Comments (Checkpoint III)

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Comment 6 (my computer wouldn't let me comment under her posting for some strange reason, but here is my comment for Sue's post on Topdog/Underdog)
I really like your emphasis on honesty. Booth leads the crowd to believe that they are play an honest game of chance when it is really rigged. Link seeks out and "honest" job portraying the character of "honest" Abe. One that I personally did not pick up on was the dishonesty in his job in the aspect of Link's race. He is an African American man deceiving the players to believe him to be white.
-Shequila Hamilton

Next to Normal by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt

Yay!!!!! A musical!!!!!!!!!
(clears throat)
Anyway, Next to Normal was indeed....next to normal. What I like most about this musical, and most musicals in that case, is that the music helps to provoke and enhance those emotions and aspects of Hornby's elements portrayed throughout the script. Tom Kitt did an amazing job composing this work. I think he particularly portrayed the element of progression well throughout the score. In both his songs "A Promise" and "I'm Alive" there is a clear motif and pattern not only in lyrics, but in the notes as well.

I also think that the most important element in a musical is choice. The playwright and composer carefully choose which scenes, moments, emotions, and ideas they would like performed in song and which ones they prefer as plain dialogue. The choice of song selection and placement in a musical is very important in the script. The characters are not randomly bursting into meaningless song every few moments of the plot. Instead, each song holds significance to it's specific moment in which it is sung and helps to progress the story line and enhance the meaning and message of the text. These choices of music placement separate a play, a musical, and a two hour concert.

Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks

This was my first time reading a piece by Susan-Lori Parks and I overall thoroughly enjoyed it. Referring to the prompt, Topdog/Underdog was laced with very obvious theatrical mirrors and foreshadowing. These two mirrors (the assassination of Lincoln and three-card Monte) though extremely different, still manage to tie the story together. When presented in the script together, these mirrors support each other and the idea that it is impossible to "win" in life unless allowed. While working as a performer, Link tricks the audience into believing that they hold a position of power as they take on the role of John Wilkes Booth. He leads them to believe that they are the top dog, when in actuality he is by choosing to allow them to shoot him. Booth as the card dealer deceives the audience into believing that such a simple game is merely a shot of change and luck. The reality of the game is that Booth controls the placement of the card and if the mark will win or lose.

These mirrors also portray a misjudgment of the placement of power. Just like the card dealer, Lincoln makes the gunman believe that they have control and hold a chance at winning. The mirrors reflect deception. This then raises the question out of Abraham Lincoln and the gunman, the card dealer and the mark, and Lincoln and Booth: "who is the 'topdog' and who is the 'underdog'?"

'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford

With a plot as complex (for lack of better words) as 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, coming up with interesting poster ideas is fairly easy. With the given restrictions on obvious visual images such as a heart or dagger, my poster would be on backdrop of inverted fading colors. The top of the poster would be pink, as pink symbolizes love and romance. It would then blend from pink to light red, which represents sexuality and passion. From there the color would blend into a deep red, which stands for fiery heat. This color can also mean danger. From red the poster, at the bottom, would become black to represent not only the death of relationships, but also the death of those lovers. In the black area of the poster my image would consist of an already bitten apple. From this apple will fall drops of blood and around the apple would be spider webs. The apple would represent forbidden fruit just as the characters partake in forbidden love. The drops of blood would represent death and I would place one drop falling from the apple for each life lost in the play. Finally the spider web would represent the tangled web of lies and deceit as well as a hectic web of lovers.


The quote at the bottom of the poster would be one of the following three:


"...'tis my fate that leads me on" -Giovanni (Act 1 scene 2)


"Revenge shall sweeten what my griefs have tasted." -Hippolita (Act 2 scene 2)


"Thou hast told a tale whose every word threatens eternal slaughter to the soul." -Friar (Act 2 scene 5)

House of Trials by Sor Juana

Besides the example stated in the prompt, another convention in House of Trials that could be concluded as a part of the comedias guide would be the actual format in which the play is written. Much that of Shakespeare, Sor Juana writes the script in what can be considered poetic stanzas. Once you get into the rhythm of reading the play you will find yourself almost reading verses rather than monologues. I could definitely see this poetic writing scheme transferred over into other works that may fall into the comedias category.

My second comedias convention would be the constant breech of the "fourth wall". As long as this wall remains in place the audience is watching the lives of others. When Sor Juana removes this wall in House of Trials it allows the audience not only to view the character's lives, but it allows them to be a part of their lives and includes them into their world. This takes away the formality of viewing a play and lightens the atmosphere.By having moments in the script where the fourth wall no longer applies removes the convention of modern realistic theater and enhances the idea of a comedy or comedias.

Judith by Howard Barker

This play was WEIRD! But through all of the quirkiness I was able to narrow the scope to a Major Dramatic Question of "will Judith regain power?" This is a simple MDQ, yet a very relevant as control is a very dominant issue in this script. With her initial intentions of murdering Holofernes, the question of will she actually kill him is obvious as stated in the prompt. There are many different moments in the script that support the MDQ of "will Judith regain power". One example is Holofernes' beheading, followed by the act of necrophilia. When Judith begins to fall in love with her target she begins to reveal a softer, more subtle side. Her power begins to diminish as her heart becomes involved. This is only altered by the deed of murdering Holofernes. By killing him and participating in intercourse with his corpse, Judith is reclaim her power and obtaining control of her emotions. Also, the entire idea of a servant is a position of power and control. The back and forth shift of power between Judith and the servant shows Judith's struggle of power and control not only with said servant, but within herself. This adds weight to the question "will Judith regain power" as we as reader's (for a while) aren't quite sure. The beheading of Holofernes sparks the rebirth of Judith's dominance. She uses her servant as a stepping stone to top. The play ends with Judith having gained control for her country Israel and for herself over her servant.

Night, Mother by Marsha Norman

Night, Mother  was a very heavy script to read in terms of the context and storyline of the play. With a topic as "difficult" as suicide, one can only imagine what sitting through a live production would be like. Nonetheless I found the script to be pretty good. If I were to be hired as the dramaturge for this play I would have to disagree with the director in terms of the Major Dramatic Question. Even though the play ends not long after Jessie kills herself and the question as to "will she actually follow through with the act" is answered, I feel as though the MDQ is much deeper than the obvious. Jessie spends the entire play preparing herself and others for what is to come after her death. It is almost as if it is destined to happen and no one, not even her own mother, can stop her. Instead, I believe that the MDQ in Night, Mother is "will Thelma ever understand Jessie?" In a one act play Norman was able to summarize years of stress and strain and miscommunication that caused a rickety relationship between mother and daughter. The MDQ is heightened once Jessie reveals to Mama that she plans on killing herself. Though Mama doesn't quite know to show her emotions towards her daughter, she fights to come to the meaning as to why Jessie would ever consider such a thing. Thelma pleads with her daughter for answers and then retracts in a continuous cycle. With the constant switch of Mama's emotions towards Jessie's decision I feel as though "will Thelma ever understand Jessie" is the MDQ. The whole script Jessie just wants to be heard, understood, and respected. It is sad that it took Jessie's drastic measures to make Mama understand that all she wanted was to be listened to.

Thelma: Jessie, Jessie, child … Forgive me.
(A pause.)
I thought you were mine.
(And she leaves the door and makes her way through the living room, around the furniture, as though she didn't know where it was, not knowing what to do. Finally, she goes to the stove in the kitchen and picks up the hot chocolate pan and carries it with her to the telephone and holds onto it while she dials the number. She looks down at the pan, holding it tight like her life depended on it. She hears Loretta answer.)
Loretta, let me talk to Dawson, honey.

When Thelma finally respects Jessie's wishes the play ends.