why didn’t the writer elaborate on either valentine’s or gloria’s past love life other than a quick mention of number?

In Act 3, does McComas threaten Mrs. Clandon to make the meeting or face that time’s version of divorce court?

I do not understand what Valentine meant at the end when he said, “I might as well consider myself a married man already” when Gloria and everybody around him was taken to the dance floor.

Why does the waiter start out as such a submissive character, get even more submissive when he sees his son, but suddenly “mans up” near the end when the opinion of Gloria commanding Valentine to marry her occurs?

Lawrenzo Lue

You Never Can Tell

• Why did Gloria, Phillip, and Dolly’s mother choose to raise them in the manner she did? Was it truly to hide them from the second sort of “family life” she mentioned early in the play or was it for her to ensure her own independence and privacy?

The Art of Theatre

• Since criticism requires the critic to “bring to the work some set of standards developed essentially from personal experience”, how reliable can a critics criticism really be since a critic with personal experience on a certain topic may have a more enhanced understanding than another? Would the playwrights intended message not vary according to the different people who view his piece? Is it even possible to have a completely un-biased critique on any piece of Art including theatre? (81)

I would like to take Alina’s question one step further and ask if Shaw is saying something about children that are raised with no father. Can that play a big part in their erratic and sometimes rude behavior? Is Shaw sending a message about a single mother’s in society? As the main characters, what is their purpose to the story line?

I love that Sporre calls theater an interpretive discipline. He states that, “Between the playwright and the audience stand the director, the designers, and the actors. Although each functions as an individual artist who adds a specific form of artistic communication to the production, each also serve’s to communicate the playwright’s vision to the audience” (35). As a student that has been a stage manager, a hair and make up coordinator, and an actress in theater productions, I wonder what you all would say the most important type of communication is (i.e. the playwright, the designers, the actors). Do you think there is much room for each individual to add their own message/ artistic communication to the production? How so?

In You Never Can Tell, my question is as to what happens to Valentine and Gloria’s relationship following the events of the play (and, supposedly, their marriage). It feels as if the play implies that their marriage is not meant to last, based on various hints thrown out over the course of the play. Early on, Crampton states that he had seen many men marry out of desperation for money and that it had not worked out. This seems like a foreshadowing of the events to come, as Valentine makes the decision to get married that very same day, when he is broke and penniless, and he even admits as such. Another tell is when Philip addresses their relationship as Romeo and Juliet – the star-crossed lovers. It may mean that he suspects their love will not last and will end tragically. Aside from that, Valentine has said he has felt the same way about other women before – who is to say Gloria isn’t the only one naive enough to fall for him? His last name is even Valentine, like Valentine’s Day – perhaps that’s a hint by the writer that the character is willing to give his heart up to any pretty lady he sees. So, my question: Will the marriage really last or will it simply be a repeat of Crampton and Mrs. Clandon’s failed relationship?

For the Theatre reading, my question stems from where it is stated that the director is interpreting what the playwright has created. If the director’s interpretation is what is being presented on the stage and, thus, is the finished product that the audience will view, does that mean that the play truly belongs to the person directing it and not the writer? It’s almost as if the writer simply creates a guideline of themes and characters and such, and the director’s job is to work within that mold to actually generate the play. As we can see in film and theatrical works adapted from literature, such as A Streetcar Named Desire or The Great Gatsby, the interpretation of the director can be drastically different from what was in the original work. Within the theatre, are we truly ever seeing the creation of the playwright, instead of the director?

While we do see a relationship between Gloria and Valentine blossom, we also see Mrs. Caldon balancing a career and raising three children as a single mother. Is this play more of a love story or is it a critique of the common view held at that time: that a woman should be married with a family?

Esther Jungreis

1. If Realism in theatre aims to provide an objective view of a play’s characters and plot, should it not be considered a generally more difficult style because the visual and aural elements, although realistic, would nonetheless act as triggers for the audience members’ individual prejudices and perspectives? (78)
2. To what do you attribute the erratic behavior of the twins Dolly and Philip? They are obviously comedic, but the unpredictable nature of the play and the way in which Shaw challenges our expectations suggests that these characters must have some higher purpose and perhaps a greater relevance to our lives than one might initially expect.

Alina Pena

I noticed there were many terms to describe the different plot pieces in theatre. However, some may say that art (visual art) tells a story/conveys a message. If that were the case, why does visual art not have these terms to describe the story/message within the piece? Could this be evidence that visual art does not tell a story?

Samantha Chiu

Throughout the whole play, Valentine keeps saying that Gloria inspires him. But on the other hand, Valentine also influences Gloria. At the end of the play, how is Gloria’s characteristic different from that at the beginning? How does Gloria change?

– After reading the definitions of formal and contextual criticism, how is it even possible to formally critique without any prior knowledge? How does a professional critique not allow any prior knowledge to affect his/her judgment? (p 87-88)

– How or why does Phillip, Dolly, and Gloria’s outspoken behavior contrast with society’s behavioral expectations and their mother’s secretive nature?