Tuesday, February 05, 2008

The Plot of Pippin

DS the Younger brought home his script a few weeks ago and I read it; you can read a summary HERE. That's not the Lee Lyric site, which hasn't been updated for ages; someone did a site just for this year.

Do you know...it's the story of The Preacher from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes? Who tries all sorts of things looking for significance and meaning in life, and then finally concludes that it is best to enjoy the life one has, the wife one loves, and to do one's work well. (Well, The Preacher adds 'fear God and keep his commandments', which is not mentioned in Pippin...but then, in that quasi-medieval setting, hypocritical church leaders imposed legalistic religion on the folk who had no other means of learning faith, so Pippin only found the emptiness of religion when he went to the local church for significance.)

Now, I don't know if the play was intentionally modeled after The Preacher or not, but the resemblance is striking. And the lesson...that it is better to be simple and happy than to destroy oneself looking for greatness...is not a bad thing for young people to consider. Or older folks, either.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to actually seeing the production!

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