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.