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Show and Tell Post

     The Outside is a play written by Susan Glaspell in 1917. Most of her plays were produced and performed at the Provincetown Players in Provincetown Massachusetts. Although, my resource does not say whether or not The Outside was specifically produced by them, there is a good chance that it was. The script was copyrighted in 1948 for production. A copy of the script can be found in a book called A Century of Plays by American Women. This book also gives a brief biography of Susan Glaspell.

     The Outside is a story about a woman, Mrs. Patrick, and her maid, Allie Mayo, coming to terms with a mystery of a boy at sea who was brought to her house near Cape Cod. The scene opens with the Captain, who is the head of "The Bars" Life-Saving Station; Bradford, as life saver; and Tony, a Portuguese life saver discussing what may have happened to the strange boy who washed up on shore dead.  They have brought the body to Mrs. Patrick's house because it had been a Life-Saving Station in the past.

     Mrs. Patrick is upset that they think her house is still a Life-Saving Station and tells the men, "This isn't a Life-Saving Station any more... This is my house! And -- I want my house to myself!"  Despite her objections, they still try to revive the dead boy.

     After they finally leave to get a stretcher, Mrs Patrick and Allie Mayo have a conversation. Allie Mayo is a quiet person and does not say much unless it is important which is why Mrs. Patrick hired her. Through the conversation, we find that Mrs. Patrick had visited the cape and had picnics on the sand dunes with her husband who had later died. She bought the Life-Saving Station  to make it her home. She loves the dunes and calls it "The Outside."  At the end, the script directions describe Mrs Patrick as "Herself lost, feeling her way into a wonder of Life,"

     One dramaturgical choice was having the men bring the dead body to Mrs. Patrick's house. They could have easily brought the body up on the dunes to try to revive it. It made her have to confront the loss of her husband even though she insisted that they leave her alone. She was living in a dream world that the "Outside" was keeping her isolated. from the real world in which her husband was no longer with her.  Bradford thinks the Mrs. Patrick and Allie Mayo "are both crazy" and doesn't want to bring the body in the house.  He says, "Lord, I just wanted to get him somewhere else." and, talking about the dead body, "If he did have any notion of comin' back to life, he wouldn't a come if he'd seen her."  To the men, it is just the normal place to bring a dead person.  They had brought many bodies there in the past from ship wrecks.  They were surprised when Mrs. Patrick decided to buy the old place. They knew that she had spent her summers there on the dunes with her husband.

     The play talks about a line of trees that separated the dunes from the town. Allie Mayo says, "...woods, town and harbor. The line! Stunted straggly line that meets the outside face to face -- and fights for what itself can never be. Lonely line."  This line of trees would be a second dramaturgical choice.  In the description of the stage setting, Susan says that the sand dunes and line of trees should be seen through the door of the house.  This is a constant reminder to Mrs. Patrick of the life she had with her husband even though the line of trees keeps her isolated.

Book cited:
France, Rachel. A Century of Plays by American Women. New York: Richards Rosen, 1979. Print.

4000 miles post

I can see a reoccurring motif of Vera always forgetting things and words.  Although the scene direction does not say if she has a disease which could affect her memory, she does show signs of a constant memory loss.  It could be just her old age.  She uses the term “whadayacallit” as many as 12times in the script. “Whadayacallit” is a term that many older people used in the 1940’s and 1950’s. She seems to use it most in the beginning and not as much as the end of the script. Most of the time she uses that term is when she can’t remember which word she wants to say and seems to be frustrated by it.  Even Leo uses “whadayacallit” once when teasing Vera. There seems to be other times when Vera is speaking and doesn’t use that word, such as when she is talking about her husband and his lovers when she is talking to Bec. That speech seems to be almost rehearsed as though she had told that story many other times therefore not needing the word “whadayacallit” to fill in for words that she couldn’t remember.

There are many other times when she is confused as to what happened, such as when the top lock of the door was locked, when she couldn’t find her checkbook and when the sink was broken. You can tell Leo is concerned when he tells Lilly that she should come out to visit and stay with Vera. This could be a reason why Leo decided to stay as long as he did. 

Judith's post

     The MDQ of Judith would be, “Does Judith’s attitude and behavior change?  In the beginning, she was very subservient and quiet.  She didn’t speak much even when the servant was trying to prompt her to speak with statements and questions like, “She talks about death all the time. Don’t you?”  Only when her servant was threatened, did she speak up.   She was also very modest when at first she refused to take her clothes off.  She is struggling with the very idea.  She knew it would be difficult to be with Holofernes.  We can see her struggle as Barker put many of her word in bold print such as; “You – make – this – so,” thus emphasizing the point. 

     Her attitude changes, as she starts to make Holofernes comfortable with talk of death and kisses.  Holofernes begins to feels he has won the “battle” when he thinks that Judith is beginning to love him.

     The servant is constantly reminding Judith of her duty to Israel to kill Holofernes who is their enemy and she would become a hero. She says, “Israel commands you.”  Judith is still unsure of herself but listens to the voice of her servant.  When the servant starts to scream out, “Oh, the barbaric and inferior vile inhuman bestial and bloodsoaked monster of depravity,” Judith is ready to strike and kill Holofernes.  Instead of the woman looking down all the time and being subservient, she becomes the executioner.

Afterwards, Judith’s attitude changes again.  She wants to make love the headless body of Holofernes.  She almost feels sorry for him and is unable to move.  Still the servant tries to tell her to bring the head back to Israel saying, “You will be honoured. All Israel will.”  Finally, when Judith collects herself, she takes charge telling the servant what to do.  She firmly says to the servant, “Who said you could get up.”  Yes, Judith answers the MDQ in the affirmative.  She went from a lowly widow to a tower of strength as she is the last one to leave the tent.

Night, Mother post

I can see the MDQ for Night, Mother would be, "Will Mama stop Jessie from killing herself?"   This question justifies all the script that is written in this play.  Most of the conversation is Mama trying to talk Jessie out of the suicide. First, Mama thinks it's a joke when she says, "Don't make jokes Jessie. I'm too old for jokes."  Then she tries to tell her the bullets are too old. She is beginning to find ways of stopping her.  It is like Mama is going through phases from unbelief to telling her she is crazy, to trying to understand her reasons.  She even tells her that she won't do it.  Mama is deceiving herself into thinking that Jessie wouldn't do such a thing.  How could someone she raised be able to calmly consider killing herself.

Now Mama wants to know if she did anything wrong. Was Mama wrong for protecting her daughter from the pain of a broken marriage?  Was she wrong for not telling her about her "fits" when she was younger. Mama starts to question herself.   Then she tries to reason with Jessie by telling her that they could buy new dishes, move the furniture around, or get her driver's licence. Even at the end, she begins to plead with Jessie.

It is similar to a person who is grieving.  They go through different stages such as denial, getting mad, making excuses, and acceptance.  Mama is going through the same similar stages.  In the end, the MDQ is answered as "no."  No, Mama was not able to stop Jessie from killing herself but at the same time she went through the grieving process as though Jessie had been killed at the beginning.

Seu's Trifles response

I think it would be difficult to do this production with minimal settings, props and dress because it would take away from the feeling of the “farm-house” look.  Since there is no “dishes in the sink” and “broken jelly jar” for the County Attorney to find, it would be hard to convey that idea.  The kitchen and the house that are supposed to be in disarray would be difficult to convey with only minimal set dressing.  When Mrs. Hale shows the unfinished quilt and says, “It’s a log cabin pattern,” it would be difficult for the audience to picture that if they had never seen a “log pattern” on a quilt.  With the set being devoid of color would take away from the idea that there was a murder.

On the other hand, if this was done as stripped down production, it may work if the actors exaggerated their lines to convey a “country” accents, this might help the audience envision a farm-house setting.  They may even play is as though it happened in the future with less set dressing.  The actors would have to use their body language and facial movements to show the emotion.  For example, when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are looking at the bird, they would have to exaggerate their fear of what the bird really represents.  Did Mrs. Wright really kill her husband over the dead bird?  Their shock and fear would have to be portrayed by their body and facial reactions.  I think it could work if they added one color, namely the color red; it would bring home the idea that this is a murder case.  Maybe the bird could be red which could possibly lead the audience to possible answer of what happened.   It would still be a striped – down set but, would become very powerful.

Sue's Overtones response

I think that Harriet and Hetty "hear or acknowledged each other when Harriet puts the scarf on Hetty just before Margaret/Maggie comes in the room.  Of course, this is shown in the action and not necessarily in the script when they are speaking directly to each other.  Even when they are speaking to each other, they are not really looking at each other.  Again, this is not reflected in the script, just in the stage directions. It is though Harriet is really speaking to herself and Hetty is just the "name" of her other self, thus the "inner voice." This also holds true for Margaret and Maggie. Hetty seems to be the voice of Harriet's "evil" self or maybe just the voice of her true self which reflects her real feelings.

In the world of Harriet and Margaret, there is a great deal of control  issues.  Harriet and Margaret both wish to put on a air of haughtiness.  They must have complete control, while at the same time, in the world of Hetty and Maggie, they are striving for control of Harriet's and Margaret's world.  When Hetty is screaming to Harriet about telling Margaret  about the automobile, she is trying to break into the world of Harriet.  At the same time,  Maggie tries to grab at the cakes but is unable to break through to Margaret's world to get the cake.  I find it interesting that in  Hetty and Maggie's world, they can talk to each other even though their thoughts and words are unheard by Harriet and Margaret in their world.  For example, when they said that they hate each other, and at the end when  Hetty says, "I love him - I love him," in which Maggie replys, "He's starving - I'm starving."  After their conversation, the lights go down, removing Hetty and Maggie's world and leaving only the world of Harriet and Margaret's.