Wednesday, October 7, 2009
“Our Lady of 121st Street” was very enjoyable to read. It got me thinking about dialogue and how it can be used to bring a character to life. We had a brief discussion in class last week about the use of accents. Typically I find the overuse of dropping letters (i.e. takin') tiresome, but in the case of “Our Lady” I actually enjoyed it. I think the reason for this is I had no other information about the characters and it enabled me to get a better idea of the people in the play. In the scene involving Inez, Norca, and Sonia in the bar you can make a distinction between the characters personalities and the differences between them. Without the use of prose how else can the writer create the scene she has in mind? I found the play to be quite hilarious at times and sad at others. I also liked how Guirgis balanced such a heavy subject with the use of comedy. It made it a much more enjoyable to read.
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I remembered what Prose wrote about those dropping g's too---but then I thought this play is so original--that it didn't count. Even if he did drop the g's too much--I thought he made up for it with all the other great lines & dialogue...don't you think?
ReplyDeleteI do indeed
ReplyDeleteAs many problems I had with the piece, I did quite enjoy the humor. It's funny. I didn't like the way the dialogue was written, I thought the characters were rendered sort of thinly, but somehow, each scene as a singular thing was very good, and the great sense of humor kept it going for me.
ReplyDeleteI felt the characters to be a sort of a street caricature or stereotypical representation of inner city personalities but as the play progresses you get a sense that it is the intention of the playwright to create fantastic situations that get close to a truth of madness and disconnect in the urban modern world. The use of slang was well done and was convincing outside the notion of natural human feelings and conditions.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the slang, but only because in simply reading the play, we miss out on so much character development without the use of physical actors. In this sense, the language is necessary, for without it, the play--for the reader-- would sound very dull, and mechanical.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that shadowing the comical nature of the play, are some very sad scenes. i.e. the part with Pinky and Edwin. Poor Pinky...