←Recommendations of Goodbye, Bobby

[2025-05-21]
Some playwrights believe that the characters cease to exist once the play ends. Bobby is more persistent than that. After Donny types "The End," it's just the beginning of his showdown with a main character who's been in Donny's head most of his life. Or has he? "Goodbye, Bobby" is a funny and thoughtful look at the inner lives of fictional characters and the writers who create them. This was a joy to read, and the button had me laughing out loud.

Why we write; what we write; who we write? This charming two-hander is a puzzle box dialogue between a writer and his character that explores the act of creation, what is real and what is imagined, and how it can be impossible to shed the impulse to write, no matter how hard one may try. Every writer will relate to this on-the-money scenario, which Williams brings to life with humor and head-scratching moments of familiarity.

I loved Philip Middleton Williams's full length, "Can't Live Without You," so when I saw that this short is an epilogue to that, I was VERY excited - but "Goodbye, Bobby" absolutely stands on its own and doesn't require you to be familiar with its prequel in order to understand what's going on. And what's going on is SO interesting. Any writer knows the feeling of that character you just can't shake, that character who feels so incredibly real to you. How do you know that they exist in your mind and not the other way around? A terrific what-if!

I've often held conversations in my head with characters I've created, wondering where the ideas originated. And when it's done right, they feel as real as myself. In GOODBYE, BOBBY, Philip Middleton Williams offers us a peek into such an encounter, and it's layered with insights and meanings that both characters wrestle with and explore. This is a magical encounter that will stay with me as both a writer and a reader.

The saying is to write what you know, and Williams’ play “Goodbye, Bobby” certainly turns that up on its head. Writers are like sponges and take in so many random things and sights all the time. “Goodbye, Bobby” gives life to just one of those moments in time for writer Donny, turning reality on its head as the reader is swept up in a tug-of-war that is just this side of magic.

Williams is so incredibly clever. This amazing play really speaks to the hearts of writers--and maybe makes them feel a little existential. Why DO we write? What happens to our characters when we close the computer and end it? Characters who are so real to us they seem to actually jump off the page. Now I feel bad for all my little characters twiddling their thumbs in stories I've never finished... but enough about me, this is an AMAZING play that needs lots of productions so I won't the only one considering the meaning of my life!

They say that writing is a solitary act.

Yeah, it's not.

The characters... our so-called creations... They are mouthy, needy bastards. And they demand not only our attention but, well, yours!

Williams has given us a wonderful twist on the character-comes-to-life trope. It's fast, funny, human, and keeps you guessing. It put a smile on my face that isn't leaving anytime soon.

Williams give us a well-written insight into the mind of a writer and his/her characters and their relationship. It is a very particular kind of relationship - not precisely like a child and parent because characters and their writers can be equals. And it's in equals that the fun begins!

Williams perfectly captures all the love, frustration, fascination – nay, obsession – writers have with the characters they create in this touching comedy. Mining his frequent theme of being haunted with his usual skill and depth, Williams' inner not-quite-monologue is a spot on conversation that nails everything there is to nail about life as a writer, but does it in a way that is universally recognizable to anyone even remotely human. A wonderful short play with two great roles, I'd love to see this staged, perhaps on a double bill with his equally wonderful full-length "Can't Live Without You."

Wow, some characters are larger than life and stay with you long after the play is over. Meet Donny and his character Bobby...who lives on after the writing is finished. A delightful short play by the very clever Philip Middleton Williams.