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'night, Mother : A Play

'night, Mother : A Play

List Price: $12.00
Your Price: $9.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mother, mother....
Review: *I did not read this, but saw it recently on Broadway at the Royale Theatre.

'night, Mother is a hell of a play. For a two person play, which takes place in real time, it is a moving decent into the demon world of two women, mother and daughter, co-dependents, best friends, enemies, like no other.

Jessie, the daughter is a woman deeply in pain, so much so that her capacity to live has gone, as has her capacity to love. Thelma is her mother, desperately clinging to the one person she loves, whom she needs more and more, and loses sight of more and more.

There were many sobs and sniffles in the audience towards the end of 'night, Mother, and though reading the script is different than seeing it performed by terrific actresses (Edie Falco as Jessie and Brenda Blethyn as Thelma), the story is good enough and in your face enough to do the job.

This is a play about when, if, why and how we stop being parents or kids, and start being our own people, or if that is even possible. Somewhat depressing, but serious and true.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Uncomfortable truth
Review: I first raced to read this play after seeing the movie with Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft when I was only thirteen years old. Now, over ten years later, I cling to my copy of the horrifyingly understandable play. This is not quite a "Bell Jar" of the eighties; "'Night Mother" isn't the dark, confused tale of suicide that you might expect. A truly well-written and conceived play, and a solid, beautifully acted movie, too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chillingly believable
Review: I first raced to read this play after seeing the movie with Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft when I was only thirteen years old. Now, over ten years later, I cling to my copy of the horrifyingly understandable play. This is not quite a "Bell Jar" of the eighties; "'Night Mother" isn't the dark, confused tale of suicide that you might expect. A truly well-written and conceived play, and a solid, beautifully acted movie, too.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Suicide done right
Review: Marsha Norman, 'night, Mother (Hill and Wang, 1983)

What a refreshing piece of work-- a sparse, clear-headed play that examines the ramifications of suicide and (for once) comes up with the right answer. The action takes place in two rooms, with two people, and runs about an hour and a half. The two characters, a late-thirties daughter and her mother, start with the idea that the daughter is planning on committing suicide later that night, and the resulting tension between them allows both an examination of the more stable, understandable reasons behind the desie to end one's life and the soul-baring necessary in any familial relationship (and present in only a few).****

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sweet Dreams
Review: Michael Russo

This play only has two characters, has one main plot, one setting, and is one conversation. One might think that this play, just by knowing these facts, must not be good becaue how can a writer capture an audeince's attention for 90 pages of one conversation, especially when the conversation is about suicide. Do not ask how, but Marshall Norman does it. He lets us into the world of Jessie and Thelma, and the reader is hooked on every last word.
When Jesse reveals to Thelma that she is going to commit suicide, Thelma does not beleive her. However, once Jessie begins to list her reasons, Thelma goes from disbeleif to realism in a heartbeat. The tone then changes from a mother having a night chat with her daughter to a mother trying to save her daughter's life.
Her mother ives her many reasons why she should not kiil herself, which are all reasons that Jesse shoots down. The reader can hear the panick in the mother's voice and the calmness of Jesse's without anyone acting it out or doing the dialogue.
The writing itself is poetic and beautiful. He is using death to show the beauty of life, which is amazing. The mother does such a god job at giving her daughter reasons to live that someone contiplating suicide might reconsider.
While I am not going to ive away the ending, I will just say that the author does a good job of slowing down the pace for the grand finale. The endign is not forced and the play does not end too soon or too late, it's just right. The small home is also the perfect setting for this remarkable play because the reader can really feel involved in the lives of these two people in a setting that they are similar to.
I have to give this play five stars. I read it in less than an hour because the pace of it is fast and smooth. The setting is great and the characters are so realistic they jump off the page and into your kitchen. If you want to know more about the meaning of life, I highly recommend this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sweet Dreams
Review: Michael Russo

This play only has two characters, has one main plot, one setting, and is one conversation. One might think that this play, just by knowing these facts, must not be good becaue how can a writer capture an audeince's attention for 90 pages of one conversation, especially when the conversation is about suicide. Do not ask how, but Marshall Norman does it. He lets us into the world of Jessie and Thelma, and the reader is hooked on every last word.
When Jesse reveals to Thelma that she is going to commit suicide, Thelma does not beleive her. However, once Jessie begins to list her reasons, Thelma goes from disbeleif to realism in a heartbeat. The tone then changes from a mother having a night chat with her daughter to a mother trying to save her daughter's life.
Her mother ives her many reasons why she should not kiil herself, which are all reasons that Jesse shoots down. The reader can hear the panick in the mother's voice and the calmness of Jesse's without anyone acting it out or doing the dialogue.
The writing itself is poetic and beautiful. He is using death to show the beauty of life, which is amazing. The mother does such a god job at giving her daughter reasons to live that someone contiplating suicide might reconsider.
While I am not going to ive away the ending, I will just say that the author does a good job of slowing down the pace for the grand finale. The endign is not forced and the play does not end too soon or too late, it's just right. The small home is also the perfect setting for this remarkable play because the reader can really feel involved in the lives of these two people in a setting that they are similar to.
I have to give this play five stars. I read it in less than an hour because the pace of it is fast and smooth. The setting is great and the characters are so realistic they jump off the page and into your kitchen. If you want to know more about the meaning of life, I highly recommend this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A dark, taut play that explores mother/daughter bond.
Review: Night, Mother is a play that covers every aspect of human life: love, family bonds, importance and usefulness in society, to a slew of others too numerous to count. The dialogue between Mother and Jessie is gripping, terse and tense. The ending will inbue in the reader so many unexplainable thoughts, which will come back at you in life like flashes in the night, to make you all the more wiser and compassionate. Outstanding!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A dark, taut play that explores mother/daughter bond.
Review: Night, Mother is a play that covers every aspect of human life: love, family bonds, importance and usefulness in society, to a slew of others too numerous to count. The dialogue between Mother and Jessie is gripping, terse and tense. The ending will inbue in the reader so many unexplainable thoughts, which will come back at you in life like flashes in the night, to make you all the more wiser and compassionate. Outstanding!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Swift, taut, chilling play of family, suicide, helplessness.
Review: Night, Mother is a sharp, terse play that examines the issue of hopelessness in all areas and facets of life. What is hopelessness, and how does it come about? This play looks at one aspect of suicide and its eventual cause: the loss of one's self, one's identity. The dialogues between Mother and Jessie are intense, but yet there is a separateness, a barrier that can not be broken between the two. They are united together by their relation, but it ends there. The mother/daughter relationship in this play is quite believeable -- albeit sad and unfortunate. Night, Mother is a dark, chilling play that leaves a pondering imprint on your mind long after the last page has been read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Swift, taut, chilling play of family, suicide, helplessness.
Review: Night, Mother is a sharp, terse play that examines the issue of hopelessness in all areas and facets of life. What is hopelessness, and how does it come about? This play looks at one aspect of suicide and its eventual cause: the loss of one's self, one's identity. The dialogues between Mother and Jessie are intense, but yet there is a separateness, a barrier that can not be broken between the two. They are united together by their relation, but it ends there. The mother/daughter relationship in this play is quite believeable -- albeit sad and unfortunate. Night, Mother is a dark, chilling play that leaves a pondering imprint on your mind long after the last page has been read.


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