The play Trifles is about a murder scene where the male authority investigates Mr. John Wright’s death. Mr. Wright has been strangled to death by a rope and the wife, Mrs. Wright, is the main suspect. However, with their understanding of the relationship between the Mr. and Mrs. Wright, of emotional abuse and neglect, the ladies consider justice has prevailed for Mrs. Wright. The women are fast to put the mystery together and hide the evidence that would help the authority convict Mrs. Wright. As the director, the vision of the new play would revolve around hiding Minnie’s involvement in the homicide, directing the actors, changing the character’s costumes, set design, and lighting only to show what is relevant.
For the production of the play, a murder scene would require an understanding of setting. Therefore, as the director of the play, I would set up the room to give the audience a reason to connect the circumstance leading to the death. Death is often associated with coldness, the leaving of that warmth that gives meaning to life. With Minnie having strangled John, I would ensure the setting of the place to be cheerless and cold, a type of environment where a woman’s natural culture is taken away. In households, women and children bring out life, give meaning to the house and make the house warm. With the scene depicting the absence of life, I would ensure to make the house unkept, a sign that Minnie no longer saw the need to live for. Moreover, using the understanding of the emotional abuse and neglect the ladies consider Mrs. Wright went through, the set up would show a sign of relief from the abuse.
The twist I would add to the play is that of a jovial person, who has just found her new freedom from the constant violence. With an understanding of the original setting of the play, I would add a phonograph in the script. In the 1900, phonographs were popular music players, which I would use to symbolize a place where Minnie would go to enjoy the newfound life that is free of stress (O’Brien and Annie 41). With the exception of other rooms, unkempt, the study room would be clean since it is the only place that Mrs. Wright spends the most of her time after the death of John Wright. The sheriff would be a uniformed police officer, the county attorney would be dressed in a long robe, and the ladies’ dresses, Minnie included, would be based on the Edwardian fashion, reflective of the era (O’Brien and Annie 45). The cast would still consist of the five characters; however, when it comes to the lighting, I would use spot lighting. The significance of it being to highlight the different characters and elements, throughout the play, at different times.
With the women getting united to defend Minnie and the men searching for evidence to give justice to the late Mr. Wright, I would direct the actors to four areas of the house. These would be the living room where the furniture is wrapped, a clean kitchen, upstairs where John’s body is, and to the studio where Minnie listens to her music. Given that she no longer felt connected to the house, this would make the audience understand how Mrs. Wright did not desire the furniture to waste. Contrary to what is seen in the story, a kitchen that has been unattended for some time (Glaspel 2). I would show that Minnie ensured to keep her house clean, despite acting surprised that her husband has been murdered, as she claims. Maintaining the cleanliness of the kitchen and the rest of the house would make the audience disconnect Minnie from the homicide.
Trifles is a play that allows the audience to connect the dot between Minnie and the death of John Wright. While the play depicts the house she lived as being unkempt, I have shown the possible changes I would make to hide the connection. Cleanliness is the main line of separation that would be used, alongside the time spent in the studio listening to music.
Works Cited
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2017.
O’Brien, Nick, and Annie Sutton. Theatre in Practice: A Student’s Handbook. Milton: Routledge, 2018.