Absence makes the heart grow fonder....right???

It's been awhile. A really long while. A really, really, reeeaaaallllyyy long while. But it's not like I haven't been doing anything! Living in California, free-lancing, teaching theatre, all of that took up too much time to write a post a day, let alone actually read a play a day. But now that I'm back in Boston, currently unemployed, I have decided to resurrect this beast, and continue on my journey of reading every play in our library. Also, it will justify bringing these books with me from CA instead of keeping them in storage! It probably won't be a play a day, but I'm trying to go for at least a play a week (this is also one of my New Year's Resolutions, albeit 6 months into 2013 - oops!). "A Play A Day" sounds better anyway :) I may also try to combine this blog with my previous failed blog "Scene In Beantown", a blog for theatre happenings and reviews in the Boston area, and I will definitely link this blog to the awesome other theatre-related blogs of friends of mine (because their musings are definitely more interesting than mine!). So stay tuned! New Our Town post coming soon!

What I Did Last Summer

What I Did Last Summer is a play written by A.R. Gurney from 1981. The play is about a fourteen year old boy named Charlie and his family and friends, and takes place during the summer of 1945 on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie, near Buffalo. The play is written as a memory play, in which the characters talk to the audience about things that have happened in the past, and retell their version and feelings about the events.

Charlie is staying with his mother Grace and his sister Elsie while his father is off at war. Because Charlie is an upper middle class child, his summer (he tells us) is going to consist of sitting around the house, studying the Latin that he failed in June, sailing or practicing driving, and playing with his friends. However, when his friend Ted makes fun of him for not having a job, he decides to go work for Anna Trumbull, the “Pig Woman” in order to impress his friends, especially his friend Bonny. His mother is against him taking this job, but Charlie defies his mother and goes to work for her anyway. But working for Anna consists of more than just typical household jobs; Anna decides to give Charlie art lessons to find out what is talent is, and life lessons to help him discover who he really is. Anna has bohemian ideas on life and love that Charlie never knew about, and he becomes fascinated by her ideology. He begins to realize that there is more to life than what his mother wants for him. He wants to be free of the obligations that his part of society considers necessary. After Charlie rebels and decides to run away to Anna’s, his mother goes to Anna to persuade her to leave Charlie alone. We learn that Grace was once one of Anna’s students too, and that she was talented, but decided to do what society told her to do (marry and have children). Anna decides to let Charlie work on her car, something he has been begging her to do all summer, even though he is underage. Driving represents freedom to Charlie and he uses his new freedom to get Bonny to go out driving with him. They get into an accident, and end up in the hospital. The end of the war is announced and Labor Day comes, which means everyone goes back home or back to school. As Charlie and his family are leaving, he forces his sister to stop at Anna’s so he can say goodbye. Anna tells Charlie that she is also leaving. She gives him a box of the artwork he made, and he tells her to not give up. As Charlie and his family drive away, we discover that Charlie as an adult has written this play to tell us about that summer: he has finally found his talent.

What I Did Last Summer was not a very deep play. I don’t find Gurney’s plays to be powerful pieces of art, but the play does have that angst and need for freedom that adolescents crave. I thought that Anna was a good catalyst for Charlie’s transformation, but I think her character could have been even stronger and had more depth. I feel like her scenes with Charlie, although meaningful, were too short and didn’t resonate as much as they could have. The most interesting part of the play was reading my husband’s acting notes in the script! (he played the part of Charlie a few years ago, and I was reading his copy). I’ve just seen and read too many coming-of-age plays and novels at this point, so this play didn’t really affect me as much as it intended to. Perhaps seeing it onstage would make it more meaningful.

Witness for the Prosecution

She's baaaaaaaaack!

Sorry everyone about my absence. Work and other life activities have gotten in the way of daily blogging, but I'm back now, and back with a vengeance! So read on, pass along, use as a study guide, what have you! And if you have any play suggestions for me to read, PLEASE let me know! :) Now, without further ado...I bring you Witness for the Prosecution!

Witness for the Prosecution is a play written in 1953 by Agatha Christie (yes, the Agatha Christie) and is based on her short story of the same name. Now, I happen to love Agatha Christie stories. I think she is one of the most brilliant mystery writers of all time, and even though I have read almost all of her stories, I can never figure out “whodunit” – she is just that good! Not many people though realize that she have also written several plays, non-fiction books, and romance novels (huh?). One of her most well-known plays is The Mousetrap, which is still performed in London today; it is the longest running play in the world! Witness for the Prosecution, though only running for 645 performances on Broadway, was still deemed a success by Agatha Christie play standards.

The play begins at the onset of an important and confusing murder trial. Leonard Vole comes to the office of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, a very important and famous defense attorney, because he is afraid that he will be accused of the murder of Emily French, an elderly spinster who he meets and befriends. Leonard is the prime suspect in the case because he was the last one who saw her alive and is the recipient of her entire will (of which he claims to have no knowledge of). Sir Wilfrid believes that his client is innocent and does all that he can to prove the prosecution wrong, but it becomes harder and harder for him as the evidence is revealed, especially with the testimony of Leonard’s wife Romaine. I do not want to reveal what happens in the end (and if you’ve read any Agatha Christie, you know that nothing is resolved until the very last page!), but Agatha, as always, comes up with a brilliant ending that no one sees coming.

I have never read the short story version of Witness so I did not know how it would end. Agatha Christie’s plays tend to be a little over-dramatic at times, probably to make up for the fact that she doesn’t use her famous characters Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. And her plays often contain more romance or a romantic ending, and Witness for the Prosecution certainly has that element, in a sense. The romances are a bit contrived, and in some of her other plays, the romance begins and concludes in the span of 3 acts! This play, however, is definitely one of her best-written, and shies away from some of the ridiculous situations in her plays based off of her original novels. Perhaps this is because it was only based on a short story. I would also say that along with other famous court-room drama plays, Witness for the Prosecution is one of the best that I have read. The suspense and mystery keep the audience on their toes, and I love that we don’t find out whodunit until the last few lines. Brilliant, Agatha, as always.

All Over

All Over is a play by Edward Albee, written in 1970, a few years after his most famous play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? This play, however, did not show the depth, character appeal, or connections that many of his other plays have. It was hard to read, and probably even harder to relate to onstage.

All Over, like many of Albee’s plays, takes place in one single space, a bedroom in an expensive home. At the start of the play, all the actors are onstage. We quickly learn that they are sitting and waiting for a man to die. The characters are only referred to by their relationship to this man: the Wife, the Mistress, the Daughter, the Son, the Best Friend, the Doctor, and the Nurse. We never learn their names, and we never find out the identity of the man, who is apparently a very rich and famous person. There is very little plot; the characters are merely waiting for this man to die, and as they wait they argue, complain and reminisce about their lives. The dialogue is almost like a series of monologues, interspersed with them arguing and complaining. As the play progresses, we get a better sense about how each person feels about the next, and how they feel about dealing with the issue of mortality; however, we never see these characters for who they truly are. Only at moments of outbursts and screaming do we see their true natures. The relationship between the Wife and her children is the most explored. We begin to understand how unhappy she has become as a wife and mother, and how her treatment of her children has caused them to be unappealing, angry, and weak as well. As the play closes, nothing has really changed since the beginning, save the Wife’s realization that she has only loved her husband and has wanted to be loved by him, and that this has made her unhappy: "All we've done…is think about ourselves. What will become of me?" The play ends with the Doctor entering and informing them of the man’s death, with no reaction from the characters.

I’m not sure if I liked this play. I liked the fact that I had to really pay attention to what the characters had to say in order to garner information. However, I did not like the fact that none of the characters were appealing or sympathetic. The most interesting character was the Wife, but she was a horrible person, and completely unfeeling. It would be interesting to see this performed onstage, but I feel like it would be a hard sell.

The Importance of Being Earnest

(I apologize for the delay in posts...I read this one a couple days ago and have been too busy to write a blog entry. But here it is for your enjoyment!)

I just want to preface by saying that I love The Importance of Being Earnest! I’ve seen it onstage twice, seen the recent movie with Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, and Reece Witherspoon (which was quite good), and have directed scenes from it (once with middle school students!). The satirical themes, witty language, and amusing characters make Oscar Wilde’s play as fun to read as it is to see it performed.

First performed in 1895 in Victorian era London, the play focuses on satirizing the social conventions of the time period, such as marriage, and Wilde himself claimed that the play’s theme was “that we should treat all trivial things in life very seriously, and all serious things of life with a sincere and studied triviality.” The play focuses on two protagonists who each create a fake personality in order to escape from the dull and burdensome social obligations in their lives. However, things get confusing and mixed up when each man uses the name “Ernest Worthing” as his alias.

The play opens with Algernon Moncrieff, a lazy young gentleman, receiving his best friend who he only knows as Ernest Worthing. Ernest has come to London from his manor in the country to propose to Algy’s cousin Gwendolen, with who he is madly in love with. Algy, however, has discovered that Ernest’s real name is actually Jack, and that he has an 18 year old ward named Cecily, who lives with him in the country. Jack admits that he has created a fake brother named Ernest who he pretends to visit in the city to escape country life, and then pretends to go by the name “Ernest” when he stays in London. Algernon admits that he does a similar thing: he has created an invalid friend named Bunbury, whom he uses to get out of social obligations in the city. He tries to discover the whereabouts of Jack’s manor, but Jack refuses to tell him.

Gwendolen and her mother Lady Bracknell come to visit Algernon. As Algy distracts his aunt in another room, Jack proposes to Gwendolen. She accepts, but it seems that she is more in love with the name “Ernest”; Jack decides that he will rechristen himself “Ernest”. Jack and Gwendolen then tell Lady Bracknell of their engagement. Lady Bracknell interrogates Jack to see if he is a worthy suitor for her daughter, and everything seems to be fine until she learns that Jack was adopted after being found in a handbag at Victoria Station. She informs Gwendolen that she is no longer to have any contact with Jack; however, Gwendolen sneaks back and is able to procure Jack’s address in the country. Algy, overhearing their conversation, writes down Jack’s address and secretly makes plans to visit the manor, knowing that Jack will still be in London for a week.

Act 2 begins at Jack’s manor in the country. Cecily is studying with her governess Miss Prism. Algernon appears pretending to be Jack’s brother Ernest, and Cecily quickly falls in love with him, having previously created a relationship with “Ernest” in her mind. She too, is mostly in love with the name “Ernest”, and Algy also decides to change his name to “Ernest”. Jack then arrives in mourning clothes to announce the death of his “brother”, and is shocked and furious when he discovers Algernon there pretending to be “Ernest”. Gwendolen arrives at the manor having run away from home, and meets Cecily. They both claim to be engaged to “Ernest Worthing” and look ready to start a fight, but then Jack and Algernon enter and the women realize that they’ve been tricked. The tables turn as the women unite together against the men who have lied to them.

At the beginning of Act 3, Gwendolen and Cecily have decided to forgive the men, provided they change their names to Ernest. Lady Bracknell arrives in pursuit of her daughter. She is horrified to learn of Algernon’s engagement to Cecily, but quickly changes her mind once she learns about Cecily’s trust fund. However, Jack informs her that Cecily cannot get married without his consent, and he refuses to give it until Lady Bracknell allows him and Gwendolen to marry. Everyone is at a standstill until Miss Prism arrives. Lady Bracknell recognizes Miss Prism as a former nursemaid, and asks her where the baby is that she had been watching twenty-eight years ago; Miss Prism took the baby for a walk one day and never returned. Miss Prism explains that she distractedly put the manuscript of a novel she was writing in the stroller, and the baby in a handbag, which she left at Victoria Station. Jack immediately sees the correlation and fetches the handbag he was found in. Miss Prism tells him it is the same handbag, and Lady Bracknell reveals that Jack is her sister’s first born son, and therefore Algernon’s older brother. Jack is thrilled to learn that he has a family and can now marry Gwendolen, but wants to know what his true name is. Lady Bracknell tells him that he was named after his father, who is revealed to be General Ernest Moncrieff. Everyone can now get married, and Jack (now Ernest) tells Lady Bracknell that "I've now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of being Earnest".

I enjoyed reading The Importance of Being Earnest again. It is a very light play, and the characters are not deep or particularly influential. Still, the play is well written and if done right, very enjoyable to watch onstage. I look forward to reading more Oscar Wilde after this!

The Bacchae

I would first like to point out that this entry is dedicated to Betsy, and all the other Tufts Drama grad students who are about to take, or are studying for, their comprehensive exams. Best of luck to you all!!

Now then. The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides during his final years in Macedon. The play is based on the mythological story of King Pentheus of Thebes, and he and his family’s punishment by the god Dionysus for their refusal to worship him. The play differs from other Greek tragedies in that it does not end with the restoration of order through the appointment of a new ruler. Rather, the play ends with a vengeful god completely destroying Thebes, and the future of the city is unresolved.

The play starts with Dionysus onstage acting as a narrator to let the audience know what has happened previously. Dionysus tells us of his origin and why he has come to Thebes: his mother Semele was impregnated by Zeus, but is killed before giving birth because she asks Zeus to appear to her in his true form (a lightning bolt). Zeus rescues the unborn Dionysus, and hides him in his thigh until he is born. However, Semele’s family believe that she lied about who impregnated her, and begin to spread lies about Semele and her child, and deny that Dionysus is the son of Zeus. Dionysus comes to Thebes to get revenge on his family for denying him, and to prove that he is a great god. To exact his revenge, Dionysus starts by gathering women followers from all over Asia, called the Bacchantes or Bacchae, and then sends them and all the women in Thebes (including the sisters of Semele) into a crazy frenzy. These women dance and hunt and worship him on a nearby mountain to the horror of their families in Thebes. Dionysus himself has taken the form of a young man and leader of the Bacchae. He will use this disguise to get to Pentheus, Dionysus’ cousin and the current king, who has banned worship of Dionysus in Thebes.

The previous king Cadmus and the blind prophet Tiresias, although not under the same spell as the women of Thebes, are planning to go worship Dionysus, until Pentheus enters and tries to stop them. It is obvious that he is morally and mentally opposed to the rituals and worship, and refuses to accept Dionysus as a god. He orders his soldiers to find the Bacchae’s leader and bring him to the palace. The soldiers bring Dionysus in disguise to the king and we quickly see that Dionysus is fully in control of the situation. The king continues to insult and defile Dionysus, without realizing that he is further humiliating himself and blaspheming against a god. Dionysus wants this to occur; he wants Pentheus and the house of Cadmus to fall even farther, to make his revenge even sweeter. He even discovers that deep down Pentheus is actually intrigued by the rituals, and uses this to his advantage. Pentheus, frustrated by the answers he gets from Dionysus, throws him into jail; however, no walls can hold back a god, and Dionysus releases himself and his other followers in jail, and burns the palace to the ground.

When a herdsman comes and tells Pentheus of the strange and exotic rites of the Bacchae that he has witnessed on the mountain, the king decides once and for all that they need to be destroyed. However, using Pentheus’ desire to see the rituals, Dionysus tricks the king into coming with him in disguise to the mountain. He dresses Pentheus in women’s clothes and humiliates him by parading him through the streets. Once they arrive on the mountain, Dionysus places Pentheus on top of a large tree to view the rites; however, once the king is unprotected, he calls out to his followers to destroy and kill Pentheus. The women (lead by Pentheus’ mother Agave) pull Pentheus down from the tree and tear his body apart. Agave brings his head back to the palace; in her possessed state she thinks that it is the head of a lion. When she shows the head to her father Cadmus, he is horrified and as Dionysus’ control over her subsides, Agave realizes the sin she has executed. Finally, Dionysus banishes the people of Thebes from their home, to be slaves and in exile for the rest of their lives.

I saw The Bacchae at Brandeis University about five years ago. I only remember vague parts about it, mostly the Suzuki techniques that the director incorporated into the show. I’m not crazy about the translation that I read (by Robert Bagg), it seemed too casual, and I think he tossed off some important points. For instance, Pentheus’ change from being opposed to the Bacchae to wanting to see them seemed too abrupt, too sudden, without any real persuading on Dionysus’ part. Maybe his character is supposed to be that way, but it just seemed that the phrasing was off. Still, it is a pretty powerful play, and the last scene with Agave realizing what she has done is intense! It makes you wonder if Dionysus only wanted revenge on his family for denying him, or if he really just wanted to show off his power and abilities as a god.