Show and Tell #1

            Hail, Hail the Gangs written by James De Jongh, Charles Cleveland, and  Michael McCray was initially just a play I ran across in the database by random selection. As I began reading it, this play just grabbed my attention right away. It opens with a gunshot. The main character Ceelow caught at a murder seen and he says “ I didn’t see him murdered because I was on the roof.” The play goes on to flashback on how Ceelow became affiliated with the gang and show his progression in gang life. The play also breaks down the lives and demeanor of the other members of the gang to the point where as a reader or audience member you form an emotional connection with each character. Ultimately, the plot of the play was which gang would rise to the top and be the top gang recognized in Harlem. In the end, both gangs ended killing each other off and Ceelow was the last man standing. Then the cops killed him.  This play blew my mind at the ending because it came full circle. I love the choices they made with the script to use dialogue and slang that would be true to gangs. They also made a choice in the set design to not have any props its just a bare empty stage in which the actors have to define and establish the setting by their mannerisms and dialogue. I loved this because it allowed me to use my imagination as a reader to picture what the setting would be like instead of it being dictated. The progression of the play was also something I loved because the play began with a foreshadowing that Ceelow would be left standing but I didn’t know why at that point or even why he was in trouble left at the scene of a murder. There was also a poem that was recited by the gang several times which signified their passion, strength and belief in the gang. It signified their brotherhood and explained the importance of the gang. I also think that was a great choice for them to recite the poem because it set the tone and the emotion of the play. I also think the choice of leaving Ceelow as the last man standing was interesting because the two gangs mentioned in the play that were fighting fought to the death. They were in the gang for far longer than Ceelow too so I think it signified how he wasn’t really as much of a brother to them as the rest of the members and even after all that fighting and joining a group he was still standing alone in the end just as he was in the beginning.   

           

4000 Miles

            I think the ultimate motif of 4000 Miles is to open up and share the story of these characters at this particular point in time. The main characters Leo, Bec, and Vera are all going through same situation, but their perspective and the way it has affected their lives is different. They are also at a point in their lives where they are going through changes so I think Amy Herzog’s motif is to portray how a situation doesn’t just affect one person and one moment or decision can change the path of several relationships. The pattern that caught my eye the most is how Leo’s demeanor changes when his mother and his family is mentioned. Its obvious that the relationship with his family is very strained. For a bulk of the play there is hardly any talk about why the relationship is the way it is. Herzog withholds a lot of information about what has happened between the characters and allows us to just observe their demeanor and the affects of what happened which was very interesting to me. The characters often interrupted and talked over each other which also kept me interested in finding out what they were trying to hide or just what was so uncomfortable for them to talk about. I was also curious about Leo’s real reason for coming to visit and in his vulnerable state the truth cam out that he really didn’t know where else to be since his best friend died on their cross country trip. The characters also change as the play progresses. I think that Leo finds his way while he took a moment to acknowledge the loss of his friend, Bec seems to forgive Leo at the end, and Vera’s forgetfulness gets worse to the point where she is very accusatory. All in all my observation of the motive was to display the affects of life on a group of people to show how they deal with situations and progress. 

           

Judith

I think the major dramatic question is “Is does Judith fall in love with Holofernes?” In the beginning of play, Judith acts as if she is shy and vulnerable when she is first introduced to Holofernes. She acts like she is just a prostitute for Holofernes, but she is actually in a plot to kill him. During the play, she engages in conversation with him about love and death and at one point, although she claims she is lying, in actuality she does really have love for him. Judith develops a fascination of Holofernes, but she can’t follow through with her love for him because he is planning to destroy her country of Israel. If she doesn’t follow through with the plan her family will be killed or enslaved in battle. I believe she loved him because before she killed him the servant had to remind her why she had to kill him. Judith was in a constant fight with herself about completing this task for many reasons. In the beginning, she was just uneasy about being his company because his topic of conversation was “death” which was strange. Then after they conversed for a while she began to see his vulnerability and she broke down his walls of being a harsh general. She developed feelings for him. Once she severed his head from his body, she acted like she was just caught up in the moment of telling him lies that she was rethinking the plan. Judith says to the servant “I was silly there.” In efforts to deter the servant from thinking she had developed feelings for Holofernes. Judith expresses that she still wants to have sex with his body. She states “the head is gone I can make him mine… the evil is gone, the evil is in the bag and I can love!” I think Judith is very desperately seeking love throughout the entire play because she is a widow. Unfortunately, Judith has to push her feelings aside and defend her country.

           

Night Mother

I don’t agree with the MDQ being “Will Jesse kill herself?” I believe that the question can be formed more specifically to fit the plot of the play. The reason I believe the dramatic question isn’t specific enough is because Jesse’s decision to kill herself isn’t the main puzzle piece to the plot. Mother and Jesse have a long conversation about the past including why Jesse has seizures, mother tells how she never loved Jesse’s dad, and they both expose their deepest personal issues they have trouble dealing with daily. All of these things seem to be what cause Jesse to kill herself in the end. Even though the decision of Jesse killing herself was introduced early, it wasn’t until later we found out her true reasons for her actions. This is how I came to the question “Is the information Mother tells Jesse going to cause Jesse to kill herself?”. The answer is “no”, which is why the play continues. Jesse basically explains that the reason why she plans to kill herself is because she didn’t become the person she thought she would be, she was unhappy and alone. The reasons for her not becoming who she thought she would be is because her mother with held information from her about her health and her mother set her up with Cecil, the husband that left her. I believe Jesse felt that she had no purpose and the long truthful conversation she had with her mother just pushed her over the edge. Ultimately, Jesse’s suicide was a culmination of things not just her initial decision like the original question suggests. My question allows for the other factors to be considered before finding the answer to the dramatic question.

Trifles

“Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.” This quote from the play Trifles is the best way to sum up the most interesting aspect of the play. Trifles are things of little value or importance. The play is centered on a murder that was committed. The sheriff and county attorney, accompanied by their wives, arrive to the house of John wright where his murder was committed. As the sheriff, county attorney, and Mr. Hale investigated the house, they talked about the little things in the house that were left undone by Mrs. Wright. They commented on the kitchen and how it was unclean. They also made comments like the women were less than them. Meanwhile, the women are the ones who discovered the evidence and motive of the murder before them and managed to hide it from them. Through out the play there are several little details or “trifles” that the women do pay attention to. For example, they noticed that the birdcage door was broken which lead them to look for the bird. They found the bird dead, which was the cause of the murder. If they hadn’t paid attention to detail they would have never discovered that important bit of information. They also attributed Mrs. Wright’s un-kept house to the fact that she was going crazy because her husband, John Wright killed, her bird. That was the only thing she had to entertain her and brighten her days. The women then hid the evidence in order to protect Mrs. Wright from going to jail for killing her husband. In all the play was pretty good. I figured Mrs. Wright had committed the murder, but I did want to put the puzzle pieces together to find out her motive for killing him. Paying attention to the trifles paid off.