Generosity In The Open Hand

The Open Hand is a dark comedy about giving to others without expecting anything in return. The play portrays the life of two couples and their close friendship, but once an act of generosity comes their way, their world is shaken up and true feelings about their relationships begin to emerge. In their mentality an act of generosity becomes about being in debt to the person giving, and having to always return the favor in order to not look bad as a person. If somebody does a generous deed, it means that they want something from you and the reality of the concept of generosity is forgotten. The play consists of only five actors and they all did an amazing job at helping to portray the themes and purpose of the play. The acting was outstanding …show more content…
At the very last part of the production, the audience got to see an act of altruism which deeply emotionally affected the character of Allison. She opened up to David about taking the blame of an act of stealing from her twin brother, who passed away, and how for the longest time she felt guilty for something did not even do. She took the blame because she loved her brother, and the fact that she did that showed her concerned for the well-being of someone else, even though it meant she had to face the consequence for a wrong act. That whole situation and the passing of her brother affected her throughout the play because her fiancé and friends viewed her to be selfish for not opening up and not wanting to celebrate or received presents on her birthday. The audience had the chance to see all of Allison’s emotions through her acting in the last scene of the play. In that scene, Allison opened up about the guilt she felt from being blamed for what her brother did and his death, and the audience got to see her emotions pour out of her through her dialogue, tone of voice and body. Her voice became loud and shaky as she felt guilty and anger from having to in a way relive what she was saying, and her face and neck got very red and veiny, which showed how hard it was for her to talk about something so sensitive to her heart. Her body and hand