Summary: Veta Dowd attempts to have her brother Elwood committed because he has an “imaginary friend” named Harvey—a rabbit who stands at over six feet tall. Antics ensue involving Mrs. Dowd’s involuntary accidental committal to the asylum. Ultimately, the head psychiatrist (Dr. Chumley) begins to see Harvey as well.
Thoughts: Because I have seen the 1950 film, Elwood’s lines echoed in my head in the voice of Jimmy Stewart—not an all-together unpleasant reading experience. Somehow, the cruelty of humans towards each other seemed much more apparent in this play than in the film, perhaps due to the unlikeable self-obsessed character of young Myrtle (Elwood’s niece).
In their brief introduction, Gassner/Barnes reveal that, in the staging of the play, the choice to make Harvey invisible was simply because the director couldn’t figure out how to put a six-foot rabbit on stage without looking ridiculous.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
State of the Union by Howard Lindsey & Russel Crouse (1946)
Summary: Higher-ups in the Republican Party persuade Grant Matthews that he should seriously consider running for President. This plea appeals to his large ego; but before he can make this happen, he must repair tenuous relations with his wife, potentially leave his mistress and figure out what his political views actually are.
Thoughts: Like political drama that has come after it (The West Wing, The American President), the pace of this play is extremely quick and is aided both by people talking over each other and the physical movements of someone being handled and shuttled from place-to-place very quickly. Everyone in this play has some sort of agenda and most of them are trying to hide it from Mr. Matthews, most notably his shrewd and funny wife Mary. Everything goes to hell in an unseen dinner scene where Mary is seated next to Kay Thorndyke (Matthew’s mistress) and has had a few too many cocktails (it is the night of their anniversary, after all).
Clearly, State of the Union is a title with multiple meanings; and ultimately, it is revealed that Matthews will have to sacrifice governing one Union in order to live comfortably in another.
Thoughts: Like political drama that has come after it (The West Wing, The American President), the pace of this play is extremely quick and is aided both by people talking over each other and the physical movements of someone being handled and shuttled from place-to-place very quickly. Everyone in this play has some sort of agenda and most of them are trying to hide it from Mr. Matthews, most notably his shrewd and funny wife Mary. Everything goes to hell in an unseen dinner scene where Mary is seated next to Kay Thorndyke (Matthew’s mistress) and has had a few too many cocktails (it is the night of their anniversary, after all).
Clearly, State of the Union is a title with multiple meanings; and ultimately, it is revealed that Matthews will have to sacrifice governing one Union in order to live comfortably in another.
The Time of Your Life by William Saroyan (1940)
Summary: Characters move in and out of Nick’s Pacific Street Saloon, a bar in San Francisco. As with most bars, some are regulars while others enter only to cause a stir and then quickly depart. Most of the people who find their way into Nick’s looking for work are down on their luck, and though he attempts a tough exterior…he always tries to find a place for them. Besides Nick, the most important character in the bar is Joe—a man who appears to have money for no discernible reason and gives it away willingly.
Thoughts: My initial thought after reading this play was, “Did I miss something?” Having read a number of these plays, I’ve developed an affinity for the slice of life, one-setting formula that has been so rewarded over the years. However, I simply just didn’t find this one as compelling of some that surround it. I appreciated the element of magical realism (Kit Carson is a character in the play)…but other than that I was left wondering, “Why this one?”
Thoughts: My initial thought after reading this play was, “Did I miss something?” Having read a number of these plays, I’ve developed an affinity for the slice of life, one-setting formula that has been so rewarded over the years. However, I simply just didn’t find this one as compelling of some that surround it. I appreciated the element of magical realism (Kit Carson is a character in the play)…but other than that I was left wondering, “Why this one?”
Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (2003)
Summary: A Cuban family owns a cigar factory in Tampa, where they employ lectors to read from the classics (notably Anna Karenina) while cigars are hand-rolled. Tension exists between those who are loyal to the old way of doing things and those who believe the company could be more productive with the use of machines and the dismissal of lectors. The “out with the old, in with the new” tension also carries over to individual marriages in the play—especially between Conchita and Palomo, who have decided that they may not be in love anymore. Consequently, Conchita begins having an affair with Juan Julian, the newest lector.
Thoughts: I’ve had this play on my shelf since it was published and have never read it. Moreover, I’ve actively avoided reading it for this project and I really have no idea why. Well, wait. In 2003, a person whose literary opinion I didn’t hold in high esteem wouldn’t stop talking about it the summer after it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. How dumb. Seven years after my stubbornness, I found Cruz’s work moving and his use of language was extremely impressive.
The play had tough competition for the Prize in 2003: fellow nominees were Take Me Out and The Goat; plays that deal with homosexuality and bestiality, respectively. This play is an interesting examination of the Cuban immigrant experience and the combined pressure to assimilate and need to preserve family and culture. While the play is set in 1929, Cruz's handling of fairly universal themes makes the play a quick and highly relevant read. Additionally, Cruz uses both large chunks of Tolstoy’s work as lines for the lector to read, and also short lines of Tolstoy's work seamlessly woven into dialogue. While the classic work undoubtedly serves its purpose in the script, some of the choices are perhaps too deliberately heavy handed (Anna Karenina is in a forbidden relationship, and so is the lector. And this is repeated again and again).
Thoughts: I’ve had this play on my shelf since it was published and have never read it. Moreover, I’ve actively avoided reading it for this project and I really have no idea why. Well, wait. In 2003, a person whose literary opinion I didn’t hold in high esteem wouldn’t stop talking about it the summer after it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. How dumb. Seven years after my stubbornness, I found Cruz’s work moving and his use of language was extremely impressive.
The play had tough competition for the Prize in 2003: fellow nominees were Take Me Out and The Goat; plays that deal with homosexuality and bestiality, respectively. This play is an interesting examination of the Cuban immigrant experience and the combined pressure to assimilate and need to preserve family and culture. While the play is set in 1929, Cruz's handling of fairly universal themes makes the play a quick and highly relevant read. Additionally, Cruz uses both large chunks of Tolstoy’s work as lines for the lector to read, and also short lines of Tolstoy's work seamlessly woven into dialogue. While the classic work undoubtedly serves its purpose in the script, some of the choices are perhaps too deliberately heavy handed (Anna Karenina is in a forbidden relationship, and so is the lector. And this is repeated again and again).
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Men in White by Sidney Kingsley (1934)
Summary: Doctors at various stages of their careers are at work in a hospital. One night, the engaged Dr. Ferguson has an adulterous tryst with a nurse named Barbara. A few months later, Barbara herself is on the operating table after an abortion goes wrong. Ultimately, Barbara dies and Laura (Dr. Ferguson’s fiancee) leaves Dr. Ferguson, reminding her overworked former fiancee to, “work hard.”
Thoughts: Abortion! Adulterous trysts! 1934! When I read the line, “septic abortion”, I immediately put an exclamation point in the margin. To that point, the drama of the play surrounded the action of the hospital and the interpersonal relationships of the characters; but the botched abortion served as a catalyst for the remainder of the dramatic action. While Nurse Barbara is being prepared for surgery, Dr. Hochberg (a senior physician) invites Laura to watch Ferguson's next surgery in order to help her understand the importance of his work. The next surgery "coincidentally" happens to be the removal of Barbara's uterus. During the surgery, the entire sordid situation becomes clear to Laura…who is understandably devastated.
One of the most interesting things about this play is Kingsley’s extensive usage of footnotes. Sometimes, his footnotes simply translate medical language “Stat=hospital jargon for immediatley” (443), but other times, his liberal inclination shines through:
“No one wants to encourage the indiscriminate use of this grim practice. However, the lash of the law, instead of correcting the evil, only whips it into dark corners, creating a vicious class of criminal practitioner--bootleg doctors and ignorant midwives who work in dark, back-room apartments. A saner, healthier attitude is that adopted by the Soviet government, which is fostering birth control education, and instituting legal abortion clinics in a spirit best expressed by the motto inscribed over the door of one such clinic: "You are welcome this time, but we hope you will never have to come here again" (466).
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The Green Pastures by Marc Connelly (1930)
Summary: In the first scene, children in a “negro church” are asking typical children-at-Sunday-School questions, concerning why God decided to create the world. Their teacher gives them typical “I don’t know, read the Bible” answers. In the next scene, God is in Heaven, lamenting his boredom and decides to create man and the world. The next thirteen scenes follow God and man’s interactions from The Garden of Eden to Noah to Moses to the eventual crucifixion of Christ.
Thoughts: In the spirit of Rice's Street Scene, I found myself having to read much of this play aloud because it is written in “typical negro dialect.” The play is full of sentences like, “An’ you better take an’ git married an’ settle down an’ raise some chillun. Dey ain’t nothin’ to make a man fo’git his troubles like raisin’ a family. Now, you better git” and “You got two bad lookin’ eyes. I bet yo’ hot coffee ‘mong de women folks” (402, 403).
While the play was written by a white male and much of the dialogue is stereotypically problematic, I was intrigued and appeased (?) to discover that this was the first play on Broadway with an entirely black cast. I wasn’t always thrilled to be reading it, but now I am very interested in the play’s production history, audience reception and critical reviews.
Thoughts: In the spirit of Rice's Street Scene, I found myself having to read much of this play aloud because it is written in “typical negro dialect.” The play is full of sentences like, “An’ you better take an’ git married an’ settle down an’ raise some chillun. Dey ain’t nothin’ to make a man fo’git his troubles like raisin’ a family. Now, you better git” and “You got two bad lookin’ eyes. I bet yo’ hot coffee ‘mong de women folks” (402, 403).
While the play was written by a white male and much of the dialogue is stereotypically problematic, I was intrigued and appeased (?) to discover that this was the first play on Broadway with an entirely black cast. I wasn’t always thrilled to be reading it, but now I am very interested in the play’s production history, audience reception and critical reviews.
Alison's House by Susan Glaspell (1931)
Summary: On the last night of the 1800s (December 31, 1899), a family has gathered to pack up their family estate, where only ailing Aunt Agatha currently resides. Agatha will move in with her brother (male protagonist Mr. Stanhope) and the home will likely be sold to a couple who will transform it into a summer boarding house. Aunt Alison is the unseen title character of this play--a poet of national acclaim who died many years ago. Regardless, she is still the main topic of conversation in the house, especially after a reporter from Chicago visits, hoping to see her room and get an answer to the question, “Have all of her poems been published?”
Thoughts: This play did a really excellent job of holding my interest in the two essential questions of the text: 1. Have all of Alison’s poems been published? and 2. Why does everyone keep talking about her as if there is some sort of secret surrounding her? The obvious answer to the first question is no, which becomes a pivotal issue in the third act; but the second question led me to a number of different hypotheses while reading. A suicide? A lesbian? Incest? Inquiring minds want to know!
From the outset, it is clear that Aunt Agatha does not want to move because she feels closest to her sister Alison in the family mansion; and the strain of moving eventually results in her death—but not before she can hand over a satchel of unpublished poems to a recently returned niece (Edna). Edna is the source of family scandal and not entirely welcomed at home because she recently ran off with a married man. Eventually, it becomes clear that both old Mr. Stanhope and Alison experienced the same sorts of pining toward married people…but they didn’t act on their feelings. Instead, Alison wrote poetry that ultimately both united and divided her family. Most of the characters in this play, seen and unseen, have dealt with unrequited love and find themselves sharing stories (and poems) that have long been buried on New Years Eve, 1899.
Thoughts: This play did a really excellent job of holding my interest in the two essential questions of the text: 1. Have all of Alison’s poems been published? and 2. Why does everyone keep talking about her as if there is some sort of secret surrounding her? The obvious answer to the first question is no, which becomes a pivotal issue in the third act; but the second question led me to a number of different hypotheses while reading. A suicide? A lesbian? Incest? Inquiring minds want to know!
From the outset, it is clear that Aunt Agatha does not want to move because she feels closest to her sister Alison in the family mansion; and the strain of moving eventually results in her death—but not before she can hand over a satchel of unpublished poems to a recently returned niece (Edna). Edna is the source of family scandal and not entirely welcomed at home because she recently ran off with a married man. Eventually, it becomes clear that both old Mr. Stanhope and Alison experienced the same sorts of pining toward married people…but they didn’t act on their feelings. Instead, Alison wrote poetry that ultimately both united and divided her family. Most of the characters in this play, seen and unseen, have dealt with unrequited love and find themselves sharing stories (and poems) that have long been buried on New Years Eve, 1899.
“And then—all of a sudden—We had been dancing; we stopped by the door. We just looked at each other—stared, rather, and he said—“Why, Elsa!” We stood there, and then he said, “It is Elsa.” And we went out to the veranda, and everything was different, because he was Bill and I was Elsa. And everything we had together in the past—when we used to slide down hill together—was there, alive, giving us a past we hadn’t known we were making for ourselves.”
(Act 3)
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