of course it is an L.A. Theatre Works production, and I don't recall ever hearing a bad production from them. The actors are always top notch and the production places the listener right in the middle of the audience. This time around the performance features two of my new favorite actors, Hamish Linklater (I became a fan of his after watching the series “Legion”) and Luke Macfarlane (I bacame a fan of his after watching “Killjoys”). I don't think I ever thought I would picture them doing a love scene together, but surprises are good. Okay it wasn't a love scene but rather an intimacy scene.

This play is full of ups and downs on the emotional rollercoaster and very smart conversations on religion. Jill Clayburgh plays Hannah a minister researching the gospels. She's working on a translation when she hires an assistant, Brant (played by Linklater). Brant notices her work needs some organizing, she doesn't even have bookshelves, and is pretty much hired on the spot. A relationship between Brant and Thomas, Hannah's son (played by Macfarlane). In what in actuality is really a pretty short play, some intense conversations about life, love, religion and purpose are discussed.

My only problem with this play is that it was too short. I was left with a feeling of “Is that all?” But at the same time I enjoyed the conversations and the level of intellect those conversations covered in the play. I would say that there were at least 30 plays that could be developed out of the many topics this one play covers, and I just wanted more.

[mental ensemble · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved it, its heavy and sad but real and good. I hate the way it ends, I wished some reconciliation could have been made.
The anger the son has at his mothers inability to let things be sad or tragic really resonated with me. I appreciate the way her faith was displayed.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done."
-John Henry Newman

Here's a dear little play that subtly packs a wallop. Six scenes, 55 pages, 3 characters. Questions arise of God and life and love and why, and few concrete answers are given (how postmodern, right?) while the characters yet wrestle and cope to the end.

They each have their reasons to do just that. Hannah is a middle-aged widow and woman of the cloth, mother to Thomas, and apartment dweller on NYC's 122nd Street. Her home features a brimming library, and Brandt is the young writer who signs on to help her write a book about a gnostic gospel that may reveal truths about the life and words of Jesus.

Hannah has her reasons for taking on Brandt, in particular - her lone offspring Thomas has a nomadic heart and keeps disappearing and returning, ever the prodigal. In a way she brings in Brandt as an anchor for her son, and the two do begin a relationship. Brandt has his own reasons for working on Hannah's book, as he deals with the most normal and basic and wrenching thing all humans encounter: loss.

Sound engrossing? It is. I'll say no more about the plot. The dialogue is crisp and smart, incredibly well-said. Sometimes hilariously witty, sometimes heartrending.

The relationship between Brandt and Thomas felt a bit forced, but, then again, it is just that. Hannah is not above a little deus ex machina action in her son's life. Oh, these three are all too human. They are all good people also, whether or not each is is inclined to snatch that goodness for themselves.

Some things in life you just cannot brace for. Each of these characters encounters that and responds in ways revealing true (vibrant) colors.

(Need another reason to read Bunin? His play 10 Million Miles has music and lyrics by one Patty Griffin.)

[Chris Cobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite plays. Bunin is a master of dialogue, and has managed to write a talky play about God, spirituality, sexuality, and other Big Issues that does not feel preachy, obvious or boring. Instead, the play has a life force that is strong enough to sustain audience interest for the 2+ hours it would take to perform. I actually listened to this play through L.A. Theater Works - they did a production of the play that was available for listening. I'm not sure how the play reads as opposed to how it sounds, but surely how it performs is what is most exciting about the play. I have a keen interest in the intersection of spirituality and homosexuality, which is part of what the play addresses. For those who do not share this interest, it will likely just be a relatively interesting domestic drama about the tension between a mother and a son, and the difficulties of romance. For those of us who belong in the category of gay Christians, or people who are gay and have spiritual yearnings we cannot explain but understand to be based in Christianity or another spiritual location, the play is on fire. It speaks to our deepest fears, longings and desires, both corporeal and spiritual.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keith Bunin has a lot to say about a great deal of material in The Busy World Is Hushed. If I didn't quite catch the thrust of a lot of his philosophical arguments, that's because I couldn't attach them directly to the conflict between the minister mom, her wayward son and the man too scared to love him.

But man, does Bunin have a beautiful voice and a mind calibrated to look beyond the obviousness of human failings.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent play. Considering how much is said by these characters it's also remarkable how much the small things are really where the pain lies. The way the characters almost unwillingly say what they need to is both realistic and on occasion heartbreaking, though it would be nice to see how these characters connect so strongly (it just kind of happens).