I must admit. The whole idea of a Greek chorus in this play was confusing and I was unsure why it was there or what purpose it served. I had to go back and skim over the parts that included the chorus to analyze them more closely to better understand them. After going back the chorus seems to represent people in the world who have the ability to make a change or help but choose not to do so. Aunt Mary, grandmother and Li'l Bit's mother are represented by the chorus' on the stage and each time Li'l Bit seems to have a question or concern she goes to them for advice. They have the opportunity to check in with Li'l Bit since she hasn't been herself for some time but ignore the signs that seem to be there, except for Aunt Mary who senses that something is going on.
A choice that Vogel made that I liked was having the moments of monologues. These are times that each character seems to have a chance of control, since this whole play is about control with the metaphor of driving. Everyone wants a chance to be in control in these moments, like the chorus being the mother and giving instructions on drinking and the proper etiquette to follow. The monologues that I liked best were from Li'l Bit because I could see just how she was handling events in her life, since the rest of the play characters are overlapping each other to get a word in.
I also like the monologues in the script. I believe that each one is kind of a snippet on the background of the characters. I like that metaphor you made too, about each character taking control, which is pretty ironic because it seems like none of them know how to drive. Like you, I thought the monologues Li’l Bit had were intriguing because most of them come when she’s narrating, so it was like that girl looking back on her life and telling the audience what made her her. I thought the most telling monologue was the last.
ReplyDeleteWow, we had totally different takes on the chorus and I too was kinda about their purpose at first, but I do really like the way you concluded that the chorus seems to represent people in the world who have the ability to make a change but choose not to, it adds another layer to the script that I didn’t see at first,. I had just seen them as sort of ignorant and insignificant characters that were needed for the story but Vogel didn’t want to draw to much focus to them because they weren’t the ones who influenced the actions or decisions that lil’Bit made, but I like your idea better.
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