My input on Conduct of Life:

This is heavy subject matter indeed, obviously pedophilia and rape are not exactly what people go into a theater hoping to see. For me personally, it's definitely challenging to pick out some positive aspects within this play, but not completely impossible. I think it's worth noting that regardless of the despicable nature Fornes was still able to create such strong and well rounded characters in turn forcing the reader to be invested in the story in a way that perhaps they don't really wish to pursue, but must in order to know how the story turns out. I found that my focus was on the actual characters and not strictly restricted to my formulating opinions on them by their actions alone. For example: While I don't condone or accept any of Orlando's actions within the play, I recognize that he is a broken human being and what he's been exposed to in his life has caused him some serious psychological damage. I became engrossed in Fornes character creation in that she actually lets us into the minds of these characters without an abundance of  inner monologues.  It's impressive that, while yes, her dramaturgical style is more abrupt and pared down you're still able to pick up on strong character definition before the second act of the play even begins. It's easy to recognize right off the bat that Orlando is a really unstable and terribly twisted individual and the characters around him are being sucked into his world of pain and despair. I also appreciated and immediately recognized her choice to make the play a little more disjointed and not overly structured for the sake of character portrayal. Orlando has taken all these innocent people down with him into his downward spiral and I think Fornes choice to throw the audience off balance with this jarring transition of scenes and dialogue makes it all the more enveloping. This was a great way to represent the fractured world in which these characters dwell and it creates a tension that stays with the reader until the final shocking conclusion. Overall I am not a fan of this play, I am however very interested in reading more from Fornes in the future, hoping to get a better understanding of who she is as a playwright.