Traditionally, the Greek chorus was used to speak for all
of the ensemble roles. In this case, the chorus is used in every role besides
Li’l Bit and Peck. The choice by Vogel to include a small chorus in How I
Learned to Drive is necessary to the highlight the relationship
between Li’l Bit and her uncle. It makes the two main characters stand out and
forces the audience to take notice of the eccentricities of their relationship.
The spotlight remains on these two characters throughout the entire play and the
relationship between the two grows fishier and fishier. The script mentions
that Li’l Bit is well endowed in the chest region, thus catching the eye of not
only her uncle, but also her peers. What seems kind of sweet and a little
unconventional gets steadily creepier and more offensive. This uneasy feeling
is heightend by the fact that the chorus remains on course and do not seems as
perturbed by it as perhaps they would have been if say, her mother was actually
played by an actress.
All of the car instructions were at first
confusing to me, but I liked how despite everything else that was going on, the
instructions were a constant. The ending came as a surprise to me, I was not expecting for Peck to be in the car and for her to have (what seemed to me) a positive reaction to it.
It hadn't occurred to me that the chorus was used to emphasis focus on Li'l Bit and Peck, but your idea makes total sense now that I think about it. Also I agree that the car instructions were a little confusing in the first place but the more I looked at them I began to realize that they were the emotions Li'l Bit was probably feeling in that moment/scene since there were a few times that the instruction was repeated.
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