Nest by Bathsheba Doran

So I just read the play Nest and found it to actually be a very complicated play. Although it may have a rather complicated plot, this makes for a very interesting story, complex characters and a very interesting show. I will actually have an opportunity to see the show because one of the groups on campus will be performing it here at San Diego State University.

The play takes place during the early years in American history after the revolution, and when states are beginning to join the Union. The play follows two seperate stories that eventually meet up at the end. One of the stories follows the household of Jacob and Elizabeth who have their indentured servant, named Susanna. Mr. Drumble, a professor in Philadelphia, and Joe, a poet and student in philadelphia are also followed.

During the first half of the play, Jacob cheats on his wife Elizabeth with their servant, Shannon. The other story involved Mr. Drumble wanting somebody to create true American poems and literature, and decided to put his faith of being the first American poet into Joe. The two stories clash when Shannon kills her illegitimate baby that she had with Jacob in order to cover up the scandal between her and Jacob. Instead of it being covered up this action caused all of the society to find out about what she did and it condemned her to hanging and condemned Jacob to a lifetime of shame as being known as an adulterer. Joe and Mr. Drumble come in when Mr. Drumble wants Joe to write the poem talking about Shannon's scandal and what she has gone through. The chaplain in this represents the religious part of America and he makes numerous comments about what Shannon did and how it is looked upon in fundamentalist christianity. Shannon becomes known as an outlaw because of what she did and seeks comfort http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3562148687936382911with another outlaw Daniel Boone. Shannon eventually gets hanged, and the audience is left wondering what religion truly is, what really is out there, and whether or not right or wrong is conditional or not.

The play showed a conservative time in our history resisting change. Its when religion began getting questioned with Science but still winning out, sexual taboos being in full force and writers and artists making money off of tragedy. The main thing that is brought up though, is questioning right or wrong. Elizabeth could not have a child, so was it necessarily wrong for Jacob to try to have a child with Shannon. Most men at this time wanted their name to carry on. This was and still is a basic instinct of man. The fact that society made it such a "wrong thing" created a fear in Shannon, and made her do an even greater wrong. The question is, if the first thing she did with Jacob was not thought of as so wrong it has to be covered up, would she have still killed her child? Could Jacob really have been blamed for acting out such a basic human instinct?

Also with these plays I will analyze, I will be picking out one audition monologue I could use and will post it and comments on what you think of it is greatly welcome.

AUDITION MONOLOGUE:

Mr. DRUMBLE

"As of now, the English language contains only English poets. Shakespeare’s gone, he is theirs. Marlowe is gone. Chaucer and John Donne and Milton are gone. Theirs. And who do we have? We have the great authors of our constitution, a document I published myself. We have Mr. Charles Filsom the author of “The Adventures of Daniel Boone” which has sold most satisfactorily, but what we haven’t got is a Plato! Who will be our Homer? Who our Euripides, who our Socrates and Sophocles? I think we may do without an Aeschylus... I read a new play this morning, currently being performed in Paris. There is an American character in it. He is the villain. Murdered by a group of wealthy widows that he has failed to seduce, in the final act"

Thanks for Reading and more postings will be up shortly,

Ryan