Show and Tell Blog 1

The play I have chosen to write about is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I am currently involved in  this production and have studied the script rather a lot. It is based off of a book titled the same and written by Murial Sparks. The novel was turned into a play by Jay Presson Allen performed in London. It has won many awards including a Tony. It was also adapted into a screenplay where the lead was played by Maggie Smith. It has been produced numerous times and was even at one point made into a TV mini-series. Some of the shows most notable performances were in London and the film version that won an academy award. Most of this information I have gathered from listening to the director and designers talk about the history of this production.

The basic plot follows two types of relationships, the relationship between teacher and student and also romantic relationships. The play follows the influence of one extreme teacher over her students, called "The Brodie Set." Not only does it show how much of an effect a teacher can have on her students, but also the semi-brainwashing Brodie imparts on her favorites. 

It also focuses on Miss Brodie's love life, with one love pursuit pulling her to a traditional life and another to a more adventureous path. Brodie teaches her students ideals of Hitler and Mussolini and is considered by many to be a fascist. This label is ultimatley her demsie as she gets fired from the school for being a radical. Her romantisized idea of life fills her girls and everyone around her with a sense of danger and excitment. She gets a little carried away and is banned from the school when she is ultimatley betrayed by one of her favorite students.

One dramaturgical choice that I loved was the use of historical and geographical references. She references Giotto and Italy to further paint a picture of her romanticized view of life. No one can deny that Jean Brodie is a passion filled woman, but the question comes up that should so much opinion should be passed on to such young children with impressionable minds. I like the use of her allusions to what is going on at the time (Scotland, the 1930-1950’s) because it really sets the stage and lets the audience know Brodie’s education level.

The second choice is the progression of age of the little girls. The theme of time passing becomes prevelant with the aging of the school girls. It is determined at the end of the play that Miss Brodie is actually “past her prime” Even though Miss Brodie pours her heart and soul into these little girls, she misses out on her own life because of it.

Hornby Blog

One motif that occurred again and again in Conduct of Life was all of the written-in pauses. The playwright must have made the choice to create some kind of affect on the way the lines are delivered and received by the audience. 

My first thought was that it is to create an uneasy sense of not knowing what is going to happen next. The motif does intend to foreshadow the choppiness of the scenes and how all of the actions are not necessarily strung together all nice and neat. Forcing the audience to listen and stay on the edge of their seats creates suspense. 

When Nena is tortured, in a sense she never knows what will happen next. The audience experiences the same emotion with the abrupt scene shifts and actions that seem to come out of nowhere.

In Intervention, I think a common motif is the reveal of a hurt in a persons’ past. Every episode focuses on the problem, and then what the producers have surmised may be the cause of the problem. By showing pain in someone’s past (we all have it in one way or another) it makes the viewer empathize with the addict and kind of understand where they are coming from.

I think that in a fully realized production it is important that all aspects contribute to the overall theme and motif. The way Intervention does this is by showing lots of young pictures of the addict and pictures of them at happier times. 

Vogel Blog

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.

Fornes Blog

The ordinary plot line with its exposition, climax, and descending action are not employed in Fornes’s Conduct of Life. Instead, she chooses to leave out key details and leave the audience to speculate over her intentions. 

One of the most thought provoking scenes was the last scene, where her husband accuses Leticia of having an affair. Despite the fact that he is a torturer, and also not being faithful, this question comes way out of left field. Fornes does not provide extensive information on Leticia’s background. This is why it was hard for me to understand the rational behind her refusal to acknowledge what was happening in her very own basement. 

I think that it is titled the way it is because people may try to stick to a specific "conduct of life," by maintaining the status quo. However, things occur that can change people and how they behave. Leticia does have one moment where she calls her friend Mona and mentions the fact that her husband seems “different.” She blames is on his work atmosphere and then proceeds onto a trivial subject. This brief acknowledgement shows that Leticia is aware that something is not right, but doesn’t know how to change it or express herself. Her loyalty to Orlando seems so great for not spilling his terrible secrets, so the accusation at the end of Leticia having an affair seems irrational. This may be because Orlando forced her to admit her infidelity in the same way he tortured Nena.

Glaspel Blog

Trifles focuses on the significance of the little things. With a minimalist set there are few details. The play is all about the small things that the two women discover. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are constanly observing the scene and can pick up on things that may pint them to a different conclusion than the men. 

If there are no details then it will seem like the women are making it up. I don’t think the idea of trifles would work without actual trifles. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters  pick up on little things, details that the men have missed. 

If there is an intricate set with many hidden trifles, the audience can more clearly see something that they too might have over looked. If there are no real "details" to be found onstage, then this concept is lost. This very important to the integrity of the script as a whole, and, if lost, could ruin the concept. It is not an emotion based script, but more a small detail oriented script. The words alone are not enough to propel the play and it is asking too much of an audience to be able to visualize a world that they have no idea what it looks like. 

Gerstenberg Blog

Gerstenburg states in the stage directions in the beginning that Harriet and Margaret were never meant to speak directly to their personified consciences; Hetty and Maggie. She implies that she wants the character to be able to converse with their counterpart, but never have direct eye contact. They may sometimes gesture in the direction of their “primitive selves,” but they should never look at each other in the eyes. 

The idea is that each woman can communicate with two people, their peer and their other self. I think that Gerstenburg chose to have Hetty and Maggie on stage to represent the internal thoughts and conflicts that each character had. It was interesting to me that where some plays have lots of subtext, this play doesn’t require much because their counterpart is pronouncing the women’s inner thoughts. Such a technique was utilized in Shakespeare's plays as asides and soliloquies.

Later in the play, the two conciouses start to address each other, and are a much more honest yet catty version of their “trained selves” Most of the communication between Hetty and Maggie happens only after Harriet and Margaret speak to convey the real way in which have interpreted what the other is saying. Their thoughts seek to manipulate what will be said. What would have ordinarily been a mild and civil conversation takes on a much darker tone when the truths start to spill out, such as poverty and unhappiness in relationships. The audience can see the mounting tensions towards the end of the play. The “primitive selves” even fill what would have been in real life complete silence with loud arguing.

Blog Numero Uno...here goes!