Show and Tell II

       Little Happy Secrets

By Melissa Leilani Larson

     
         Melissa Leilani Larson is the author of many renowned plays and films. She studied at BYU and attended grad school at Iowa Playwrights Workshop. Her devotion to her work is reflected in multiple awards and recognition and her appeal to Mormon audiences makes her writing even more multi-faceted and unique.

         Winner of the 2009 Association for Mormon Letters Drama Award, Larson's play, Little Happy Secrets shows a new perspective on a relationship drama. Though the play is about a girl's homosexual attraction to her best friend, this is not the new side of theatre to which I refer. The girls are Mormon, and their story addresses ideals and behaviors practiced by members of this often misunderstood faith, specifically when faced with the topic of homosexuality.

        Larson's protagonist is Claire, a student at BYU. She is conservative politically, religiously, and socially and is conflicted by her affection for her best friend Brennan who in contrast is liberal, outgoing, and rebellious. Brennan eventually begins dating and becomes engaged to a very clean-cut boy named Carter. Claire dislikes Carter, knowing that he is not right for her friend, aside from her own affection for Brennan. Larson's story is that of a love triangle like any other. Gender aside, it is about the monkey wrench that "feelings" throw into friendships only in this case it is weighed down by religious faith.

        The first dramaturgical choice that I found value in was Larson having Claire narrate the story. This makes for a very stylized production. In some moments the characters freeze and the audience gains an intimate moment with Claire's perspective on her life as a sister, third wheel, lover, and friend. It also puts a more human perspective on the Mormon faith. Claire is devout in her beliefs and therefore in conflict over how to channel the way she feels love for her friend and her God.

        And the second choice I love... is a SPOILER! But I've got to give Larson props for the monumental plot twist at the end. On Brennan's wedding day she sends Claire a letter that simply says "Stop me." Even though Claire is too late, it creates a hope that that acknowledges Brennan's respect for Claire's speculation that the marriage to Carter was a bad idea. On some level, their friendship has survived.

Eurydice

"Orpheus was a great musician. Eurydice was his wife."

For the sake of being poetic, but vague. I like this quote. It is very "movie poster"; really telling that this is the story of a relationship. It doesn't sound terribly happy, but gives nothing away. It is also a safe bet for the director. She can go in almost any direction, but this quote will remain relevant.

"One day it would not stop raining."

This quote comes from Eurydice's father when he is describing the day he named Eurydice. He says the letters in her name fell to him like raindrops. I think it excellently foreshadows the whole plot. Rain has a doom and gloom connotation in art, and I feel that it would depict the one on top of the other tragedies that happen throughout the plot. I also like that it was said by her father, bringing in the father/daughter element in the plot aside from the love story. I think it would be really cool if in the poster, the letters of Eurydice's name were raining down onto the three stones.

Love! Valour! Compassion!

Certainly the nature of the dialogue in this play, the bounce around order of events, and the juxtaposition of both makes for a double take when reading the play for understanding. It is clearly not a cause and effect scene for scene structure that you get in Glass of Water or The Children's Hour. Another separating element in this play would be its separation from society. The lake house functions as a safe haven or getaway from the rest of the world (America specifically). This makes the capital T truth something separate from a societal norm. I'm not quite sure what it would be, however. Friendship? companionship? art?

The Children's Hour

The Children's Hour somewhat follows the Well Made Play structure. Arguably, the part that deters from this would be Martha's untimely suicide at the end. In our eyes both women are innocent and therefore should have a more logical resolution; perhaps one where they are recognized as innocent a hair sooner, and Martha and Karen resolve to a friendship. But I don't know that Martha's death was illogical. Even if Hellman made a taboo of her time into an example of a negative rumor, I think that the audience is made to feel sorry for Martha, and to see her as a human rather than a troubled lesbian. I think that this may be a logical resolution to a play where women are not only oppressed with a lie, but made to feel like criminals for their supposed sexuality. This play absolutely could still be performed today. I think that now it has more dimensions. There is a message about lying, societal views, and the conflict of friendship torn by affection. And, hey, we can't be too sensitive. If it makes someone mad, it sounds like good theatre to me.

Glass of Water

Glass of Water for the most part follows the structure of a Well Made Play. And while I tried to see another moment, I only sensed one clearly..

Towards the end of the play, Bolingbroke and the Duchess kiss and then slap each other. I just found this odd and discontinuous with the tempo of the play. The scene seemed to function in the place of an obligatory scene. Instead of an expected encounter between the two, there is an awkward conflicted one? This play lost me a little with this task. I'm going to go read some other blogs and hopefully get more out of commenting.

Comments

OVERTONES http://theatre2130.blogspot.com/2013/09/overtones-response.html?showComment=1380064876719#c8447112037001438286

TRIFLES http://alyseiadarbyscriptanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/09/trifles.html?showComment=1380065562432#c5368157755528314337

NIGHT MOTHER http://wellhithereyou.blogspot.com/2013/09/night-mother.html?showComment=1380066006578#c7055196921787094170

JUDITH http://carolinehebert2130.blogspot.com/2013/09/hey-judith-dont-make-it-bad.html?showComment=1380066354493#c2203886521584353140

4000 MILES http://bturn2130.blogspot.com/2013/09/4000-miles.html?showComment=1380066593932#c7918057940118168086

Overtones

I feel that the inner selves do not necessarily have to communicate with one another. They are representative of the inner thoughts of these two women, who are unaware of each others motives, otherwise they might get tea over with and come to a quicker agreement. I think that they are a hilarious approach to getting inside the heads of these prim and proper characters, and unleashing the gritty honesty behind civil conversation. I think they are the heart of the story, and that a necessity of their existence is that they are not listening in to one another's thoughts.