A review by knkoch
Savage Conversations by LeAnne Howe

challenging

This was a tricky one to parse for me! I'm left wishing I had seen a performance of this rather than read the script. I couldn't fully comprehend the layers of meaning and intent behind the scant dialogue, and all the written descriptions of the visual elements (set, actors, costuming, props, and displayed images) could not make up for what I imagine was a much fuller experience for the live audience. In lieu of attending the play (which I think is no longer in production), I may have to seek out the longer books the author mentions inspired them to better understand the history and dizzying analysis of Mary Todd Lincoln's complex psychological profile. Certainly, it bears remembering that Abraham Lincoln's complicity in the largest mass hanging in the US should never be forgotten or discounted to preserve feel-good patriotic legacies. 

I can't in good conscience rate this when it feels like the wrong format to encounter this work, but I did find it all intriguing.