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http://crayonxasxsnail.blogspot.com/2013/09/4000-miles-by-amy-herzog.html#comment-form

http://crayonxasxsnail.blogspot.com/2013/09/overtones-by-alice-gerstenberg.html

http://jenniferdownes.blogspot.com/2013/09/marsha-norman-night-mother.html

http://jenniferdownes.blogspot.com/2013/09/alice-gerstenberg-overtones.html

http://alyseiadarbyscriptanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/09/overtones.html?showComment=1380406012371#c4956176227966904644

http://alyseiadarbyscriptanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/09/trifles.html?showComment=1380406402891#c3256133060261284820

John Michael Moore

4000 Miles

A pattern that I began to notice throughout 4000 Miles is how distant Leo acts; he secludes himself from everyone around him.  He makes it hard for anyone to talk to him or connect with him because he spends months away doing his own thing. He is just trying to finish what he and Micah started, but shows no interest in keeping up with anyone important.  Even when he is spending time with his grandma in the beginning he is still shutting her out but they eventually get close enough to smoke weed together, but she is family so you would expect him to be happier to see her but he doesn’t seem to make it an important goal of his to reach out to people.  He keeps to himself so much because he is dealing with and trying to get over Micah’s death and it isn’t spoken of until later on in the play, that is where we finally get to see a real part of Leo.

John Michael Moore

Judith

Major Dramatic Question: A possible major dramatic question for Judith by Howard Barker could be, “Does Holefernes want Judith to kill him?” From the start of the play the characters are engaged in a battle of wits, and it seems like he is using these two strangers to confess some of his actions in battle.  Which says something there, why would he feel comfortable telling two people he did not know about his inner struggles? Maybe he knew that he could talk to them truthfully because he knew either she would die tonight or he would.  He puts himself in a very vulnerable position by “falling asleep” in her lap, BUT he isn’t actually asleep.  Once the women thought he was sleeping hey started talking about killing Holefernes and he could obviously hear them, which means he then knew of their plan.  Keeping his eyes closed he inform them that he isn’t sleeping, but he remains calm the whole time.  So there is a possibility that Holefernes, a trained killer, could see the intent in Judith’s eyes when she walked into the tent, therefore allowing him to let his guard down and by remaining calm when he lets the women know he heard their plans of killing him that shows that he was okay with it.  It was almost like him giving the okay.

John Michael Moore 

'Night, Mother

She needs to do it, but her mother needs to be okay with it as well for her to feel fully comfortable to do it.  So another possibly Major Dramatic Question would be is her mother okay with Jessie killing herself.  All of the rising action leading up to the climax, Jessie killing herself, creates and builds tension very early in the play considering Jessie tells her Mother of her plans to shoot herself with her father’s gun and you spend the rest of the play hearing Jessie’s reasons for committing said act.  So we know Jessie’s full intention throughout the whole play, it is her Mother who has the conflict and struggle to accept and support her daughter’s decision.  All Jessie wants is that from and for her Mother, because she feels that if she gets on board with her choice, that Jessie shows no intention of changing, her mother will have a much more peaceful resolution.  And when considering the play, we know going into it that Jessie will be trying to convince her mother that her decision is valid, so the driving factor would be how her mother reacts and if or if not she can convince her daughter to change her mind.  So one could argue that Night, Mother gets most of its dramatic flow from the reactions and decisions of Jessie’s mother. In the end the truth shines through Thelma’s reactions that she clearly is not okay or supportive of her daughter’s decision, which isn’t fully clear until the end because most of the night consists of Thelma trying to agree with Jessie in way that could possibly change her mind.  And she ultimately doesn’t change her mind.

John Michael Moore

Trifles

This proposal idea of stripping this down to the bareness of having a blank set has benefits in some ways but it also would loose some effect in my opinion. 

Areas of gain: if a director decided to go with the idea of such a blank environment the production would be full of symbolism, not that you have to have a blank set in order to show large amounts of symbolism, but it would be forcing the audience to use their imaginations.

I think the show would lose more than it would gain because the show is about all of the minor details and also about feminism.  Stripping it down to such a blank environment would take away from all women’s Trifles throughout the show.  And since we never actually get to see Mrs. Wright all of her belongings are the only windows that the audience has into her life.  The set of her kitchen helps you better to understand her and if nothing is there it’s as if she was never there.  Also, it puts the men and women on an equal level and they are not, because this show is about showing how they aren’t on an equal playing field.  The Attorney makes that obvious with how he treats and how condescending he is towards the women of the play. 

By the director taking away the small details of the play they are taking away the most important details, that lead to the answer of the case, and just like the men in the script they are overlooking the “Trifles.”

So, yes, I think it loses a lot of significance by stripping it apart into such a blank production.

John Michael Moore

Overtones by Alice Gerstenberg

Yes, the “inner selves” hear one another and sometimes even see each other.  But they do not see each other every single time one or the other speaks.  Sometimes the “inner selves” will deliver a line directly towards the other one.  I feel like they only heard each other when they wanted the other to hear them. 

Through out the script Maggie will deliver lines to Hetty, typically when she does not believe something that Harriet has said, almost as if she is calling her bluff.  Other times their lines are directed to the opposite “outer selves” to represent the truth that Margaret or Harriet would like to say but due to social restrictions they cannot truly express themselves.  Majority of the lines between Hetty and Maggie are things that the "outer selves" want to say to one another but aren’t quite socially expectable, I have never read a play like this before and I thought the dialogue was amazing. 

Defending it/proving it- page 211, Harriet: I’m afraid Charles paid an extravagant price.  Maggie: [To Hetty] I don’t believe it.  This quote is direct proof of Margaret not believing something that Harriet has said to her, yet, instead of calling her out on it they continue on polite as can be.

Another one, page 213, Hetty doubts the sincerity of Margaret’s statements, Margaret: Not for long…. Who gave him many orders?  Hetty: [To Maggie] Are you telling the truth or are you lying?

Unanswerable- How would you deal with interruptions from the “inner selves” during the conversation between Margaret and Harriet?  Do they just continue miming eating or drinking their tea?  But that still leaves you wondering why they would just stop in the middle of their sentence. 

Margaret: [To Harriet] I used to drink very sweet coffee in Turkey and ever since I’ve-

Hetty: I don’t believe you were ever in Turkey.

Can the “inner selves” actually see each other?  Sometimes yes and sometimes no.   Every now and then they will answer to each other’s statements, but aren’t they are just voices and thoughts of the actual characters? The question is can Margaret and Harriet see the "inner selves" of each other, not physically, but the same way we today can tell when people are lying or trying to “one-up” us or when you can see the “crazy” in a person’s eyes.

The “inner selves” do not seem to actually see one another until the very end when they are screaming at each other.  But, do they actually see one another? They aren’t affected by anything the other is even saying.  It seems that they are screaming at one another not too one another.

In the beginning Harriet talks with Hetty but when Margaret comes into the room it is as if she isn’t there.  It is like a voice in the back of your head.  Once Margaret and Harriet are having their own conversation Harriet never actually looks back at Hetty while she tries to put her two-cents in throughout the dialogue, same with Margaret and Maggie.  

As an audience member watching this show, it may get a little confusing but it helps that Margaret and Harriet stayed seated and never look away from one another no matter what the “inner selves” are reveling about themselves and how miserable their lives truly are.  So I do not think the audience would have too much trouble following the dialogue.

John Michael Moore