Show and Tell Assignment 1

Fourteen by Alice Gerstenberg

Fourteen is a one act play, written in 1919, published in 1920. I couldn't really find any big productions of this play. I saw there were a view videos posted of the play but they seemed to be done on small levels, like high schools. This script can be found on many different sites. But this is the site I used:
http://solomon.wodr.alexanderstreet.com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/cgi-bin/asp/philo/getobject.pl?c.728:2.word
This characters in this play are Mrs. Horace Pringle, her daughter Elaine and their butler, Dunham. The setting is at their home in New York in the dining room (some time in the 20s-30s). Mrs. Pringle is planning an important dinner party with the table set specifically for fourteen. She is very anxious about it because she knows she is inviting highly-spoken-of people and she wants to continue to impress everyone. Throughout the play she keeps bringing up, "I've such a reputation for being a wonderful hostess". In contrast to Mrs. Pringle wanting all her plans to work out perfectly, several guest decline their invitation at the last minute due to conflicts. This leaves Mrs. Pringle in dismay and agitation as Elaine and Dunham try to help her keep fourteen at the dinner party.

Instead of the play starting off with an introduction point, it immediately goes into Mrs. Pringle saying the one of the members from her dinner party will not be attending. Part of her first line is, "I don't approve of young men refusing dinner invitations at the very last minute." The plot is very quick with high tension levels. The actual time taken up in this moment is probably no longer than about 15 minutes. Within this time, the number of guest goes below, above and right back on track with the number they initially want to dine. I think the choice of starting the plot right in this moment helps the audience to feel and understand the urgency of the matter. It already feels last minute to have the reader begin at this point in the story. As I was reading it, I felt as if I were too late in the story, like I was behind in what was going on (last minute).

Another noteworthy choice is the fact that you (I, reader) also get frustrated like Mrs. Pringle does with the multiple changes in the number of guests. She says as the telephone continues to ring with approvals and disapprovals of invites, "Now what? Don't answer it! It's driving me mad-- ". I got more and more anxious about if they will end up with enough guests or not and if the most important people will be there. Mrs. Pringle keeps worrying about Elaine sitting next to Oliver Farnsworth (a very important guest), saying, "...just a match for you, Elaine -- and I was bound you should meet him and sit next to him at the table, and now I don't know when I can give you a chance like that again! I'm perfectly furious -- I'll never speak to him again!" Just when Mrs. Pringle has had it with everyone, the disappointing Oliver sends the Prince of Wales instead and she has changed all her previous comments into positive ones. I was very relieved, as was all the other characters, when fourteen guest did show up, and they even had a guest that was better than any other news. All fell apart quick and threw Mrs. Pringle for a loop, but surprisingly turned out better than just right in the last minute.

The comment place

http://kamrink.blogspot.com/2013/09/overtones-response.html

http://stephanies-script-speculations.blogspot.com/2013/09/4000-miles.html#comment-form

http://stephanies-script-speculations.blogspot.com/2013/09/judith_17.html

http://shequila2130scriptanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/09/trifles-by-susan-glaspell.html#comment-form

http://blessserene.blogspot.com/2013/09/overtones.html#comment-form

http://stephanies-script-speculations.blogspot.com/2013/09/trifles.html?showComment=1380398649341#c5790661707628911980

4000 Miles Post

For a while, it was very unclear to me why Leo is there. By the end, there still isn't a direct/clear reason for his appearance at Vera's place. Different people and situations are brought up during his stay but there isn't one specific event that gives him this excuse for showing up. However, I think all of them make one big reason for him to get away; or maybe even one event being the reason for the other that lead him to be at his Grandma's.
For example, a major touchy subject to Leo is when he kissed his sister. That discomfort and guilt probably lead him to want to do this biking trip with his friends to get away from his displeased family. Preparing for the trip he says that his girlfriend backs out on him because of school. This disappoints him too. Topping it all off, his friend is suddenly killed on the trip, leaving him with only the memory of how it happened. Not to mention that his used-to-be girlfriend Rebecca doesn't want to be with him anymore. And then, his Grandma's neighbor dies.
With all of these events occurring, I believe there is a pattern of, whaddayacallit, death. Or maybe just some kind of ending. Leo has to get over the fact that a relationship with his sister and family back home is damaged, somewhat over, because of what he did. He has to deal with the death of his friend. Also, the end of a relationship with Rebecca. And now, the end of his Grandma's closest friend. All of these relationships that mattered to Leo and Vera had to come to an end.
It seems as if Leo not only took a long journey physically to get to Vera's, but also a long journey mentally to be where he is now.

Judith Post

As I was reading through the first half of this play, I was very confused on the real reason for Judith being there. There is a lot of back and forth of if Judith is going to sleep with Holofernes or not, or if she even really wants to. From early on, I would keep asking myself what Judith wants from him and it continued to change. First I was thinking she wants to go there to speak about death so that she can show him she had a connection and he would like her back. At that point, the MDQ was will Holofernes accept her plea for another love companion.
Then I thought about why Judith would want someone who is so adamant about killing so many people. And why does Judith come at this time, so close to the battle? I then start to think that maybe Judith want to be a part of Holofernes's plan.
Then again, they go back to talking about love and Holofernes opens up to Judith. I think MDQ now is, will Judith change his mind about the battle?
After getting through the whole play, I realized that their declaring of love isn't the clearest but it is definitely no more now. Judith starts off as a widowed seducer who wants to connect with the soon-to-be murderer Holofernes to try to stop him from killing, but surprisingly ends as the murderer herself.
So I guess that real MDQ is, will Judith win the power for her people?

Trifles Blog Post

I think this proposal would be interesting to test. For all visuals to be neutral would mean for each audience members' mind to add it's own artistic elements. Just by reading me reading the play, I could already imagine what everything would look like and what color it would be. I can see how this can distract a spectator from the actual text. Sometimes it's more of scenery or visuals that catch someone's attention. If those fillers weren't there, then this would leave the audience to pay more attention and be captured by the text and message/story, or maybe even realize and understand what is really happening. After putting the image of a neutral stage in my mind and then going over the text again, I got a little more clarification on a few things. For example, I understood better the reason for the accusation of Mrs. Wright killing her husband when the bird was found with a wrung neck. At first I thought maybe Mrs. Wright had another personal problem and she killed both of them. Then when I took out all of the other distractions of how everything would look, the text became clearer to me quicker than it did before. However, I do believe that this staging of the play would take away creativity and something pleasing to the eye. But like I said previously it would challenge the audience to create different colors or images in their minds. It could either be really boring or really interesting.

Overtones Blog Post

 I think Maggie and Hetty represent the true colors, while Margaret and Harriet are the pride, hiding reality. Just by reading the script it seems as if Hetty and Maggie are mostly talking to themselves or just putting information out in the open. However, I do think that there are moments when they do speak to each other. But for the most part I don't feel like they can see/hear each other. The stage directions might say that they are speaking to each other but I think they are responding to each other because they are both thinking the same thing. It just happens to sound like they are speaking directly to one another in conversation.
 The only moment I feel like the two alter-egos see or hear each other is in the final goodbyes when they start with "I hate you!" In this moment, they both got what they wanted from each other and didn't even know it. And since they got what they wanted, it seems as if they are being extra nice to each other. The faker Harriet and Margaret are to each other, the stronger their inner selves are. And in that moment I felt that they could both sense that false interaction, therefore their inner selves could interact - like their true colors are showing through. I also feel like Maggie and Hetty are also fighting/speaking to Margaret and Harriet (Maggie to Harriet, Hetty to Margaret) in this scene. But, of course, Margaret and Harriet cannot hear the alter egos of the other person.