This thought-provoking recording of The Fever by actor/playwright Wallace Shawn is said to be his best rendition of this one-man play, which deals with the issues of poverty, an unbalanced economy, and the class system.The work confronts audiences with the disconcerting realization that they are directly responsible for the suffering of the poor. In an intimate setting, audiences are left vulnerable and forced to join the narrator in his journey of helplessness and guilt.
The Fever seeks to preserve this intimacy and the inability to escape. Interestingly, Wallace Shawn made this recording while he had an actual fever. The physical discomfort (and occasional sneezing) one hears enhances the plaintive desperation of his character's struggle.
The Fever won the 1991 Obie Award for Best Play.
