’night, Mother opened in 1983. It played at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The play soon transferred to Broadway, with the original cast: Kathy Bates and Anne Pitoniak. The Broadway production garnered four Tony nominations including ‘Best Actress’, for which both women were nominated.
Performances of The Play
The play was so popular that it was swiftly adapted for a movie in 1986, which was nominated for a Golden Globe. Norman wrote the screenplay, it is however, somewhat different to the stage play in that there are additional characters. The lead roles went to Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft, who played daughter and mother respectively.
A revival of the play was produced on Broadway in 2004 at the Royale Theatre, starring Edie Falco and Brenda Blethyn. It ran for twenty six previews and sixty five performances.
The Pulitzer Prize winning ’night, Mother was Norman’s third play and is her most famous work She has since gained recognition in the world of musical theatre, winning a Tony Award in 1991 for a musical version of The Secret Garden, for which she wrote both the book and lyrics.
Synopsis of 'night Mother
The play opens with Jessie calmly telling her mother, Thelma (known only as Mama throughout the play) that she plans to kill herself. At first Thelma does not believe her daughter, but when she realises that Jessie is deadly serious she attempts various tactics to dissuade her daughter from carrying out the act.
Analysis of The Play
The premise of the play may seem to be an incredibly simple one, but in actual fact the real drama of this piece is in the conversation between mother and daughter, rather than any big action. It is their difficult and peculiarly dependant relationship that is under Norman’s microscope.
Both characters have very straightforward goals: Jessie wants to end her life and Thelma wants to prevent her daughter from committing suicide. Jessie in particular never wavers from her conviction. She is determined not to be distracted from her aim no matter what.
Therefore, the play is sometimes viewed as too static and lacking in momentum. Those who are critical of the play often cite this very reason. However, this is also one of the things that the play’s supporters cite as one of its assets.
Undoubtedly, it is the family relationship, specifically the relationship of mother and daughter, which is complicated, tense, awkward and drives the drama of the play forward. Norman does not feel the need to cloud the issue with any bells and whistles. The simplicity of the piece could be argued to be a very brave move. The only thing that is keeping the audience’s attention is the dialogue. Therefore, it is imperative that the dialogue is very strong. Fortunately, Norman does not disappoint on that score.
The play consists of only one setting and the action takes place in one act. There are never any scene changes. This is a clever dramatic device, which Norman employs to demonstrate the isolation of the two women.
Another exciting aspect of the play is that Norman stresses the necessity of ‘real time’ she even writes in the stage directions that the clock on set, which is the focal point of the stage, should display the actual time. Subsequently, the duration of the play is the same as the duration of the action. This gives a sense of impending doom, an audience is literally watching the time that Thelma has to prevent her daughter’s suicide run out.
’night, Mother is a fascinating play that is thoroughly enjoyable to watch and, unlike some plays, equally gripping to read.
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