By now, everyone with an open eye knows about Aaron Sorkin, if not for his record breaking and brilliant work on "The West Wing" then for "Sports Night" or, my favorite, "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip." But these are all television and granted they represent the best of television for the past 20 years,
AAron Sorkin started out as a playwrite and his big break through was with the two act play "A Few Good Man" which was later turned into a film. EVERYONE remembers Jack Nicholson, on the witness stand, in his Colonel Best Dress, pushed to the edge by Tom Cruise, screaming, "You Can't Handle the Truth!" This line is now an American cloiche. I don't know about the rest of America but "A Few Good Men" is what made me aware of Gitmo and caused me to look into it so that when, under the reign of President Bush II, when it became famous as a war camp for terrorist possibles, we already knew what we were dealing with. I'd direct this play this summer, except it has only one female role in it. in many ways, "A Few Good Men" is remarkably important to American culture and counter-culture.
It began in this small script and we see the brilliance of how he constructed this highly complicated story and told it on a small stage without ONE SINGLE VISIBLE SET CHANGE ever. Some of you won't appreciate that, but trust me, in regard to writing, it's brilliant.
If you liked any of the things I mention above (or his other films, "An American President" and "Charile Wilson's War" to nbame just a few) then buy this script; and buy the Samuel French version so that you see exactly what the original cast and staff were working from. By the time you're on page six you will see it all in your head, you will have forgotten that this isn't real people talking. Sorkin's ability to write dialogue is like listening to a duet by Steve Sondheim. It comes from brilliance, praqctice, and the pressure of a deadline.
Aaron Sorkin is today's William Shakespeare. See if you can get his autograph while you can. He's three years younger than I am- a mere 46. i can't wait to see what's ahead. I hear rumpors of "Follies", speaking of Steve Sondheim.