Sex and Death to the Age 14 by Spalding Gray

The First Monologue in the Arc of the Great Orator's Life Story

Jul 20, 2009

Sex and Death to the Age 14 touches on many of the themes Spalding Gray would explore with great success, in the course of a life and career marred by depression.

The droll New England writer and actor Spalding Gray first entered the public’s consciousness (at least the slither of the public who patron art house cinema) in 1987, with the film adaptation of his much-heralded monologue, Swimming to Cambodia, directed by Jonathan Demme.

Inspired by his experiences in Southeast Asia, as a bit player in a major motion picture called The Killing Fields; Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia tells a riveting and hilarious story about his first taste of movie-stardom (mostly as an observer).

What Spalding Gray learned, and thereby relayed to his audience, was that the creative, communal side of the movie business draws the artist in, but the fame and celebrity side poisons; profoundly expressed in the final line of Swimming to Cambodia: …I had an inkling, I had a flash... I suddenly thought I knew what it was that had killed Marilyn Monroe...

A Man, a Glass of Water, and a Microphone

Simply sitting alone behind a desk, armed with nothing more than his notebook, a microphone, and a glass of water, had to require a certain amount of bravado; given Spalding Gray was about to ask his audience to sit and listen to him talk for nearly an hour and half.

This self-confidence, and assurance that his work was strong enough to hold an audience enthralled, masked the same deep insecurities that plague all creative souls; but, Spalding Gray was troubled by more than an artist’s needy desire to be loved and appreciated; Spalding Gray lived the bulk of his life, creating and living under the weight of a serious psychological depression.

In the preface to Spalding Gray’s published collection of monologues entitled Sex and Death to the Age 14, Mr. Gray tells the story of how, after switching from one experimental theater troupe to another: The Performance Group to The Wooster Group, he discovered he had a unique voice as a storyteller. Stating that rather than writing in the classical sense: destroying trees to make books…each performance was to be a personal epitaph...my personal history would disappear on a breath.

The first monologue Spalding Gray performed was Sex and Death to the Age 14; which started out as a broad outline that Gray would expound upon, once he was sitting at his desk before an audience.

Gray would tape-record each performance, and then adjust, edit, and rewrite, based on his personal feel for what worked, and what didn’t. And soon enough, as the monologue grew in length and depth; so too the crowds who came to see and hear Spalding Gray grew in kind.

Sex and Death to the Age 14 tells the story of how a young Spalding Gray developed a lifelong obsession with the aforementioned subjects. Of course, sex and death confound all men and women to one extent or another; but, as displayed in Gray’s monologue, the path that leads to these conjoined obsessions is what makes each human experience unique.

Spalding Gray’s Transition From Death to Sex

Spalding Gray’s path to enlightenment began with a long string of family pets that expired in just about every imaginable death scenario possible; and the balance of true emotional loss and pitch-black humor, will become a trademark of all of Gray's monologues.

The emotional arc from empathy to absurdity derived from the various ways in which his beloved pets die is delicately played by Gray, up and until the point that the pet corpses render the young Spalding numb.

Then in a somewhat awkward transition, Gray's attention shifts from death to sex (which may only be apparent when reading Sex and Death to the Age 14), illustrating the difference between stories written to be read, and stories written to be spoken and heard; luckily, those familiar with Spalding Gray's pitch-perfect comic timing and skill as a storyteller will hear the great orator's voice echoing through the pages.

It is also within this section of the monologue that the audience senses a mutually shared depression between Spalding and his mother; foreshadowing his inability to relate to the opposite sex. Where as the young Spalding's sentimental education regarding death began in heart-break and loss and ended in frigid indifference; sex and human relationships proved to be far more complicated; and thereby relatable to every human being in his audience.

Spalding Gray’s Life Interrupted

After the success of Swimming to Cambodia, Spalding Gray developed quite a career as a character actor; as he continued to write and perform monologues; the strongest of which, was the poignant and funny Monster in a Box, about wrestling an unwieldy and unfinished novel; while coming to grips with his mother's suicide.

In the 1990's, Gray seemed to find domestic tranquility and happiness in marriage and fatherhood; which of course he chronicled in a monologue, the beautiful and hauntingly tender Morning, Noon, and Night.

But, Spalding Gray's bliss was shattered, when he was involved in a horrific car crash in Ireland; leading to a series of brain and reconstructive surgeries, causing depression and suicidal tendencies thought to be dormant in the broken artist, to resurface.

How the artist's life story ends, may or may not have been on his mind, as Spalding Gray plunged into the deep, icy waters of the East River, in the winter of 2004; but, to his fans, the great storyteller's death by drowning was more than tragic; it was predictable.

An artist, first and foremost must satisfy his own personal aesthetic, before ever considering the audience’s expectations; which is cold comfort to the fans who had hoped for a surprise ending, as in: Spalding Gray faces great pain and despair, and lives to tell about it.

Visit SpaldingGray.com to find everything one needs to appreciate Gray's life and work.

The copyright of the article Sex and Death to the Age 14 by Spalding Gray in Performance Art is owned by Martin G. Wood. Permission to republish Sex and Death to the Age 14 by Spalding Gray in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jul 21, 2009 7:04 AM

Guest :

Great article. Spalding Gray is a genius.

Jul 25, 2009 7:53 AM

Guest :

A fascinating article.