Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley

John Patrick Shanley provides the reader with a good indication of the play’s energy when he subtitles it An Apache Dance.  The definition he provides is “a violent dance for two people, originated by the Parisian apaches.  Parisian apaches are gangsters or ruffians.”  The two characters of the play, Danny and Roberta, have mangled, ripped, jagged souls.  Their lives have been extremely difficult and have torn at the very base of these peoples’ beings.  They meet each other one night at a bar.  Immediately their personal dysfunctions are on display.  Shanley writes them very naked.  The imperfections and ugliness  that lie inside of them are not hidden.  After some initial tense small talk Roberta reveals her darkest secret.  She has been sexually exploited by her own father.  This fact has become a major basis of Roberta’s self loathing.  Danny responds coolly, which puts Roberta more at ease.  This makes her think that she can needle her new drinking in an attempt to get him to open up.  Roberta pokes at Danny until he violently lashes out and begins to choke her.  Instead of flinching she asks him to do it harder.  Danny is confused and continues to hide behind his machismo and violent nature.  As the night nears an end Roberta asks Danny to come home with her.  This adds a new layer of their relationship.  After having sex Roberta and Danny begin to play a game.  The two of them try and be nice to each other.  The game dips from success to failure, but at the end of it the two of them have found a safe place where they can have dreams and hope.  They agree to get married.  For the first time in a long time, Roberta sleeps soundly.  In the morning Roberta becomes scared of the goodness that she experienced and begins to push Danny away.  Our experience of Danny before would lead us to believe he will lash out and bury his emotion into anger, but instead the pain he is experiencing manifests into sadness.  He is genuinely hurt that the dream they had created the night before is being taken away.  Roberta eventually comes around and the two of them agree to walk away from the bleakness that has enveloped their lives so far.

Danny:  29 years old.  A rough violent man with a deeply pained soul.  His violent nature has earned him the nickname Beast.  He is unable to keep a steady job because of his inability to temper anger.  Seemingly immune to feeling and love.  Mangled.
Roberta:  31 years old.  A single mother who is psychologically damaged.  Unable to care for herself or her child.  Broken.  Self-loathing.  Bleak outlook on herself and future.