Play ‘Trifles’ of Glaspell (drama)

Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell and directed by Emmalee Schooler, is a mysterious play to watch and yet very intriguing. A man named John Wright has been strangled to death in his home, and the suspect that is being pinpointed is his wife. The County Attorney, Sheriff, and a neighboring farmer, Mr. Hale, investigate throughout the deceased mans house to find any clues that can support their theory of his wife being the person responsible for his death however, this mystery has a twisted ending to it that if you don’t pay attention to it you will miss it. This play was shorter than most, but it was definitely one of my favorite plays to watch.

The theme that is being explored in Trifles is definitely isolationism given that the couple live an isolated life from society. The genre of the play is obviously a drama, but since the play does involve a crime scene and follows a mysterious plot it is classified as a mysterious genre.

The actors in this play were exceptional. I only had a question about the actor Stefanie Infante, who played the character of Mrs. Peters, on her decision of wearing her industrial piercing on her ear when the time period of the play was set in the early 1900’s. I understand if it were in a bigger venue maybe I wouldn’t have been able to see it, but since it was in a small venue the audience gets a closer look at the details, and as my professor said about any body art that you decide to get you need be very considerate of what you get because some of it takes a lot of time to cover up. My favorite actor overall was Kylie Zweifel, who played the role of Mrs. Hale, because she was one of those characters that was in synch with the personality and the looks the person. She was very humorous to watch and overshadowed the other character’s. As far of the other character’s go they were spectacular as well, and they tied the play very well together.

The play was supposed to take place in Escondido theatre originally however, due to technical difficulties with the lighting they were relocated to the SUB Matador Room. I feel like this sudden relocation limited the potential of the set because it seemed as if it was missing something. Now given the circumstances, they surely did work well with the little stage they were given and the only lighting that they had. The set design on stage left no room for questions to be asked. The audience knew exactly what time period it was taking place in, and the costumes were on point from head to toe on all of the characters. The overall feel of the set was accurate, and they did over come their obstacle, which was a big one since it limited them, and I truly do applaud them for that.

The juicy ending of the play was that Mrs. Peters and Mrs.Hale find a canary bird in a box with its neck slit, but they do not show the authority to portray how far women would go in order to receive justice during a time period in which they were being oppressed. This performance was amazing, and like I mentioned before it was by far one of my favorite one. The mystery kept you wanting to know more, and as clues kept showing up it made you slightly gasp. This play showed that it doesn’t matter where the play takes place in all that matter’s is bringing the performance onto the stage just as fiercely as you would on any stage and making the best out of it, which is what makes theatre what it is now a days. I loved that they paid their respects to Gabrielle Barajas and Amanda Staats ,who may rest in peace, through their performance. 

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