Show and Tell Posting-Beauty by Jane Martin

The play I’ve chosen to comment on is called Beauty by Jane Martin; it was published in 2000. I was unable to find record of a production history for this play, so I’m assuming it hasn’t been produced before on a large scale. I found this play on the LSU library’s database, the exact link to it is…http://solomon.nadr.alexanderstreet.com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/cgi-bin/asp/philo/getobject.pl?c.1206:2.nadr.

Beauty is a play written about two women, Carla and Bethany, who are unhappy with themselves. Bethany is an accountant who writes short stories, while Carla is a gorgeous model, struggling to make it in the modeling world. In this particular moment, Bethany has left work because she had a “beach urge” and on the beach, she finds a genie. The genie grants her three wishes, two of which she makes while on the beach. During the play, she is describing this occurrence to Carla. Carla is doubtful at first, and annoyed that Bethany is making her late for her Ralph Lauren modeling call, on her birthday nonetheless. When Bethany shows her the $25,000 that the genie gave her on the beach, she starts to believe it. She’s even further persuaded when Bethany swears “…on her mother’s grave…” that her uncle walked straight out of the intensive care unit. Carla and Bethany begin arguing when Bethany starts entertaining the idea of wishing for beauty on her third wish, because Bethany thinks it would make her life exponentially better, while Carla tells her she can’t have a normal functioning life because people are so distracted by her looks. The action of the play culminates in the genie switching Bethany and Carla into each other’s bodies, without Bethany actually making the wish.

The first dramaturgical choice I found noteworthy in the script of Beauty is that Martin chose to have the genie switch the two females’ personalities, without Bethany actually wishing for him to do so. It’s an interesting choice because it makes the genie a more relevant character, showing that he’s overheard their conversation from within’ the lamp. It also creates the question, why did he do it instead of just waiting for Bethany to ask? I think this brings up the idea that it’s important to know what you want to get out of life, because situations can change in the blink of an eye. Martin shows that sometimes in life things are out of one’s control, and that one has to be able to adapt if life changes.

The second dramaturgical choice I’ve chosen to highlight is the way Martin ends the play with the line of dialogue, “Different problems.” Even though the play doesn’t necessarily resolve itself, this one line of dialogue sort of wraps the whole thing up giving us the message that Martin wants to convey. Expanding upon this line, she’s saying even though some peoples lives may seem better than others, at the end of the day every individual is dealing with their own issues. Whether your insecurities have to do with the way you look, your intelligence, or something completely different, everyone has his or her “different problems.” This message is something that everyone can relate to, so it’s a perfect way to punctuate the action of the play.

My Comments!

-comment on Caroline's 4000 Miles blog posting

-comment on Chelsea's Trifles blog posting

-comment on Morgan's Judith blog posting

-comment on Brandon's Overtones Blog Posting

comment on Morgan's Night, Mother blog posting

-comment on Brandon's 4000 Miles blog posting

4000 Miles

The motif that I noticed most prominently in 4000 Miles was the losing and finding things. This happened consistently throughout the play in the physical sense with objects, as well as with characters losing their words. An example of this would be when she thinks she lost her checkbook, but she ends up finding it...also she often forgets her hearing aid. There are other things lost in the play, Bec and Leo's relationship, and also Vera's neighbor Ginny. Leo and Vera are also at a loss for words many times. Vera continually makes statements such as, "...there are a lot of bad things about getting old, but the worst one is not being able to find my words." I think this motif pertains to the story in a huge way, because the play truly is about Leo losing and finding himself, through his journey. Just as Herzog has some items lost and some found, there are parts of Leo that he'll never get back, and there are parts of him that he discovers that will continue to grow. This motif is true to life in the sense that everyone is on a journey and is searching, and there's lot's to encounter along the way. Leo is definitely struggling right now to find himself and Herzog highlights this with the use of the motif.

Reflections on Judith

While at the beginning of Judith Judith appears to be a docile character, it isn’t long before the reader realizes Judith has an agenda. She cleverly manipulates herself close to Holofernes, so that she can achieve what she wants to him to achieve, and consequently, gain power. This being said, it seems to me as though the major dramatic question is, “At the end of the play, will Judith have power over both the Servant and Holofernes?” When Judith initially enters, she’s submissive. She doesn’t complete many thoughts, getting cut off by Holofernes various times. However as the play progresses, we see a shift in her. She knows her plan is working, and once she kills Holofernes she loses this false shyness and completely takes over, ravishing her position of power. It briefly looks as though the Servant will take over when she’s accusing Judith of hesitating, and considering doing it herself. This is an example of a moment within the play when it looks as though Judith could lose power. After she completes her mission, Judith takes complete rein over the entire situation. Besides not listening to what the servant says, she goes so far as to humiliate her servant as well. Her success isn’t enough, she has to continue to assert her dominance. The MDQ is definitely answered, because Judith does, in fact, gain complete power over the other two characters by the end of the play. 

Night, Mother

“Will Jesse kill herself?” is definitely the most obvious choice for the MDQ, however I don’t think it’s the most interesting one. Jesse spends the duration of the play trying to convince Mama what she needs to do, why it’ll be okay and why it is her final decision. I think an effective alternative would be, “Will Jesse be able to convince Mama that life will go on after she’s gone?” This question isn’t answered as directly by the text, but takes more analyzing from the reader, and makes it very important to pay attention to details. Jesse begins the play with full disclosure, telling Mama she intends on killing herself, saying directly, “I’m going to kill myself Mama.” With that, she continues to elaborate on everything she has prepared for Mama so that she can continue to live her life. Jesse describes how she called the milkman, restocked the hard ware drawer, made a list of birthdays so her Mama wouldn’t forget them and even directions on exactly how to proceed after she does the deed. Mama resists in a heartbreaking manner, trying to do everything to convince her to stay…cleaning up, and making her hot chocolate, saying, “….of course I’ll make you a caramel apple.” In the final stages of the play, Mama gets desperate and agrees when Jesse screams, “I should’ve just left you a note!” It’s suspenseful and put me on edge, reading Mama’s reactions. This question is answered at the end, after Jesse shots herself, because we see her beginning to go about her life the exact way Jesse had planned it out. This question is equally as relevant as the obvious MDQ, however, its answer is dependent on a much larger amount of the text, making it a better option. 

Thoughts on Trifles

I think that this is an interesting and unique proposal, given the nature of the play. Since such an important part of Trifles are the different items that the women find, it’d create a very different atmosphere to have the neutral shapes and colors as opposed to elaborate props and period costumes. Based on the stylized nature of this proposal, a lot of the smaller themes that could easily be overlooked would become more prominent. The first of these themes that comes to my mind is never to overlook the smaller things-the subtle details-because these will tell you most about almost any individual in any given situation. Another theme that would gain prominence by removing elaborate design aspects is the male over female dominance that takes place within this play. If the men weren’t so busy looking for forensic evidence, and were actually listening to what the women were saying, they would have found their answer. I think this way of doing the play would be interesting to watch and would give the show a much more modern and contemporary vibe than if it was actually taking place in an abandoned farmhouse.

However, it would also loose some of its eerie nature by NOT having a detailed environment surrounding the action of the play.  For example, while Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are discovering different neglected things, they come across a half-finished quilt. Apparently Mrs. Wright “knotted” the quilt, and the two women allude to this technique various times in the text, which the audience can parallel with the fact that Mrs. Wright’s husband was hung by a rope. I think that having visuals such as the rope and the knotted quilt add emphasis to these moments, so in a minimalistic version of this performance they’d have to make sure that moments such as these, within the text, don’t get overlooked since there aren’t specific props to make them notable.

I could visualize Trifles as an ultra stripped-down production, as long as it was performed in a way that emphasized the important moments between the two main females having to do with material things. It’d definitely give the production a more contemporary spin, and I think that the audience would probably notice more in the text than they would have otherwise. 

Reflection on Overtones

The inner selves, Hetty and Maggie, can always hear each other. While Margaret and Harriet are conversing, Maggie and Hetty have their own dialogue going on, a dialogue that the reader could argue is the “true” version of what these two women are actually thinking. With the very first interaction between Margaret and Harriet, Maggie and Hetty directly address each other. Hetty says, “That’s a lie.” and then Maggie says, “I’d bite you if I dared.” This is the first of many instances when these two speak directly to each other. In the world of Overtones, the reader sees that Margaret and Harriet can address each other and hear their own alter egos, but they cannot hear the other woman’s “dark” side. The reader knows this, because Gerstenberg states it directly in the stage directions. The director and actors would have to block the show so these relationships transferred from stage to the audience perspective. I think these relationships could definitely be less clear from an audience perspective because you’d have to pick it up on your own, as opposed to having it explicitly stated to you. There is a moment when it looks like Hetty may break out of this convention (when she heads to answer the phone), however Harriet wins over and the pattern remains consistent.

I think it’s interesting that the women’s “cultured” sides are the petty, dishonest portions of their personalities. Since it’s the early nineteen hundreds, this is how women were required to act. They had to closet their true feelings in order to appear proper and cultured. However, from the perspective of the modern day women, I think that the “primitive” sides of each woman are actually their truer personalities, so it’s odd to me that Gerstenberg chose to make their solid forms the “cultured” versions of themselves instead of vice versa.