The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Then, smiling, she said, “You’re right, though, Peter. You’re a perceptive little guy. It wasn’t intended as a punishment, but that’s what it became. That’s what I made it.”     “Punishment for what?” I asked. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

SHE GLANCED AT HER WATCH, took a deep breath, and, with a particularly mischievous twinkle in her eye, said, “A few nights ago, I walked into my living room—from the kitchen, carrying a drink—some scotch, on the rocks, in a low glass—and stood for a moment, looking at the phone, trying to decide whether or not to make a call— Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Obser...

“I HAD NEVER BEEN MUCH of a reader, and I didn’t know where to begin. I had certain advantages, though. I had time, and I had as many advisers as I chose to accept. [. . .] Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARED, so to speak, I said to myself, ‘Ariane, honey, it’s not working out. Your life is out of control .’ What I meant, specifically, was that my life was out of my control. [. . .] Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

YOU SEE, one night Terrence arrived in a sober mood. He embraced Ariane in silence, and held her long and hard. Then he kissed her once and set her aside—put his hands on her shoulders and moved her gently but firmly away, [. . .] Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“TERRENCE, sweet Terrence, was fiercely opposed to the war,” she said. “And I loved him for that. Not for that alone, but partly for that—that and the fact that as a lover he—” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     “The show that I always think of as the Ralph Kramden show was on, and although I had never cared much for him or his foolish schemes or his eternal whining and bullying, I left it on [. . .]” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“TO EXPLAIN Terrence, I have to explain the popularity of my weeping and vomiting. Of all the things I did on this stage, in this house, that was the ultimate crowd-pleasing shtick. Weeping and puking. Tears and vomit. C’est la vie .” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

SHE GLANCED AT HER WATCH and said, “Each of my several cycles of popularity was characterized by a different set of ambitious lovers.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

55 “WHEN I STOOD HERE, that first night—in this place, just as you see it—when I finally had the new house to myself—I felt that I had turned a corner.”     She turned to me.     “You know how it is,” she said.     “In the labyrinth of life?” I asked.     “Yeah! Take your solo.”     “Now and then,” I said, rising from the couch and stalking toward the edge of the stage, holding my hands out, palms...

WHEN DEREK and Bud and Bud’s gangs of carpenters and plumbers and electricians were finished, Ariane spent a night prowling her new home like a cat taking possession of a strange place. For a long time, she couldn’t seem to settle into it. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     Ariane motioned to the young architect to join her in the living room, and there they continued their discussion, while Bud, who remained in the kitchen, continued his discourse on the evolution of the functions of rooms in suburban homes [. . .] Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

ARIANE stood at the kitchen counter with Duncan Rollo of the Zoning Board, Bud Costa, a Babbington builder, and Derek Rourke, a young architect.     “So what I want to do,” she said, indicating with a wave of her arm the interior walls, the walls that hid the bedroom and bathroom from the audience, “is open the whole place up.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Obs...

“SEX,” she said. She paused for a beat that she used to shoot me a glance full of comment on the power of that word to get the attention of an audience. “Onstage sex was a kind of guilty pleasure for me.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     She shook her head, eyes down, with a sadness in the rhythm of the shaking that made me wish I had kept my mouth shut. Some members of the audience, speaking so softly that they were barely audible, began the long, drawn-out chant that one heard more and more often now: “Arrr-eeee-annn, Arrr-eeee-ann.” She immediately held her hands up to silence them. Get full access to The Personal History,...

I FELT MYSELF GROWING more and more comfortable with the role of the suave interviewer, so, in that manner, I said, “Naturally, your new popularity—or perhaps I might say notoriety— Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

THE THIRD WAVE of reaction and assessment, which peaked in the ninth and tenth years, was characterized by a tone of sneering superiority. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

WHEN GREG finished reading Donna Merrick’s column he threw the paper down on the kitchen counter and went to the refrigerator for a beer. “What’s the matter?” asked Ariane. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

DURING THE SECOND WAVE, people (and, invisibly, Ariane herself) began to consider questions of the nature of her existence as a person, or as a representation of a person. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

HERE ARE examples of viewers’ reactions during the first wave of interest in Ariane , which for me represents roughly the first two years of her decade on display. They are, I think, typical of the kind of response that arose from, explored, and exulted in the relationship between audience and work: Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at p...

IN THE ZONING BOARD DEBATES that ensued, Mr. Rollo became a tireless advocate for the “performing” position—that is, the pro-Ariane position, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

DUNCAN ROLLO, chairman of the Babbington Zoning Board, opened the door at the back of the auditorium, allowed himself only a moment to glance around and size up the situation, then marched right down the main aisle to the edge of Ariane’s living room, where there would have been a wall if she had had any walls. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Pete...

“YOU WERE NEARLY CLOSED DOWN a few times, I know,” I said. As I spoke, I noted that I sounded like one of the more dignified television interviewers. I don’t mean one of those who discuss the weight-loss secrets of serial killers . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

ARIANE SAID GOOD NIGHT to the audience and pushed aside the curtain that in those early days hid the bedroom. She walked into the bedroom and pulled the curtain closed behind her. She was exhausted and happy to be alone. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“WHAT A DAY that was!” she said. “What a night that was! Everything clicked. But then, how could everything not click? This play was a life, so anything that happened in it was a success, at least in the sense that anything that happened was exactly what we wanted to include in the performance, even if it wasn’t what we would have chosen to have happen in life. Isn’t that a neat trick? Not a bad w...