Fornes. Fornes, Fornes, Fornes.
The choice I'm going to focus on is Fornes' tendency to have the characters speak their minds and emotions aloud. Almost nothing is hidden away in the characters. We get a very clear picture of who the characters are trying to be. For example, we know within the first pages of the play that Orlando is dissatisfied with his position in the military and yearns for power. We also see that Leticia puts on as if she's a peacekeeping do-gooder. Fornes is crystal clear about these characters and their intentions and displays that through their various monologues.
Now, what effect do I think that has on the play and its themes? In my opinion, it sucks the curiosity out of the show. I never felt myself questioning what a character was going to do. I will say that I was surprised at Leticia's turn of character, but that moment caught me by surprise. I think that keeping everything so very straight forward doesn't keep an audience on the edge of their seats. It makes them sit back and ponder. **I** would rather see a play that keeps me guessing. But, as Dr. Fletcher mentions, not all plays are for all people. This show is for a particular audience. This dramaturgical choice does, however, do a lot for the themes of the show. It lets an audience think about the themes of the play WHILE its happening versus AFTER. That's cool. (To me anyway)
I agree that Fornes is very straight forward about her characters motives. Orlando wanting to move up in the military, Leticia wanting to be protective, etc. However, I think what makes this play have interesting parts to it is that she doesn't give us WHY they have those motives. We don't know how they grew up or what causes them to think the way they do. So, granted, knowing almost immediately what these characters are after does take some of the interest out of discovering that part of the story, that isn't what Fornes wants us to focus on, or at least it seems that way. I'm still burning over the question of why we get so little information out of the characters about the rest of their lives to determine why their motives are the way they are.
ReplyDelete