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'Tis Pity She's a Whore

“I hate thee and thy lust; you have been too foul” Act 2 Scene 2

“Incest and murder have so strangely met” Act 5, Scene 6

“tis Annabella’s heart” Act 5, Scene 6

After reading ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford, all I could think about was how the female characters in the play were treated. The men in the play talk about revenge and justice interchangeably. Meanwhile, the female characters take cautious steps through deceit to ensure that they stay alive, regardless of what they desire most. Also, every female character dies or is sent to a convent. After my brief outrage, I reminded myself not only what time period the play was written in, but also that the play exists in a world of its own. However, this observation illuminated some interesting images in the play. I found that the through line was passion, and more specifically, the steps each character takes to protect his/her passion. Because of this, and the setting and societal standing of the characters, I would recommend that the posters use a jewel tone color palette.

The image of Annabella’s letter written in her own blood is a strong choice for a poster because it reflects her passion to warn her lover, Giovanni. Another interesting choice is Hippolita’s raised glass at Annabella and Soranzo’s wedding ceremony, the toast she thought would bring her justice; the glass that would poison and kill her. The glass could appear golden and the liquid glowing in an illustration. A final bold image for a poster would be the image of Lady Justice. The figure is extremely recognizable, drawing in an audience, while simultaneously implying the play’s theme of the plight of women within this society.

Topdog/ Underdog

Suzan-Lori Parks uses two distinct theatrical mirrors within the Topdog/Underdog text. Both of these theatrical mirrors are fairly well known and clear references. The first, Abraham Lincoln’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth, and the second is the game of Three-Card-Monte. The Three-Card-Monte is a street hustle in which at least 2 people target a mark, draw them into the game by making them think they can win, when in fact, the game is rigged and the mark can never win. And, of course, we all know that John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln while he watched a production of Our American Cousin unsuspectingly.

It’s clear that these theatrical mirrors are being used to explore, not only power, but also how possession of power shifts. In the play, Lincoln teaches Booth to play TCM. In some moments it seems as if he has lost his touch, and Booth begins to win. But we see eventually that he was only letting Booth win.

            In the end though, Lincoln looses all his power. He assumes, like a mark, that he still posses all the power. He never suspected that he was about to loose the game of life and get shot.

Next to Normal

Next to Normal uses music and lyrics to enhance the paths of each character. This can be seen from the moment the musical begins. In the opening song, Just Another Day, Gabe sings the same melody as the other characters, but he has a clearly different perspective than the rest of the family. This distinction separates him from the other characters immediately.

Hornby’s elements can be found throughout the text and the music. Irony, reality being different from what is portrayed, can be found throughout the musical. One instance that stood out to me was during the number, “It’s Gonna be Good”. Dan sings a happy tune. The music suggests that there is hope for the characters, while Dan’s lyrics demand that there is; all the while the audience knows that the family is in dire straights.

Another interesting moment occurs during “My Psychopharmacologist and I.” The music is jazzy, while there is instrumental dissonance in the strings. The song expresses Diana’s frustration with being treated with a drug cocktail that is “not a very exact science.” The number is sung while Natalie discusses jazz music with Henry. She complains “it’s just making shit up.”  In this scene, the playwright is using the placement of  jazz next to psychopharmacology to reflect the two on each other.

Love! Valour! Compassion!

A historian looking at Terrance McNally's  Love! Valour! Compassion!'s structure and dramaturgical choices might see that the play has a non-linear plot structure, the continuous breaking of the fourth wall convention, and the non-illusionistic staging. These are all characteristics of what we call a post-modern play. The historian could observe the similarities in this play to the other plays in the time period. From this, he/she could determine that the play and art from the time suggest that one Capital T-truth is intangible.

Love! Valour! Compassion! breaks from the well-made play form in several ways. It has a nonlinear plot structure. And the plot doesn't revolve around a secret, but Bobby and Ramon's affair is a secret is a small part of the play's overall plot. The play is very non-illusionistic, calling for a blank stage.  While it is composed of three acts, each of these three acts doesn't have a clear climax. This play is different from any other plays we've read in that that actors break the 4th wall convention.

The Children's Hour

In Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour,  a secret has a girls' school, it's teachers, and students in a fuss. Mary's curious young mind has the potential to ruin the lives of her brave and determined teacher, Karen and Martha. The plot follows a linear structure and centers around a secret. The play has 3 acts and each has a climax. These are all characteristics of a well-made play. But Hellman purposefully diverges from this traditional structure. In a typical well-made play structure, the characters would come to a "logical resolution" and all the plot points would be tied together in a nice little bow. In this play, however, the characters come to a tragic resolution, as the school is forced to close and Martha kills herself. Also, typically in well-made play, the audience has a better grip on reality than the characters. In The Children's Hour, the audience is kept guessing just as much if not more than the characters. While reading, I could not figure out if Martha and Karen were actually lovers or not.

Hellman's veer from the exact well-made play structure shines light on the destruction that can come from the minds of children. The decision to leave the audience in confusion begs us to ask the question "Does it matter if we know?"Mary's grandmother doesn't seem to think so.  She has no idea if her granddaughter is being honest or not. She doesn't seem to care either, the implication is enough for her to take action. The tragic ending is glaring indication of how little regard Mary had for the consequences of her actions.

The play reminded me a lot of the novel and movie, Atonement by Ian McEwan. In the story, young Briony see's things she couldn't understand, and accuses someone she loves of something awful. The results are disastrous.

Overtones, by Alice Gerstenberg

When reading Overtones, by Alice Gerstenberg, a line of Harriet’s struck me very early on. She says to Hetty, "I can't let her see that I've been fighting with my inner self." I believe this line summarizes the nature of the "inner selves" in the theatrical world of the play. Perhaps, the each character in this world is aware that each person has an “inner self.” Something like a conscious, but more present in this theatrical world: a kind of guide, that speaks pure emotional reactions and truths that might not always be advantageous to express.

In turn, these inner selves would be conscious of the other’s existence as well. However, throughout the play, it seems as though the inner selves of both Margaret and Harriet cannot hear each other, though they speak directly to each other in the final moments of the play. Near the end of the play I found a few lines that could have been the inner selves directly speaking to one another. But I found no concrete evidence in the text that suggests the two seemingly transcendental beings could hear each other.

When Harriet voices concern that Margaret could be suspicious of their row, she pleas with Hetty to quite her fussing. This is the only evidence within the text to support that this theatrical world is any different from our own, and that these two aren’t a couple of kooky, perhaps mildly neurotic socialites. And even so, the text is still very open to that possibility, or different interpretations.

 You can also consider the characteristics of both women. They are rival socialites, described as “cultured women” with a history that pits them against each other. Under this kind of pressure, it would be reasonable for Harriet to be cautious of showing any fear to her sworn enemy. And that could have been the only reason for her to mention the concern to her Hetty.

Alice Gerstenberg balances an almost magical realism in Overtones, combining exaggerated and fantastical ideas with natural human thoughts and concerns.