Prompt 8: Buried Child

So, I'm not quite sure how to respond to this prompt but I shall try my best. I don't think this play is so much about deception as it is more about denying the truth and pushing away their true identity. Every character in some form or another is crippled: Dodge is old and an alcoholic, Bradley is missing a leg, Halie is severely depressed, Tilden is not mentally capable of caring for his parents, Vince doesn't know his own identity/roots, Father Dewis is immoral and a coward, and Shelley is the outsider to this not-normal world Vince is part of. These defects as I'll call them have affected everyone severely that it blinds them from seeing the truth of the event or who they are. To me it seems so different from the plays listed is because of the secret of the buried child. It has affected every character to an extreme degree that it seems hard to believe that a human being could live that way denying such a dark memory/event. Shelley is the outsider in all this mess since she represents what an audience would see and even she finds it hard to believe how this family can function in their dysfunction. Uh, not sure if that answered the question but it's how I think this play is made differently if it made any sense.

Prompt 7: Noises Off

So although miscommunication and miscues are a big thing in this play, the one image that I can't stop thinking about is the idea of the sardines. One it's used in the play as a prop and talked about all the time, but also it's a metaphor for the characters performing in the play. Of course people know to be sardines as little oily fish in cans, but the idea of these fish being packed into the can is where I'm going with this. Usually the term is used when people are packed on a bus or subway train. The characters who are performing in the play are doing this show for a long period of time and must be together, packed in like sardines.  The idea of sardines kept popping up everywhere and it was driving me crazy so I knew that somehow these were important other than just being a prop in the show. That’s why the characters of the play are considered the sardines being packed together for the duration of the show.

For my tag line it would have to be containing chaos. Going back to my motif, sardines are packed tightly together and don’t get out of hand. However, these ‘sardines’ of the play have been packed together so long that eventually things start to get uncomfortable between them and chaos ensues. It doesn’t help either that there are several love affairs going on between cast and crew members of the show. Poppy, Lloyd, and Brooke are part of a love triangle and Poppy is eventually pregnant by Lloyd. Garry and Dotty have issues in the second act of the play. Overtime this tension slowly builds and eventually explodes from trying to be contained for so long.

Prompt 6: Glass of Water

It would appear in The Glass of Water that there is no main protagonist nor is there no main antagonist. Every character wants something for themselves but finds obstacles in their way. The way this play is set up is very much based on cause and effect. Every action that happens to one character affects another. For example, Masham has a secret protector that moves him up in rank and forbids him to be married. This affects Abigail since she’s in love with him and the idea of getting married is something that they hopefully want to achieve, which does happen by the end of the play, but not before the reader finds out that Masham’s protector is the Duchess who is also Abigail’s cousin and that the Queen is also in love with him. Masham’s main enemy, the finger snapping man, turns out to be Bolingbroke’s brother but finds this out only after killing him in a duel. There is an endless circle of characters interacting with each other and each of their actions affecting or influencing one another. Bolingbroke appears to be a main force in the play, but he’s not central enough to be considered the protagonist. He does have interaction with every character and gets what he wants by means through them. He gets certain papers signed by Masham, Abigail is an informant to him in the court, and the Duchess is a rival that he’s looking to beat at her own game. There is so much gossip and going behind people’s back to get what people want that it can almost get a little overwhelming if one isn’t paying close enough attention. Based on everyone’s dependence of each it leads me to believe that there is no main protagonist in The Glass of Water.