The Manifestation of Death in the Process of Love

The role of the theater can vary between sending a message and entertaining the audience. Our play, The Death of Harthrowe, focuses only on the latter with the goal of solely entertaining the audience. The play encapsulates multiple motifs, all of which supplement from the fundamental message we strive to portray: to expect the unexpected.

Suspense is a recurring theme in the play. Not only is the audience left in suspense about the killer’s identity but also about the identity of the narrator.

From the commencement to the climax, the audience is constantly wondering about who the narrator of the play is. At the beginning, it is evident that the narrator’s identity is beguiled. The audience is unable to see the narrator’s face, but they are intrigued by his monotonous voice.

Love is a complex theme that embodies the play. The trials and tribulations associated with seeking the love of another fuel the plot progression. This play is not a cliché love story; instead, it promotes the idea that all is fair in love and war as it follows several characters chasing the same woman. One of our primary intentions was to stray away from the traditional “princess falls in love with knight in shining armor”. Our story is different. We encompass other emotions involved in love, including one of the most debilitating forces in nature: jealousy.

Throughout the story, Detective Audrey represents the “law and order” aspect of the play. Audience members detect that she is profoundly ambitious and striving to be a successful woman in a male-dominated workforce. Attempting to prove her colleagues wrong against all odds, she interrogates each and every witness, hoping to catch a big break in the case. She doesn’t mix pleasure with business. During the interrogation scenes, her sternness represents how serious she takes her job.

Most movies usually center around the positive aspects of relationships. In our play, we depict some of the horrid events that occur in relationships. One of these primary events is aggression. The death of Harthrowe represents the aggression that takes place in the play. In a way, the aggression coupled with jealousy and the pursuit of love creates a deadly compound that ruins lives. The chaos that occurs during the play is also a form of aggression. Each of the characters in this play are linked together by the homicide, fueled by the synthesis of aggression.

The most imperative aspect of our film is that the audience has no idea who the killer is. Over the course of the semester, we have been exposed to the myriad forms of art, each wielding its own set of surprises. In making the story, we reflect upon the surprises that we experienced and formulated a plot that paralleled our experiences. We intend to hold true to the promise of delivering a story that blows your mind.