Comments Part 2

Silence Will Fall When The Question Is Asked--Eurydice

Silence Will Fall When The Question Is Asked--Love! Valour! Compassion!

Shakin' Down & Breakin' Down Doc Fletcher's 'Play'list--The Glass of Water

Stephanie's Script Speculations--Love! Valour! Compassion!

Shakin' Down & Breakin' Down Doc Fletcher's 'Play'list--Eurydice

Sue's script analysis blog--Love! Valour! Compassion!

Eurydice

“How will you remember?” could represent one interpretation of Eurydice. This quote comes from Scene 1 of the First Movement on page 215 when Orpheus asks Eurydice how she will remember that he loves her. This quote first seems harmless as Orpheus and Eurydice engage in lighthearted banter. However, I chose this quote because it takes on new meaning as the characters in the underworld struggle to remember their loved ones. Since this production would be centered around the concept of memory—specifically loss of memory—there could be more emphasis on empty space in the physical setting and dialogue. This would be a solemn production with empty spaces, long pauses, and echoes to mirror the memory loss that the characters experience. I imagine that this poster could feature the string room, thin white lines against a black backdrop. I associate this string room with memory, since it is built as Eurydice is on her way to gaining her memories. On the other hand, the house is unraveled when Eurydice’s father is on his way to forgetting his memories.

The second interpretation of Eurydice could be summed up with, “Being sad is not allowed! Act like a stone.” This quote comes from page 231 of Scene 7 in the Second Movement when the stones are advising Eurydice against uncovering her memories. I chose this quote because it captures the absurd images that could be highlighted in this second interpretation. This production could have a livelier energy, emphasizing the absurdity of the stones’ dialogue and the child’s persona. In this production, the actors would engage in rapid dialogue and speak with high energy and tension. Like the first production, this interpretation could be unsettling, but in a different way. I think that this poster could feature three laughing stones, tumbling over one another, pursued by the child on his tricycle. 

Love! Valour! Compassion!

Upon analyzing Love! Valour! Compassion!, I think that a future historian would conclude that USA 1994 was a time and place of fragmented capital-T Truths. In my opinion, the disjointed structure of the play seems to reflect the play’s portrayal of Truth. For example, sometimes the characters appear to be omniscient, and sometimes they seem to live in the moment, limited in their human knowledge. Starting on page 137 of Act III, the characters reveal how they will die. In Perry’s case, he even knows exactly how when he will die when he says on page 137, “I have twenty-seven years, eight months, six days, three hours, thirty-one minutes, and eleven seconds left.”

It is as though the artists are unsure whether to portray Truth from God’s perspective (as is common in the pre-modern era) or from human perspective (as is common in the modern era). This fragmented approach to portraying Truth is also evident in the characters’ habit of breaking the fourth wall. The characters do not stay in their own world, nor do they speak exclusively to the audience. When the characters do this, they refuse to choose one single method of portraying Truth.

The fragmented nature of Truth is also present in the title of the play itself, Love! Valour! Compassion! In this case, three nouns are separated by exclamation marks, meaning that the single title technically contains three sentences. However, if the playwright had chosen to separate each word with a comma, the three nouns would have been part of the same sentence. Thus, the play’s title is fragmented, as is Truth.

One thing that makes this play different from the typical well-made play is that the play does not end with a curtain line. On page 142 of Act III, the last thing John says is, “Anyway.” This word seems to indicate that John will start a new thought, but he never completes it. McNally’s refusal to wrap up the show with a bow reflects the fragmented nature of Truth.

The Children's Hour

In The Children’s Hour, Lillian Hellman makes several significant departures from the well-made play formula. First, the stakes in The Children’s Hour are higher than those in the typical well-made play. In Eugene Scribe’s The Glass of Water, for example, the stakes are fairly low. Even though a human life has been taken and matters of state hang in the balance, these issues are handled flippantly. However, in The Children’s Hour, the lives and livelihoods of the characters hang in the balance. Cardin reinforces this argument on pages 43-44 of Act 2, Scene 2 when he says, “That school meant things to them: self-respect, and bread and butter, and honest work. Do you know what it is to try so hard for anything? Well, now it’s gone.” Unlike in The Glass of Water, these matters are treated with gravity.

Another significant departure from the well-made play formula is the timing of the “just-in-time revelations.” In the final scene of The Children’s Hour, Mrs. Tilford announces that she made a mistake and that she can fix the situation—only after Martha has committed suicide. In the typical well-made play, Mrs. Tilford would announce her discovery just before Martha kills herself, and everyone would have lived happily ever after. But Hellman’s decision to place Mrs. Tilford’s revelation after Martha’s suicide is a significant deviation from the well-made play formula and alters the play’s outcome.

This point leads to our final observation that the characters of The Children’s Hour are denied the typical happy ending of the well-made play. Mrs. Tilford’s revelation comes too late, finding Martha dead and Karen separated from Cardin. Even if Mrs. Tilford can convince the public that the scandal was untrue, Martha’s life cannot be restored, and there is now a wedge in Karen and Cardin’s relationship. In addition, Mrs. Tilford will have to cope with her guilt for the rest of her days. On page 67 of the final scene, Karen says, “Ten, fifteen years left for you. But what of me? It’s a whole life for me. A whole God-damned life.” Karen’s statement impresses upon the audience that the consequences for the characters are permanent. All these significant deviations from the well-made play formula build up to devastating outcomes that have lasting effects on the characters’ lives.

Glass of Water

Upon multiple readings of The Glass of Water, I finally found a few places that seem like they could be the “fat” inserted by the translator. The first place occurs on page 71 of Act II, Scene I. The Duchess says, “Here, madame, are the dispatches from the general, and which, in spite of the effect produced by Bolingbroke’s speech….(She stops short in perceiving ABIGAIL.) The following lines could have been added by the translator:

Queen. Yes, yes…go on!

Duchess. I am waiting until the young lady has left.

Abigail. Your Majesty wishes me to retire?

Queen. No…for I have some order to give you presently. Read your book about Parliament, dear. (To the DUCHESS, as ABIGAIL, amused, reads.) You were saying, Duchess?

Duchess (With ill humor). Very well…

While this section is certainly entertaining, it is not absolutely essential to the plot. These few lines do demonstrate the Duchess’s disdain for Abigail and the Queen’s defiance against the Duchess. However, this exchange does not change the Duchess’s actions, and the scene carries on as it otherwise would.

The second section that could have been added by the translator occurs toward the beginning of Act III, Scene I. On page 93, Bolingbroke asks, “You sent for me?” The following dialogue on pages 93-94 is the possible section:

Abigail. Yes, I…

Bolingbroke. I was busy with the ministry…

Abigail. With the what?

Bolingbroke. The Tory ministry. Oh, it won’t be long now.

Abigail. On the contrary…it’s a great deal further off than you think.

Bolingbroke. What’s the matter?

Immediately after this section, Abigail says, “Listen…I was here in the Queen’s boudoir…just about to speak to her of Arthur…” The reason I chose the above section is that it seems to interrupt the flow of dialogue and does not provide information that becomes relevant later on. In my opinion, the scene would flow more smoothly if Bolingbroke says, “You sent for me?” and Abigail immediately says, “Listen…I was here…” I’m not sure if these guesses are correct, but I suppose we’ll find out…