In Praise of Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman

I just turned on my Kindle and there was a link to an article listing Philip Seymour Hoffman's greatest performances. I thought, that's nice, but why this special tribute? Did he die or something? Then I saw the awful news which is not a hoax. Hoffman was found dead this morning of an apparent drug overdose in a Greenwich Village apartment. He had been struggling with addiction for years. I had no idea. The drug and alcohol-related problems of pop celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, and their ilk are splashed into our consciousness constantly. But if you're the greatest actor of your generation and you don't happen to be stunningly handsome, I guess your addictions don't make the headlines.

I first saw Hoffman Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in Caryl Churchill's The Skriker, directed by the brilliant Mark Wing-Davies. He was part of the ensemble, playing multiple roles. The play was about a demon, the skriker of the title, who takes possession of two ordinary English girls. Hoffman played a guy picking up one of the girls and a supernatural monster. I remember he seemed just like a real person,  not an actor, relating to this strange girl and asking her to explain sleep. It was only after a few telling moments that you realize he's the skriker in disguise. Then it was Defying Gravity at the former American Place Theatre, now the Laura Pels. It was about a tragic spacecraft accident, not unlike the Challenger disaster. He was a maintenance man from what I recall and as he recounted the explosion of the rocket ship with astronauts on board, you could feel the terror.