The Great God Pan is about Jaime (Jeremy Strong), a cool, cold journalist who realizes that he might have been sexually abused when he was four after talking to a childhood friend, but cannot remember anything. The realization that he might have been abused exacerbates problems with his girlfriend, Paige (Sarah Goldberg). The title comes from the poem “A Musical Instrument” by Elizabeth Browning about Pan, the Greek god of nature (and theatrical criticism!), who rips a reed out of a river bed to play it and make beautiful music. The other gods are sad because they focus on the price of the new thing Pan has created—the dead reed. This sentimental darkness is appropriate for a play about memory.

Talking about the people she has lost touch with over her lifetime to her son on the phone, Jaime’s mother Cathy (Becky Baker) says, “[It’s] so weird to think of all the people who mean so much to us and then are just gone.” The question of, “How do we lose touch with people who mean so much to us?” is similar to the question, “How can we forget things that had such a huge impact on us?” Even if he repressed the abuse and it happened when he was very little, the fact that it might have seriously affected his relationships makes it seem like a paradox that he cannot remember what happened.

The mother’s line was important to me because I feel bad about not keeping in touch with some of my friends too. Trying to read through my crazy notes, scribbled on loose leaf and then my school newspaper in the dark during the play, I realized how honest these questions are. It is amazing how many things we forget. The questions also feel socially relevant. As people externalize more and more of their memories by relying on the Internet for information, it is becoming harder to truly remember things we read, especially news.

The ending does not answer the questions the play raises about memory and it feels a little short, but I do not think this was a cop-out. The Great God Pan does not show characters changing in positive ways. Instead, it goes back to focus on what people leave behind as they let go of old things and grow.

The Great God Pan, written by Amy Herzog, directed by Carolyn Cantor, at Playwrights Horizons until January 13, 2013.

Image source: Playwrights Horizons