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. 

Prompt 5: Hornby

The motif that I chose is from Conduct of Life and it's the occurrence of rape and torture through out the play. Between almost every seen we see Orlando going to Nena and raping her violently. This motif to me seems to reflect the pain that each character is going through since no one seems to be living the life that they want to live in the way that they hoped to be. Orlando is violent not only towards Nena but towards the prisoner that the had tortured who seemed to die of fear. The idea seems to build and build until towards the end when Leticia eventually commits her own act of violence towards Orlando by shooting him. 

A motif that that is common in television and in movies is the idea of royalty, aka the popular kids. This is even a motif that seems to occur in real life. The popular kids are seen as the royalty of school; kings/queens, prince/princesses, and so on. They hold the power over others. The idea of this motif helps actors get into character since the idea of this motif influences their character choices, such as how snobby they are towards are and just how much power they have over others. 

Prompt 4: How I Learned to Drive

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.

Prompt 3: The Conduct of Life

A dramaturgical choice that stood out to me most was the ending of the play. Rather than give closure to the end of the play she leaves us with a cliff hanger. Now most of the time cliff hangers like this drive me crazy, but I really liked this ending because it made me wonder just what would have happened next. I came to two options. Either Nena is supposed to take blame for Orlando's death or Leticia is asking for Nena to take her life with the gun. Honestly, I can see this going either way and which way it truly is supposed to end, well only Maria Irene Fornes knows the answer to that, but she wouldn't have ended it the way she did without a specific reason.

The actions of the play are violent and cruel but are there for a reason. Maria Irene Fornes is showing us a world that is heavily influenced by violence and the effects it has on both men and women of this world. The violence of the world itself has conditioned men and women to be aggressive, destructive and victimized. Each character is enduring a form of pain and the only way they can get deal with the pain or get rid of it is to put pain onto someone else. 

Oh, and I think that this is called The Conduct of Life because Nena raises the question of how she should go about her life with all the horrific things she encountered. She says 'I want to conduct each day of my life in the best possible way.' She then later says, 'And if someone should treat me unkindly, I should not blind myself with rage, but I should see them and receive them, since maybe they are in worse pain than me.' Unlike the other characters of this play, Nena chooses to accept and see people rather than retaliate with rage and hatred like the world around her.

Prompt 2: Trifles

I believe that this ‘blank & abstract’ proposal for Trifles could possibly work. I realize that the goal is to focus on the actors and not the props, but I do feel that the props are an important part of this play. However, since there would be a lack of set and costumes this will be effective in achieving the goal of the production. The main focus of the play are of course the women. They sympathize with Minnie. The caged bird is usually used as a reference to women, in this case it’s referring to Minnie who used to sing before she was married then forced to stop by her husband. There is a difference here in emotions between the men and the women of this play. The men are too busy looking for cold hard evidence to see the truth that is right in front of them. 

The men of this production are much more cold towards Minnie as they look for their evidence to understand just who killed John Wright. While the women are going through Minnie’s ‘trifles’ and slowly begin to piece together from these items that she is in fact the killer. I think that by stripping down this production to something very bare will have the audience listening more carefully and will allow them to put the pieces of the puzzle together for themselves. There have been several times when I have gone to a show and people don’t understand what’s going on because they’re not listening. By stripping away all the extra flash such as the costumes and the setting, this will really have the audience mainly focused on the actors and what they are saying since there are limited items for distraction. So yes, I agree that a ‘black & abstract’ production of this show would be a very successful show.