Blog #3: Buried Child and 'night Mother

In Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, Shepard portrays the decline of the traditional American dream. The play is centered around a farm family that has been struck with dark circumstances. The first-born is seeking power within the family, the second son is mentally ill, the third son is handicapped, and the fourth son died a mysterious death. All the family members have their way with dealing with grief. Halie has turned to religion, Dodge has turned to alcohol, Bradley has turned to power, and Tilden has become mental. When Vince, Tilden’s son, comes to visit, the entire house is shaken by the news. “Your whole life’s up there hanging up on the wall. Somebody who looks just like you. Somebody who looks just like you used to look.” Dodge’s family used to be the American dream, but slowly started to decline. The mother, Halie, had an affair with her son, the farm stop producing crops, and everyone had to deal with grief of a lost family member.

In Marsh Norman’s ‘night Mother, the play portrays a young women and her mother arguing about death. This play deals with the social issue of suicide, not only trying to understand the side of the suicidal person, but the family member as well. Jessie has had a hard life. She is epileptic and nothing makes her happy. “And I can’t do anything either, about my life, to change it, make it better, make me feel better about it. Like it better, make it work. But I can stop it.”  She looks forward to nothing except taking care of her mother every day. Jessie informs her mother that she is going to kill herself. Her mother, in panic, does everything she can think of to stop Jessie. The play ends with Jessie committing suicide. 

Glass Menagerie by Williams

            In Glass Menagerie, Williams goes beyond just an original drama script. Williams wrote his play to be sculpted and to have more “plastic” elements. His play includes moving soundtrack music, several slide projections, and a variation in mood lighting. The purpose of these elements are to create a more vivid and clear image for the audience. In class, we discussed the music and slide projections and how they enhanced the play.

           

            Williams dissolves and fades the lighting in the play to create a certain feeling for the audience. The lighting in the play drifts away from the realistic. Since the play is a memory, Williams keeps the stage dim to give the allusion of a distant thought. Spotlights are used to emphasis focus on a particular actor. For example in Scene 3, Tom and Amanda are having an argument. During this argument, William has the light focused on Laura’s figure. Even though Laura has no role in scene, Williams is trying to remind the audience that Laura still plays a part in the argument. Laura figure appears again in Scene 7, when Laura falls in before dinner with Jim, Tom and Amanda. Laura just lies on the sofa as dinner takes place, once again not having a role in the scene. This lighting creates a certain expression for the audience. It could be showing that she is more aloof from the average person. The lighting could also be seen as angelic or innocent. Lighting can be interpreted in many different ways and thus creates the essence of every viewer to sculpt their own play.