I went to the play last night, then talked late into the night about it: about lobotomy and shock therapy, about the play's connection of shock and therapy language with loss of democracy and "democracy" as control. We talked about how Nurse Ratched was the face of oppression and masculinity (sexual potency, independence, the Tall Tale Americans of Paul Bunyan and John Henry) was the apparent cure. I drove up with Kevin Claire and my brother Peter and read bits from my dissertation on the rhetoric of lobotomy and its connection to mind control.
Later I thought about my own reactions to ADD medications, and considered that.
Now I'd like to write the play/book into my dissertation chapter as part of the revision.
