“I can’t stand real things. If I could put up with reality I wouldn’t be in here.”
A primary theme of the play is the nature of reality versus illusion and this quote is one of many by the patients in the asylum speaking directly to that theme. Zac’s confession, however, also points to a distinctive characteristic within himself that also speaks to another of the play’s themes which is that the difference between sanity and madness is sometimes really more a question of perspective than actual mental health. Zac’s reality is put forward as different from the rest by virtue of his promo poster for the play based on a Mozart opera prominently featuring the name of the librettist—the person who wrote the words rather than the “genius” who wrote the music.
“Men want women to deceive them because it’ll prove their worst thoughts about women.”
Because the play is intricately tied to Mozart’s opera Cosi Fan Tutte, it shares with that work a thematic obsession with romantic fidelity. The structure of the play allows this theme to be explored through a dense series of layers: Mozart’s past v. the Vietnam era, reality versus dramatic performance, sanity versus madness and, in at least one case, actual girlfriend versus potential girlfriend.
“I can live with illusion as long as I know it’s illusion.‟
Ruth suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder which manifests itself through a fixation on establishing the concrete nature of things. The constant need to reinforce the reality of something is a way of ensuring that it is not illusion. This disorder makes Ruth an especially fascinating character to introduce into a story which is constructed upon the trope of a play-within-a-play. Imagine trying to act on stage with someone who has difficult managing the difference between the real world and fantasy.
"Go burn a cat."
On its most basic level this quote is memorable because it is funny as a result of being Cherry’s catchphrase. It is directed toward Doug and it is that aspect which makes it more than just a comical aside. The first time Cherry spits it out, Lewis pauses to wonder why Doug is always being told to go burn something and this leads to the important revelation that Doug is a pyromaniac. Later on, Lewis himself will parrot Cherry’s catchphrase and in that instance the quote becomes a moment of transformation in which Lewis moves closer to becoming part of the group rather than the outsider.
