Paired in the Mischief Series at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Other Place, The Earthworks/Myth immerses the audience into both novel, and common-place ideas and perspectives: the concept of slow glass and the disregard towards the environment. Written by Tom-Morton Smith and directed by Erica Whyman, The Earthworks combines themes of companionship and science (rather strange mix that is perhaps hard to relate to), allowing us to wrap our heads around a difficult idea with the help of an age old story. With a short interval in between the two, the double bill performance introduces a second play, Myth, written by Matt Hartley and Kirsty Housley and directed by Kirsty Housley, a striking performance ending with an oil-coated set which alludes to underlying meanings.
Meeting coincidentally at the hotel bar, journalist Clare (Lena Kaur) and particle physicist Fritjof (Thomas Magnussen) engage in familiarly awkward small talk. The slow monotonous conversation between the two provides an insight into each character’s personality, and sets the mood of the whole play. Clare’s eager energetic nature is starkly juxtaposed with Fritjof’s reserved, even apprehensive mannerisms. If the small
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In Fritjof’s beautifully intimate recount of his interactions with the slow glass, he breaks down the walls he created around himself and exposes his sensitive interior that was hidden away. This intimate moment between Clare and him humanises the two characters and brings the piece back to reality that these are two people, regardless of their careless decisions they made prior to this encounter. The production seems to glide over the fact that both of them are married and does not confront the fact that there is something morally wrong with that, in fact it seems almost as if it is praising this type of
Not many young people would be happy over the fact of accidentally running into their parents on a first date. Instead, they would face the situation with a feeling of fear or agitation. In Kiss and Tell, Mr. and Mrs. Roger’s are quite the characters who are sure to make an impression on the narrator, their daughter’s date; even if that means at their daughter’s expense. Placing the setting in a theater also plays as a contrast to the parent’s lack of finesse. Juxtaposition is used to contrast the “elegantly suited and scented audience” to the parent’s embarrassing behavior. The onomatopoeia, “aaahtchoo”, used to describe Isabel’s father’s sneeze reinforces the idea that the parent’s behavior directly contrasts the elegance of the
The novel River Of Earth by James Still is a story about life in e Appalachia just before The Great Depression. The story provides a very clear description of the problems and challenges the mountain people faced after the settlement of their land. Even though the novel is shadowed by other writings of the time period dealing with poor southern life, it is still considered a great neglected masterpiece.
The play first reveals the shortsightedness of stereotypes made by Westerners, when the submissive Asian woman is awaiting a dominant Western male. Throughout the play, Gallimard is reliving his experiences that he has shared with Song in prison so he flashes back to describe his story of the perfect woman. Gallimard first flashes back to the German Ambassador house in 1960’s where he first meets Song. Gallimard and Song end up conversing about the opera Madame Butterfly that Song was performing in. Song thinks the opera is ridiculous, but Gallimard likes the opera. Gallimard tells Song how she did a beautiful job as butterfly and how her character was very convincing. Song argues with Gallimard, stating that this opera is only beautiful to Westerners. He asks if “it’s one of your favorite fantasies, isn’t it? The submissive oriental woman and the cruel white man” (17). After hearing these words, Gallimard turns rather defensive; despite his own stereotyping of Asian women, he does not want to be trapped in a stereotypical Western mindset. Song effectively trashes this stereotype by using his devious skills to manipulate
Initially the professor is dignified and elevated – described as an “honored guest” and “humble”. Through this technique the responder is able to recognize his importance and is also able to see his egotistical nature, as he compares himself to great artworks such as “Rodan’s Thinker”. As he surrenders to his temptation for the young school girl, though, a subtle shift in power is evident. Like the boy in The Glass Jar the professor is seduced by temptation and falls from grace.
The most creative part of this play is the set for both the living world and the underworld. As a
It comprises of one act. In the content play of “Trifles”, male and female characters are plainly introduced as a binary pair of ‘unrivaled’ vs. ‘substandard’.
To begin, in both plays the men dismiss the women as trivial. In Trifles, when Mrs. Wright is being held in jail for the alleged murder of her husband, she worries about the cold weather
Perception involves the use of senses to assimilate information in situations, such as solving the mystery of a murdered husband in the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell. Perception, however, can be impaired by many things. For example, what is being concentrated on at any given moment, upbringing, social biases, and gender can all influence how different people perceive the world. A character analysis between the male and female roles in Trifles illustrates how gender disparities can skew perception, allowing what is right before one’s eyes to be essentially ignored by some of the characters. Glaspell illustrates the effect of gender on perception through her identification of the female characters, the male characters’ attitudes toward the women, and the bonding together of the fairer sex against the men’s patronization.
Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, Trifles, weaves a tale of an intriguing murder investigation to determine who did it. Mrs. Wright is suspected of strangling her husband to death. During the investigation the sheriff and squad of detectives are clueless and unable to find any evidence or motive to directly tie Mrs. Wright to the murder. They are baffled as to how he was strangled by a rope while they were supposedly asleep side by side. Glaspell artfully explores gender differences between men and women and the roles they each fulfill in society by focusing on their physicality, their methods of communication and vital to the plot of the play, their powers of observation. In simple terms, the play suggests that men tend to be assertive,
Susan Glaspell uses a variety of symbols in her play to demonstrate the stereotypical view and treatment of women by men during the start of the twentieth century. She intricately portrays the female characters in her story as intelligent, but passive due to the fact that males dismiss their ideas and conversations as unimportant. The play, Trifles, uses multiple symbols to show how men fail to recognize the intelligence of women, and oppress the feminists’ way of thinking throughout society.
In Parker’s film adaptation, his emphasis of the sub-plot between Dr. Chasuble and Miss Prism, while becoming more entertaining, further detracts from Wilde’s concerns and only serves to strengthen the film as a romantic comedy. In Wilde’s play, Chasuble and Prism’s
Crying over spilled milk is silly, right? Worrying about the little, mundane things is pointless and a waste of time. In Susan Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles, she demonstrates how being sensitive to the subtle details can be vital to solving a mystery. Throughout the one-act play, Glaspell highlights the theme of gender roles through the women’s worries, irony, and symbolism.
Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, shows the importance of staging, gestures, and props to create the proper atmosphere of a play. Without the development of the proper atmosphere through directions from the author, the whole point of the play may be missed. Words definitely do not tell the whole story in Trifles - the dialog only complements the unspoken.
Often, when you briefly interact with people, they can open your eyes and deeply impact the way you carry yourself. Sometimes one word from a stranger on the street can change your perspective on things you were stubbornly holding onto. Many minor characters within “A Raisin In The Sun” has influenced decisions and the way our major characters hold themselves.
The setting of the play which takes place in the early twentieth century has established the theme that women have been looking down by men. ‘Trifles’ that is used as the title of the play has further foreshadowed the theme of the play in which discrimination of women will happen in the play. During the investigation of Mr Wright’s death, the men that involved in finding out the murderer have despised