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The Shadow Box
Keys and “Answers”
1.What is Beverly trying to get Mark to understand?
2. What is her main motivation from your point of view?
From Carol: These two questions are deeply connected.
All of you have similar viewpoints, thinking about Brian needing someone in Beverly’s
view — and some felt Beverly needed to “make up” for things in the past.
Some had great perspectives and connections, commenting weightily
about relationship, love and the meaning behind those, as well as the meaning
behind “being there,” and not simply for hope for time
All of you had differing ideas about her main motivation.
A couple of you had this idea about Beverly: her need for atonement — FUN!
but there is more
—
Here is the key:
She is there to make sure that Mark is there for the RIGHT reasons — not out of pity or sense of
duty — but that he really is there out of love and WANTING to be there for Brian — all of her
dialogue in this scene SHOWS this wonderfully. That’s why I said her her main motivation is the
most selfless of all characters. She tells Mark that she would easily and gladly take his place.
But, she also knows that Brian loves Mark, and that if Mark is there for the right reason, then all
is well. She wants Brian to have what is most important to him. She is not there for any self-
serving reasons at all. She is there only to be sure that Brian has what is crucial. She knows that
it is Mark’s love and care, not herself, that Brian needs.
TA DA!
3. Define a “core motivation” for Agnes that is deeper than the need for love.
Many of you felt that Agnes accepts the Interviewer’s words about Felicity“holding on,”
and have commented about her lines: wondering if the truth would really matter to her mom. At
the end of the play, she continues her care-giver role with struggling and lessening energy. Her
“Yes, Mama” and “please… it’s time to stop” and continuing to read the letter shows that she
has not yet come to terms with who she really is, or how she will deal with the future. All of her
lines in the final merged dialogue are to her mother. She does not know how to define herself
beyond her care-giver role and “being” Claire through the letters. She is almost at a breaking
point.
Remember that the core drive or motivation (what I call the crisis layer) is simply stated:
need for power, fear of abandonment, etc.
I once suggested that her core drive was fear of independence.
I like others’ suggestions:
fear of the future, regret for the past, fear of being not enough, need for satisfaction
4. What is being suggested by the stage directions with Maggie and the cottage?
5. What message is being sent by these final moments and stage directions?
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Most of you got the significance that Maggie and Joe went into the cottage together at the
end of their last scene (before merging voices). This is after Maggie has made Joe say the words
that he is going to die. She asks, “Why,” and asks Joe what they do in the cottage. He replies,
“Try.” The dialogue and walking into the cottage together suggest that the truth will be very
hard to live with, and the playwright gives us ideas that much is to be learned from one another
in the next days and weeks. Many of you saw the significance of acceptance and being together.
The emphasis is: together, no matter what occurs each day. Steve continues to play the guitar,
allowing us to feel more with this family dynamic. During the merged voices at the end both
Maggie and Joe are UR on stage.
Here is a nice viewpoint from the class about the merged voices:
melded together into one voice as each appreciates time and life as it fades away with the
lights
6. Give your responses to the importance of the role of the Interviewer and what symbolism
could be attached to this role.
All of these ideas from the class are delightful:
overarching theme of the shared thread of the human experience
documents thoughts and struggles
gives us a sense of characters and their beliefs
could be symbolic of some sort of student, learning about the process of death and the
thoughts of those dying and how they deal with it
allows characters to express concerns
helps characters to come to realizations
other-worldly entity that assists characters in this time of need
a counselor to guide and assist with emotional needs
Also think of the Interviewer as a “third” voice that adds to the theme of the play; think what
that theme is and how this role connects meaningfully to it.
7. Respond with your ideas to the message behind the use of one cottage on stage, and with
the symbolism connected to this design component.
8. What is your reaction to this merging of voices, with all characters on stage?
All of you had quite good connections to these:
unity; unites all characters together
one cottage, one final destination
common struggles, the way we handle them, how we come to terms
a choir (non-religious) to “bring characters home”
how we view our life and what we have done
reflective of their lives and unity among characters
summarizing their views on life and death
voices merging makes it clear that this is a unifying feeling felt by them all
chilling
sadness and a sigh
sombre, but with a sense of hope and appreciation
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9. How and in what way does this add to the theme and tone of the play?
Class responses, very poignant:
better than individual voices; shows similar thinking and struggles faced
shows how each character is related to the other in thinking and struggles faced
shows fleetingness
universal connection
part of the human experience
make the most of our time together
one voice, one place and the appreciation of life
