The play I saw was called Foxfire. This play was about an old woman named Annie Nations who lived in Raybun County, Georgia. Her husband Hector had died five years earlier leaving her alone in their home in the mountains. However, she did not feel alone because she still saw Hector and spoke to him.
Their son Dillard had long been trying to persuade her to come live with him in Florida. Prince Carpenter was a real estate agent who wanted to buy her hundreds of acres of land for 100 thousand dollars, but could not convince her to sell. She eventually must choose to either leave the home she had know for so many years to go live with her son and grandchildren or to stay there alone with Hector. I believe that the genre of this play was a mix between tragedy and melodrama. Although there were not exactly and conflicts of good versus evil, the story proved to be somewhat serious.
They were rewarded in the end it seemed because everyone got what they wanted: Prince Carpenter was eventually able to buy the land, Dillard got his mother to come live with him, and Annie was finally able to let go of her home and Hector. The reason I believe it is also a tragedy is because of the loss of Hector. It does seem to have a happy ending, however, the sadness in it is experienced as we are taken back into the times when Hector was still alive and they were both young and then we were shown his death and her life after. I liked the play, however, I thought that the plot could have been a little stronger.
Compared to the entertainment today, which display deep, intense stories that give the need to keep watching to see how it ends. They are not always fast paced or overly exciting but they get the viewers involved both mentally and emotionally. To be honest, while I enjoyed the play, I really did not care one way or the other whether Annie left her home to go to Florida or not. If I had not been blessed with a sufficient amount of sleep the night before, I may not of stayed awake to see the ending. I think that Annie would have been happier if she could have stayed in the mountains with Hector for the rest of her life, whether he was actually there or not. She is an old woman.
Why start a new beginning and a life somewhere else when she is perfectly content where she is? Let her finish her life where she is happiest. The setting with the log cabin and mountains were very believable. The pig’s head and the black juice that squirted out looked very real. They definitely brought me into the world of the play. However, I was surprised when I discovered that this play took place in 1982.
Hectors costume was more believable as an outfit from 1982 than Annie’s which looked to me like she was somewhere in 1882. At first, I thought Holly was a little girl in a school dress. She looked as if she was supposed to be much younger and I thought that she was a young girl until it was brought to my attention that she was a schoolteacher. The one part that had me confused for about five whole minutes was the part where Annie was having a baby.
She still had her gray hair, her old woman costume, and she was still thin. I heard them talking on stage about the baby coming and I did not know who was pregnant. I kept trying to figure out who was having the baby until Annie actually went into labor on the table. It all began to make sense to me, although, I was curious as to why this pregnant woman had no baby in her stomach. The part of the play that I liked the most was the actual actors themselves.
They were very talented and if they messed up at all, they must have covered it up very well because I did not notice. They played the role of their characters nicely and did a great job. Of course I am not giving all the credit to the actors because I know that there are many other difficult jobs in theatre that are equally important. I also liked the log cabin and the “front porch” atmosphere with the rocking chairs and the swinging screen door. It definitely looked like an old farmhouse.
Another thing that I found very appealing was how the audience thought that Hector was alive for the first few minutes of the play. Then, they revealed to us that he was, in fact, dead, and we began to put the pieces together. When Annie went to Dillard’s concert was the part that I liked the least. Though I have no suggestions, I just assumed that there would have been a better way to present the concert scene.
The picture of the guy on the wall with the banjo was somewhat, cheesy (for lack of a better word). Perhaps there was no better way to present that scene. It just seemed to me that as soon as the music started playing and the picture appeared, everyone in the audience, including me, looked at each other with a confused look on their faces wondering if it was actually a part of the play. All things considered, I did enjoy the play. I followed each scene and line easily, for the most part.
It seemed as if everyone involved did their part and worked very hard. The story was good, the props and scenes were good, and the actors were good. I would possibly go see the play again in my spare time if given the opportunity. Despite the few negative things that I mentioned, the positive things outweigh them heavily and, with all of this said, the play was a success.Bibliography:
