Private Lives

What a coincidence.

Yesterday there was an extra ticket to see the excellent production of Private Lives at Boston's Huntington Theatre.  It was the last show of the run, a matinee.  I grabbed the ticket and went.

The curtain goes up and the audience sees two adjacent balconies. Out comes one couple onto one of the  balconies. They are apparently celebrating their honeymoon. The new wife asks the groom about his first marriage. Does she mean anything to him, etc. He denies any vestiges of emotion. The couple leaves the balcony and goes back into their room.  Out comes another couple on the adjacent balcony.  They too are on their honeymoon. The new husband asks the bride about her first husband. Does she retain any feelings? Absolutely not she maintains.  They return to their room.

Out comes the husband from the first couple with a couple of drinks. The new wife has not yet entered.  Out comes the wife from the second balcony. She brings out a couple of drinks. The new husband has not yet entered.  A song from below brings the two to the railing of the balconies. The two see each. They're each the other's first spouse.

When they see each other, they are at once stunned. Then the passion of  what they once had returns.  What to do.

What a coincidence?  Or not.  Are such things meant to be?  Is emotional connection a real force that we cannot yet explain.

Before yesterday's Red Sox/Braves game, the rumors were pervasive that Kevin Youkilis, an admired Red Sox player, would be traded.  Youkilis batted in the 7th inning for what would be his last time.  He hit a fly to the outfield that should have been an out.  It wasn't. The outfielders misplayed it.  Youkilis wound up standing at third with a triple.  With a sense of the dramatic, the Red Sox manager sent a runner out for Youkilis.  As Youkilis ran off the field, 37,000 fans at Fenway gave the player a standing ovation.  It got, as they say, emotional. Players hugged "Youk" as he entered the dugout. The fans called out his name and he came out for an emotional goodbye.

What happens in Private Lives is what any person could predict.  There are some forces that inexplicably (at least it is inexplicable in 2012) account for behavior and phenomena.