For this assignment, I watched a play called “The Insanity of Mary Girard” that was performed by a UT Theatre group, Round About Players, and was shown at the SAC black box. The play revolved around a young woman named Mary Girard who is thrown into an insane asylum by her wealthy husband, Stephen Girard. In the insane asylum, she is tormented by figments of her imagination and is told that she is not to leave the insane asylum for as long as she may live. In this particular adaptation, the cast consisted of 6 actors, 1 playing the role of Mary Girard and the other 5 doubling up on characters. The other five actors took on the role of the “furies”, which were the figments of her imagination that continued to torment and mock her throughout
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Expecting her mother to be full of warmth and sympathy, Mary is disappointed when her mother begins to talk down on Mary for not giving her husband a child. The mother essentially accuses her of being spoiled and ungrateful for her husband, to which Mary eventually confesses that her husband has abused her. The next person Mary sees is her husband’s mistress Polly. Polly tells Mary that Stephen has chosen other maids to have as mistresses because Mary has failed to give him a child and he is no longer interested in her. Mary argues that all she had wanted from her husband was some warmth and affection to which Polly says she wasn’t worthy of receiving from him.
The final person Mary sees is her husband. Immediately, the two begin to argue about their situation and Mary eventually begs him to remove her from the insane asylum and place her elsewhere. Stephen refuses and the Mary accuses him of not having a “heart” and for that reason, he has failed to put life inside of her because he has “none of his own.” Stephen eventually leaves, telling Mary that he hopes she stays locked inside of there for as long as she …show more content…
Her child will live for a mere 5 months and Mary is to stay locked up in the insane asylum for 25 more years until she dies. Upon hearing this revelation, Mary accepts her fate and finally declares that she is “insane”.
After the show was over, there were many questions dawning through my head. The first was whether or not Mary was actually insane. Since the show revolves around her insanity, it contrasted with Mary’s clean appearance and sane demeanor. Ultimately, the answer as to whether she was insane or not was left for the audience to decide.
The show, in its entirety, was beautifully crafted and well directed. Every line that needed to be emphasized was and it was not too difficult to follow along and understand the story line. The characters were each well acted and fulfilled their purpose on the stage. Additionally, Mary’s character was well performed and it was easy to sympathize with her as an audience member.
Since the play took place in the SAC black box, it was significantly easier to make the play’s transition into an insane asylum since essentially everyone, including the audience, was trapped inside of a box-like
Expecting her mother to be full of warmth and sympathy, Mary is disappointed when her mother begins to talk down on Mary for not giving her husband a child. The mother essentially accuses her of being spoiled and ungrateful for her husband, to which Mary eventually confesses that her husband has abused her. The next person Mary sees is her husband’s mistress Polly. Polly tells Mary that Stephen has chosen other maids to have as mistresses because Mary has failed to give him a child and he is no longer interested in her. Mary argues that all she had wanted from her husband was some warmth and affection to which Polly says she wasn’t worthy of receiving from him.
The final person Mary sees is her husband. Immediately, the two begin to argue about their situation and Mary eventually begs him to remove her from the insane asylum and place her elsewhere. Stephen refuses and the Mary accuses him of not having a “heart” and for that reason, he has failed to put life inside of her because he has “none of his own.” Stephen eventually leaves, telling Mary that he hopes she stays locked inside of there for as long as she …show more content…
Her child will live for a mere 5 months and Mary is to stay locked up in the insane asylum for 25 more years until she dies. Upon hearing this revelation, Mary accepts her fate and finally declares that she is “insane”.
After the show was over, there were many questions dawning through my head. The first was whether or not Mary was actually insane. Since the show revolves around her insanity, it contrasted with Mary’s clean appearance and sane demeanor. Ultimately, the answer as to whether she was insane or not was left for the audience to decide.
The show, in its entirety, was beautifully crafted and well directed. Every line that needed to be emphasized was and it was not too difficult to follow along and understand the story line. The characters were each well acted and fulfilled their purpose on the stage. Additionally, Mary’s character was well performed and it was easy to sympathize with her as an audience member.
Since the play took place in the SAC black box, it was significantly easier to make the play’s transition into an insane asylum since essentially everyone, including the audience, was trapped inside of a box-like