Show and Tell, oh yeah! The Boar

A bunch of us had to read this for Intro to Scenic Design… So sorry if I'm like the millionth person to use this as my extra play. I had actually read this play once before in my sophomore English class in high school (thats a whopping four years ago, guys.) I specifically remember not particularly enjoying the play at all when I read it the first time, so reading it the second time was not an exciting prospect to me. Pleasantly, however, I really enjoyed this play. I think the sense of humor was just too mature for me at the time.

This is one of Chekhov's classic farces, translated from the original Russian. It takes place somewhere in the mid to late 19th century. In the Boar, Mrs. Helena Popov is grieving the loss of her husband who died seven months ago. She has not left the house since his passing. Then, suddenly, in comes Smirnov. He comes into her house demanding that she repay him money her husband owed him before he died. He has a debt that needs to be paid immediately, so he is very demanding in his request for his money. Unfortunately, however, Popov has no funds available until next week. Smirnov refuses to leave until she pays him what he is owed. This is where the plot escalates. As the two reach a stale mate on the business side of things, we learn many other things about these characters. Neither one of them are behaving truthfully. We find out that Popov isn't really mourning the death of her husband. She is trying to prove how much she loved him and show him in the afterlife how cruel he was to be so unfaithful to her while he was alive. Additionally, Smirnov is staying at her house out of pride, because he doesn't want to be walked all over. The play progresses into a series of heated arguments that get increasingly more and more absurd. Finally, it escalates to a duel- yes you heard me- a full on duel…with guns. However, Popov must first be taught by Smirnov how to use one. This close physical proximity suddenly overwhelms Smirnov and he realized that during the course of the evening he has fallen in love with her and her strength. They fight a bit more, make out a bit, and live happily ever after. And nobody had to get shot.


Dramaturgically, I liked the use of love and hate having so many parallels. Scientifically, love and hate have very similar effects on the body, so its a fact that passion of all kinds is related. This extremity, however, is what makes the play so comical. One minute Popov and Smirnov are about to start shooting pistols at each other. The next minute, they are declaring their undying love for each other and embracing. If only real life was like that. This is another example of a comedy of manners, in my mind. Much like Overtones and The Importance of Being Earnerst, the comedy is in their ludicrous behavior in light of the situation at hand. They all also take place in similar styled time periods, if I am thinking correctly. Maybe it is just a style that I enjoy, but I found the Boar to be brilliantly entertaining and witty. But that is a given. I mean it is Chekhov.

4000000000000000000000000 Miles

"Whatdayacallit". Vera says that almost literally every time she speaks in this play. On a personal level, it reminds me a lot of my scatter-brained mother who has real trouble with common nouns. "Can you get me the thing for the thing?" is a very typical phrase from her. Things like these are classic signs of air-headedness or endearing senility. In the case of 4,000 Miles, however, the use of the motif "Whatdayacallit" is used as more than just a way of further characterizing Vera. This motif further emphasizes the theme of miscommunication throughout the play. Nobody seems to understand each other in this play. Everyone is always putting their foot in their mouth and saying the wrong thing. Beck and Leo don't understand what one wants from the other, so they break up. Vera LITERALLY doesn't understand most of what if said to her because she is hard of hearing. Additionally, Vera has issues with her dentures so she is difficult to understand as well. Leo doesn't really communicate with anyone about the death of his best friend Michah at all though out the play even though that is like one of the main, central issues of this play. AND THEN, when he finally opens up about what happened, Vera's hearing aid was off and she heard none of if. Everyone is constantly missing the connection. Sometimes, even, the computer of phone literally loses connection, making communication even more difficult. Not to mention the issues that go along with Leo's inability to face and communicate what on earth is going on with this incest thing between him and his asian sister. The miscommunication, however, while frustrating at times, make the play more effective for me. I am not sure of the message the playwright was trying to convey, but I really felt like this was a true "slice of life".

Judith

First of all, I don't know if this is a relevant this to say in a blog posting, but I did not like this play. I understand it is loosely based of biblical stories, and that it is very artistically and precisely done, but the entire thing felt very schizophrenic to me. The combination between the frequent changes in dialect, relationships, and motivations and just the mere fact that sexual desire and decapitation are the two most memorable aspects of the play is just not at all my style. That being said, even the weirdest of plays have major dramatic questions. I think the MDQ is "Does Judith have the mental strength to complete her quest?". In the beginning of the play, she is on a mission to kill general Holofernes, thus saving her people in these times of war. However, as she talks to him she develops feelings for him making us question if Judith has the ability to kill someone she is so fond of in such  brutal way. Well the answer if yes, she decapitates him and its horrific. Yet, she is still sexually attracted to him, even sans head. The murder seems to have deranged her, bringing out this brute-like barbarian inside of her. She comes out of the play a completely different person. I think in the end of the play she is severely disturbed, showing that she did not have the psychological strength to deal with the situation at hand. I think she is too emotional to be a killer, yet she did indeed kill Holofernes…very violently. The servant seemed to act as a real instigator for the deed at hand. I wonder how the play would have turned out without the presence of the servant. What if they had been alone the entire time?

Night, Mother: The most depressing play ever in one act

This prompt is difficult because I feel like there are so many questions to be asked in regards to this play, it is difficult to identify the "Major Dramatic Question". From a dramaturgical standpoint, however, I think that I could make a reasonable argument that the MDQ is "Will Mamma and Jessie be able to part ways?" This could be worded better, but in my reflecting, I felt like it wouldn't be right to center my MDQ around either Mamma or Jessie and exclude the other. Even they are the only two people in this play, I can't one hundred percent peg either of them as the protagonist. We grow to care about and root for both of as the play goes on. Of course, we do not want Jessie to get what she wants, which is death, so I suppose that is an argument against Jessie as the protagonist. Regardless, I digress. One of the main topics of discussion between Jessie and Mamma after we discover Jessie's plans to end her own life is that Jessie won't be here to take care of Mamma anymore and Jessie needs to make sure Mamma can get by without her. Jessie, even though she is determined to leave, she needs to make the separation as clean as possible. She feels a real responsibility to Mamma and feels like she can't leave her without making sure she will be okay. As Mamma reacts more and more poorly to the eminent death of her only daughter, we question, as readers, whether Jessie will really be able to go though with the suicide and leave her mother behind. Mamma seems defenseless on her own. Likewise Mamma can not accept that Jessie wants to die. She loves her, needs her, and feels responsible for her. She fights the reality of the situation as hard as she can, denying the truth and refusing to cooperate with Jessie's lists. However, this MDQ is answered in the last moments of the play where Jessie does, indeed, kill herself, parting ways with Mamma forever, and Mamma follows Jessie's instructions as ordered and calls the family, finally accepting what has happened and parting ways from her now deceits daughter, Jessie.

Trifles be triflin

Trifles is, to me, a classic murder mystery, with a special twist. In the beginning we learn about the murder of Mr. Wright, which was committed by his wife (so is suspected) as he slept defenseless in bed. The men in the play, along with their wives, are coming to the Wright's house to search for evidence that Mrs. Wright was indeed the one who killed her husband. While the action of this play is centered around solving a murder, the feminist aspects of the script was particularly interesting to me. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are underestimated by the men in the play, and seen as simple, silly women. When in reality, these women are the only ones who have the sense and eye for detail to notice essential clues in the mystery of Mr. Wright's murder. They discover an unraveling quilt, amongst other unfinished projects. To the men, this was simply evidence that Mrs. Wright was a poor homemaker. The powers of empathy possessed by the women allowed them to see the significance behind the seemingly trivial things around the house. The men find nothing, but the silly women figure out the entire thing. However, after they discover the bird cage and the dead bird and they discover Minnie's motive for killing her husband, they choose to continue playing dumb and conceal the evidence from the men, thus protecting Minnie's innocence. In addition to empathy, the women feel a great deal of responsibility to one another. They feel genuinely responsible for not being there for Minnie during her seemingly abusive marriage. Instead of viewing Minnie as a deranged killer, they sympathize and genuinely make an effort to understand her motives. In a way, they even justify her. All the while, the men are doing nothing of importance. And in the end, the men suspect nothing. The women hold all the power. They just don't let the men know that they do. Thats my favorite part of the story.

Overtones and undertones

It would be so cool and chaotic if life was really like the world in Overtones. This is a play about your inner self literally fighting to surface, but your forced exterior comes through. It is a very artistic concept…having another person inside of your head. This comedy of manners reminded me very much of The Importance of Being Earnest, in the exchanges between Harriet and Margaret. They really genuinely dislike each other on the inside, yet they are being so sickeningly polite on the outside. Even though they don't like each other, however, they both want something from the other. Harriet wants to spend time with her long lost lover and Margaret's husband, John. Margaret wants Harriet to have her portrait done by John and pay him a large sum of money because they are in deep financial trouble. Yet, even with their mutually beneficial interests, both women are too proud to come right out and say what they want. Their inner selves are going insane, but on the outside they are completely composed. Both are flaunting their feathers and lying about living very extravagant perfect lives, when in reality neither women are happy at all. Both women get what they want in the end, but only after a long series of social mind games. I like that the author used Hetty and Maggie as the names of Harriet and Margaret's undertones. Their undertones are the casual, familiar, genuine, informal versions of themselves, thus they receive more casual nicknames. It was an excellent choice on the part of the playwright. I would be extremely interested to see how this play would come to life on stage. I imagine that this script would present some very specific challenges, such as making it clear that the overtones and undertones are the same people, even though they would be played by two different actors. I think this would be an interesting show to put on here at LSU, honestly. Small, all female cast. Perfect.