Trifles #2

Trifles

The rooms are cold and barren, the kitchen remains completely untouched, and the air is heavy with the death of John Wright still looming around the house. Susan Glaspell's Trifles is a wonderfully executed murder mystery style play. When John Wright is found dead in his bedroom four characters are left to search the house for any evidence that might uncover the truth behind his mysterious death. What made this script such an enjoyable read for me was the struggle between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hales as they began to uncover the possibility that it was Mrs. Wright who murdered her own husband. On one hand the two women find themselves completely on the side of the law. If Mrs. Wright did in fact kill her husband then she deserves to remain in jail and be found guilty. But on the other hand, as they begin to search through the kitchen the women discover a new sympathetic understanding through their new perspective. This begins to unfold through a series of Mrs. Wright's possessions, all of which indicated signs of an utterly unhappy life. As Mrs. Hale proceeds to explain how happy Mrs. Wright used to be before she wedded the cold and harsh man that is John Wright. It almost justifies all of her actions regardless of how heinous they were. When trying to look through the playwrights perspective in creating these specific details I began to interpret what each of the characters represented. When looking at the big picture you have to look at whats happening. In the big scheme, a problem arises and you have to solve the problem. You can either handle the problem logically or emotionally. The Sheriff and the County Attorney in my interpretation represent the logical standpoint of the death. They are there to find hard facts and evidence to take a logical standpoint to prove why this all happened. Whereas the woman in the play take an emotional stance and try to understand why such a thing would happen in the first place. In doing this Glaspell is able to appeal to each reader. Some of us are logical thinkers and others are emotional thinkers thus, this play has the ability to generate different answers as to the guilt or innocence of Mrs. Wright

Overtones #1

Overtones

What if how you felt on the inside could manifest itself into a real person?  Would these manifestations of inner emotions be the same as your outward appearance? In Alice Gerstenberg’s Overtones  the emotions and inner thoughts of Harriet and Margaret come to life on stage in a comedic and brutally honest fashion. Upon reading this script I found myself being utterly humored and entertained, by the concept of the character’s thoughts fighting its way into the conversation. There are so many instances in our lives where we wish we could just blurt out everything that we truly felt on the inside, but don’t in fear that it might strike a chord with somebody’s emotions. When taking a step back and looking at the big picture of what’s really happening I found myself being humored at the idea that this is what it’s like whenever two women sit down and talk to each other. As mentioned in class this was exactly like watching an episode of Real Housewives of really rich and fancy area where you’re too poor to live. Aside from all of this, Gerstenberg’s play offers a lot of room for creativity in depicting and/or portraying the manifestation of a character’s inner most thoughts.  For example it is mentioned in the director’s notes that both of the primitive women on stage are wearing a slightly different color than their respective character as a way to represent what that character is about. Whenever I read a play I usually find myself taking a production standpoint as a way to visualize exactly what I am reading. With this little excerpt alone there are so many different things that can be done whether it’s casting decisions, lighting, costumes the use of a manifestation has a lot to offer. Overtones is definitely a wonderfully creative and well thought out play.