I intend to adopt a postmodern approach to directing Glaspell’s play. Therefore, while in charge of this play’s production, I will pay a particular attention to ensuring that there is much of a gender-related psychological plausibility to how the actors engage with their characters. That is, the viewers’ exposure to Trifles is expected to encourage them to think that it is not only that the women’s way of intuitive thinking is able to yield analytical insights, but that it is also much more morally sound, as compared to the rationalistic one, commonly associated with men. The spine of the play by Glaspell is something that derives out of the apparent existential antagonism between the play’s male and female characters. Moreover, the proposed ‘theater place’ appears fully consistent with the postmodernist approach to staging this play, which I intend to deploy. In its turn, this will contribute towards helping the theatrical production in question to end up proving a success. As Wilson and Goldfarb noted: “The experience of being in the presence of the performer in more important to theatre than anything else” (7). At the same time, however, the fact that the backstage is situated in close proximity to two rows of chairs (audience), will help ensure that, during the performance’s course, the actors, on one hand, and the audience members, on the other, would be able to establish an emotional bond. The reason for this is that, as it can be seen above, the concerned ‘theater space’ is large enough to accommodate the actual onstage- action, performed by five actors in the form of dialogues that take place between them. In my opinion, The Dixon Place Theatre (New York, 161A Chrystie Street) fits well for staging Trifles. Learn More Place and Aspects of Staging The Theatre

The validity of this suggestion can be illustrated, in regards to the motif of Minnie’s preserves, prominently featured in the play. At the time, American farmers were highly ‘self-sustainable’, in the sense of how they used to go about managing their farms (Taylor and Norris 280). When accessed from the economic perspective, Glaspell’s play will appear fully consistent with what used to be the era’s realities of one’s life on a farm. The reason for this is that, due to its clearly defined feminist sounding, Trifles promotes the cause of women’s emancipation – the idea that in the early 20 th century was seen as a rather controversial one.Įconomic. Even though the subject of politics is being seemingly excluded out of the play’s discursive context, this is far from being the actual case.

This is the reason why there are a number of (explicit and implicit) religious undertones to how the play’s characters indulge in verbal exchanges with each other. Throughout the same historical period, the country’s social realities used to be strongly affected by the religion of Christianity (Carter 580). Throughout the mentioned historical era, American society used to be gender-discriminative – as of 1916, women in America were not even allowed to vote (Carpentier 94).In its turn, this explains why in Glaspell’s play, the characters (three men and two women) strive to act in the manner fully consistent with what used to be assumed accounts for the social roles of the representatives of each sex. In this respect, it will be thoroughly appropriate to mention the following qualitative aspects of a rural living in the early 20 th century’s America, relevant to the play’s discursive significance: In order for us to be able to realize the actual significance of the play’s themes and motifs, we will need to make a brief inquiry into what used to be the actual ‘world’ of Trifles. Even though the play’s script does not contain any specific references, in this respect, one can assume that the concerned action takes place during winter in one of the Midwest rural regions. The play’s action takes place in the kitchen of Mr. As the play effectively illustrates, when it comes to paying attention to ‘trifles’ (seemingly insignificant details), women often prove themselves unsurpassable, which can be seen as the best proof of their analytical mindedness – something that in the early 20 th century used to be considered the exclusively masculine virtue. The reason for this is that, being ahead of its time, this play is essentially about exposing the sheer fallaciousness of the patriarchal assumption that women happened to be intellectually inferior to men. The validity of this suggestion can be illustrated, in regards to Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles, performed for the first time in 1916 at the Wharf Theatre in Provincetown, Massachusetts (Glaspell para.

Elements of drama in trifles