ALCOHOL AND ARTMAKERS ALCOHOL AND SOCIETY


Alcohol has played a large role in the development of society, spanning the history of humankind. From the rituals of ancient societies to the ragers of today, alcohol has been known to fuel the human desire to let loose and feel good. Naturally, artists have been known to take advantage of alcohol’s dopamine- releasing nature to help inspire their work. However, as happens with Harry in Darling Grenadine, sometimes artists fall prey to alcohol misuse.


Some say alcohol is the reason that “society” exists at all. According to Andrew Curry in National Geographic, “alcohol is one of the most universally produced and enjoyed substances in history—and in prehistory too because people were imbibing alcohol long before they invented writing.” Not only does alcohol contain ethanol, which helps release chemicals that make us feel good like serotonin and dopamine, but in early society, it served as a vital component to a more healthy diet. Dudley points out that the ethanol found in rotting fruit, and thus in alcohol, is “easier to digest, allowing animals to get more of a commodity that was precious back then: calories [,and] its antiseptic qualities repel microbes that might” have made our prehistoric ancestors sick.


An Egyptian woman pouring beer


Minneapolis, who has been sober for 25 years and says that bars are frequently suggested as alternative venues for giving notes after rehearsals.” She also notes that “the prevalence of alcohol in work culture pervades many industries, but dependency especially resonates for many in the theatre community. ‘I almost had the satisfaction prior to my recovery of, "Well, I’m a playwright, I’m supposed to be miserable, I’m supposed to be a drunk," says playwright Grace Connolly, whose play Moses deals with addiction. ‘Look at O’Neill, look at Shepard. I really identified with that and was convinced I was gonna have this tragic life.’”


Eugene O’Neill Photo by Carl Van Vechten, Library of Congress


Eugene O’Neill is considered one of the greatest dramatists of the twentieth century, if not of all time. O’Neill’s life was consumed by alcohol, falling into alcoholism and “depravity” by his mid-20s. By transforming his personal demons into inspiration for his works, he created some of the greatest characters of our age, many of


whom struggle with addiction, like A Long Day’s Journey Into Night’s Mary Tyrone, portrayed by Jessica Lange for Roundabout in 2017. In The New York Times, Jesse McKinley recently explored this phenomenon: “You can barely swing an empty bottle in an American theater without hitting a classic tale of the perils of tippling and other bad habits...always promising to sober up—just not today. A far rarer sight, however, is what happens after the party is over.”


ALCOHOL IN THE INDUSTRY The theatre industry is no stranger to alcohol: both responsible consumption in social settings, and alcohol misuse. Theatremakers, administrators, and theatrical works themselves thrive in environments where the presence of alcohol is the norm.


In a 2019 article for American Theatre, Amanda Merrill surveyed theatre professionals in recovery about their perception of the role of alcohol in the industry. “‘Most of our industry revolves around substances,’ says Jeremy Cohen, artistic director of Playwrights’ Center in


WHAT NOW Yet in Darling Grenadine, Harry is forced to confront just that—what happens when an addict must finally face their actions. And that applies not just to artists—but to everyone. As Matthew Sperling, a writer for Apollo Magazine, puts it, “In truth, alcoholism does not vary a great deal between different classes of people, artists or not. The great, humbling discovery of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings for artists or intellectuals is that the patterns of maladaptation their drinking causes—the lying, the cheating, the avoidances—are the same as those of the commonest Joe. The reason that artists’ drinking is of more interest than the drinking of, say, doctors or house painters, is that artists’ drinking is reflected in, and inflects their work in ways that form part of its meaning.”•


DARLING GRENADINE UPSTAGE GUIDE


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