Point of View

The first point to note about this play’s point of view is that there is no central narrative point of view – that is, no-one telling the story throughout the play. There are moments at which the character of Lemml performs this function, serving as a kind of narrator. These moments include his introduction of the so-called Dead Troupe at the beginning of the play, and a brief comment to the audience during the play’s final moments in which the Troupe reappears. For the most part, though, the story unfolds without a central narrative perspective – no narrator, no central character, no defined protagonist. The character of Sholem Asch appears throughout the narrative but Indecent is not about him. Instead, the play’s story and images are anchored in consideration of the play Asch creates, which is both the source of the plot’s action...