Sabbath's Theater

Drenka Balich is not only the primary love interest of Sabbath but also a reflection of him. Drenka is a sexually driven and adventurous woman who, through Sabbath, explores her fantasies just as he explores his own through her. The two help each other to achieve their desires to their fullest potential and come to love and trust one another through their relationship. This unique relationship is made possible by Drenka’s passions and drive, which in many ways mimic Sabbath’s: “Inside this woman was someone who thought like a man. And the man she thought like was Sabbath. She was, as she put it, his sidekicker” (9). She describes herself as his “sidekicker” because she is as uninhibited and adventurous as Sabbath and this is the reason why she fits so well with Sabbath in ways that no other woman has. They are a team that wants to explore each other’s bodies and those of others to the same degree, and their non-monogamous relationship helps foster this. They are committed to each other and support one another, creating a relationship in which they find what is lacking in their marriages.

While so much of the relationship between Drenka and Sabbath is defined by sex, Drenka’s diagnosis of cancer forces them into a more serious and committed phase of their partnership. As Drenka fades away in the hospital, she shares with Sabbath what their time together means to her, and how he helped her by being a mentor and guide to her: “Oh, Mickey, it was wonderful, it was fun—the whole kitten and kaboozle. It was like living. And to be denied that whole part would be a great loss. You gave it to me. You gave me a double life. I couldn’t have endured with just one” (428). Sabbath gives Drenka an outlet to explore herself and to have a double life that helps her feel fulfilled. Drenka is in many ways a dynamic character who comes to realize who she is through her relationship with Sabbath. She is an immigrant that often struggles to assimilate, and through Sabbath, learns to speak better English as well as learn the cultural norms of the society around her. Like Sabbath, she is committed to pursuing her desires and expresses no shame or regret for what they do. Their kinship in this regard creates a supportive and fulfilling partnership for both of them.

Roseanna is Sabbath’s second wife and the novel’s antagonist. She despises Sabbath and makes her hatred known to him whenever she can. She blames many of the struggles in her life on him, including her alcohol addiction, and he hates her as well. Roseanna’s primary goal in life is to work on herself and attends many AA meetings and therapy. Through these, she establishes a relationship between Sabbath and the trauma of her childhood: “But then her problem with Sabbath, the ‘enslavement,’ stemmed, according to Barbara, from her disastrous history with an emotionally irresponsible mother and a violent alcoholic father for both of whom Sabbath was the sadistic doppelgänger” (90). She believes that she is committed to Sabbath out of a sense of replicating the relationships she had with her abusive parents. She sees many similarities between them and credits this as the source of her drinking and struggles. This places immense pressure on Sabbath as he tries to maneuver through their marriage. Her ire toward him makes him feel constricted and pushes him to live his life as much outside of their marriage as possible.

Like many of the primary characters in Sabbath’s Theater, Roseanna changes throughout the novel. Unlike others, however, who experience loss through grief, the loss of Sabbath is a positive experience for Roseanna. When Sabbath leaves, Roseanna exhibits a more dynamic character change than she did when she stopped drinking: “Four years of no booze, followed by forty-eight hours without him, and his childless wife, in her sixth decade of life, miraculously looked to be still in bud” (437). When Sabbath comes back after only two days, he sees a completely different Roseanna. Her youth is restored, and for possibly the first time, he sees that she is happy. Removed from Sabbath, Roseanna can distance herself from her parents’ legacy and exorcise the demons perpetuated by Sabbath’s infidelity and lack of care for her. She takes her life back into her own hands and pursues her desires in a partner, which Sabbath comes to understand is nothing like him. She is with Christa, and the revelation that Roseanna can find happiness with a woman in many ways breaks Sabbath.

Nikki is Sabbath’s first wife. Sabbath married Nikki at an earlier stage in his life and was attracted to her for her acting ability despite her many anxieties and instabilities. He loved that she was easy to mold and control, both on the stage and off: “In her early twenties, Nikki was already as malleable an actress as a willful director like Sabbath could want” (102). In this way, Nikki is a foil to Roseanna. While both meet Sabbath while young and easily manipulated, Roseanna eventually resists Sabbath and comes to the realization that he wants to control her. Nikki seemingly never reaches this point before she disappears or—if Sabbath is to be believed—is murdered. Either way, Nikki is defined by Sabbath through her acting, and her talents are what draws him to her.

Sabbath’s passions are seemingly unquenchable in the novel with the many women he pursues, but his passion for control most seriously impacts Nikki. As Sabbath’s dissolution and suicidal ideation worsen, he begins claiming that Nikki did not disappear but was rather murdered by him. As a reason for murdering Nikki, Sabbath cites her acting talent: “I went ahead and murdered her. Got carried away by the spell of her acting. It just opened something up in me to see it. Someone to whom the tangible and the immediate are repugnant, to whom only the illusion is fully real. This was the order Nikki made of her chaos” (242). Sabbath claims that the murder happened when he strangled her as a part of them rehearsing the strangling scene from Othello. He describes Nikki’s acting as effortless and praises her ability to make the fake real through acting. She abandons her anxieties and reality, which she dislikes, for the fantasy of the stage, which she loves. Nikki therefore comes to represent the beauty and danger of acting and theater. She loses reality and transforms an illusion into reality, which convinces Sabbath and causes him to be carried away. Sabbath experiences a similar feeling throughout the novel as he wonders whether his falling apart after leaving Roseanna is real or an act he is putting on.

Morty Sabbath is the deceased older brother of Sabbath and acts as a guide and protector for him. Throughout the novel, Sabbath remembers his brother as a kind and protective boy who always had time for him. He also remembers how his death fractured his family and effectively resulted in the loss of his parents as well. One particular memory shows not only his kindness toward Sabbath but also the tragedy of his loss: “The sirens terrified me. I’d sit up in bed and holler, ‘No! No!’ This would wake Morty in the twin bed beside mine. ‘What is it?’ ‘I don’t want to die!’ ‘You won’t. You’re a kid. Go to sleep.’ He’d get me through it. Then he died, a kid” (383). When Sabbath wakes up terrified, Morty is there to comfort him and assure him that nothing bad will happen to him. Whether it is in this moment or at the beach, Morty always looks out for Sabbath and helps him have a joyous childhood. However, he dies as a kid in World War II, cutting his life short before he can realize his full potential. Morty dying so young locks him in Sabbath’s mind as this singularly good influence in his life, and without his protector and guide, Sabbath begins to feel lost. Morty’s death is the catalyst for Sabbath leaving home and going to sea, where he discovers the pleasures of the body, setting his course for a life of adventure and desire.

Kathy Goolsbee is a romantic interest of Sabbath and also the girl whose tape recording of their phone sex results in him losing his career. Kathy is a student in Sabbath’s class at the college he teaches, where every year he takes a special interest in one female student. He and Kathy flirt and chat on the phone, with both recording the conversations. When someone finds Kathy’s recording and their affair becomes public, Sabbath is forced to reckon with the women who are attracted to him: “But then Kathy loved her protective, self-sacrificing dad, who’d worked day and night in the bakery to put three Goolsbee kids into college, and a lot of good it did her. Or Sabbath. I can’t win. No one can, when they follow Father with me” (240). Between Kathy, Nikki, and Roseanna, Sabbath spends much of his time with women who seek to live out some kind of trauma or alternate relationship with their fathers through him. Each of these relationships results in disaster—with a scandal, a disappearance or death, and a long bout with alcoholism, respectively. This therefore pits each of his lovers against Drenka, who instead of seeing a father figure in Sabbath, sees a contemporary, which results in a happy relationship. Kathy therefore not only represents Sabbath’s pursuit of youth and the scandal of the constrictions of society but she also represents other desires that impact Sabbath’s relationships.