Trifles

I fell like doing a production of Trifles as minimalist would take away so much more than it would add. The hyper realism was a choice by the playwright to complement and enhance the characters and their actions. For example, when the men have already made up their mind that Mrs. Wright is guilty they then decide only to search for evidence of motive. When presented with the notion that they might want to check the kitchen for anything of importance, the sheriff says “nothing here but kitchen things.”  This comment, by a man, on the importance of the “women’s things” makes a much more powerful statement than the motives or growth of his particular character. The author is using the character to make a statement about the things, but she also uses the things to comment on the characters. In addition to the direct comments about the objects in question, they also serve as important vehicles for the motifs that the author placed in the script carefully. The images of the women using their things such as sewing, tie back into the putting together of the pieces in order to make a whole. The actions that were written into the play depend on the items and are just as important, if not more so at times, than the dialogue. The objects and the play are so intertwined that removing or diminishing one would also diminish the whole. I think that if the director wishes to produce a play where the characters are the ones who are focused on without help from the naturalistic details then they need to pick a different play.

Overtones

The only rule that appears to be adhered to throughout the entire play is that the outer selves can’t see the inner selves. All other rules that may exist at certain points in the play, such as the inner selves being able to see or hear each other, are broken at one point or another. It is impossible to assign a convention for the awareness of the inner selves when at one moment they seem to not even know the other exists while in another moment they speak to each other as clearly as Margaret and Harriet do. Their moments of interaction do have some correlation to the intensity of their feelings. The moment’s where they interact with each other the most are the moments when the inner selves feel the most strongly and are lying the most egregiously, like when they are discussing how happy they are in their marriages.  These are also moments that they would be most likely to drop their chiffon veils. Though this is a trend this isn't a rule, and would be difficult for an audience that doesn't have the stage notes to grasp. Thinking about Overtones in terms of Fuchs little world it’s almost as is if Harriet and Margaret have their own personal poltergeists. Hattie and Maggie exist on the same plane, but they can interact with the world and each other as they choose. They may choose to merely be observers of the events occurring, haunt only one person or fully corporealize on their plane in order to interact with other poltergeists.  However their level of control over how hidden they are tied to their emotions, because they are body less and their conscious selves are all they have.