"Ridiculous, Interesting, and More Amusing Than Mangos!"

      Our scene has many similarities with the book, but we changed many things slightly creating a creative interpretation.  For example, we took Ti Moune’s obsession with Daniel as our main similarity/interpreted aspect.  We emphasize how ridiculous her level of care for him is.  In our version, Ti Moune was the car crash victim.  This changes the storyline, but it makes our interpretation of Ti Moune’s love more prominent.  It shows our audience how irrational Ti Moune’s obsession is.  Even though she is the one that is hurt, she thinks she needs to take care of Daniel.  In addition, he acts like a normal doctor to her, meaning that he treats her like he cares about her health, but not in a flirty way.  She takes his actions as a doctor to mean more than they do and thinks that he forgot about her. She reminds him of the plot of My Love, My Love, but this is not what actually happened. This is the equivalent of when Ti Moune sees Daniel at the Hotel Beauxhomme and Daniel does not know she saved him.  She reminds him assuming he will fall instantly in love with the girl who saved him because they had a “connection”. 

       Our scene recreates the storyline of My Love, My Love through the main plot and the story in Ti Moune’s head.  Some of this should be evident in our scene and other parts are more subtle.  Another aspect that we took from the book is the way the gods all speak through Papa Ge’s body.  In our scene, the gods are the same person- a person with multiple personality disorder.  This patient shows up to give Ti Moune advice, but similar to the book, they end up arguing with each other.  Making the gods one person, adds a comedic character. The gods, especially Papa Ge, make sarcastic comments to the other gods. Each god also has a god complex, meaning they think they are better than the other gods.  This is comedic too because the gods are the same person.  The gods add ridiculousness to the scene that adds to the irrationality of Ti Moune’s character.  The only other character who knows the plot of My Love, My Love, which Ti Moune irrationally thinks is true, is the gods.  The gods seem ridiculous and unreal showing the audience that Ti Moune is also crazy.  In other words, because the gods are unreal and believe that Daniel’s car crashed, while a sane character, like Daniel believes different, a false sense of what happened is created. This adds to the make believe ideas Ti Moune has, showing her obsession in a different light than the book.

      The gods, as mentioned above, are my biggest personal struggle.  It is difficult to portray a multiple personality disorder patient in a realistic way.  Even though I am an imaginary character and should not be completely realistic, I do have to seem somewhat real.  I cannot over-act because it will make the character ridiculous. However, if I do not act strange enough, it takes away from our message about being ridiculous and irrational.  In addition, under doing it will be weird in a scene where many of our lines are strange.  Furthermore, I struggle changing smoothly between the gods.  I am slowly making progress, but I still need to run it many more times to make the transitions more natural.  As Andrea, I think I am doing well. I need to work on cheating out a little more because I feel like I am always turned. My biggest problem with Andrea is going to be changing quick enough.  Overall, practice makes perfect.  

Photo: Google Images

Title: Once On This Island

My Love, My Doctor, My Progress

Our group is off to a good start, but we have a few necessary improvements.  The parts of the scene that is going we'll is our ideas.  The group has been able to work together effectively.  Even before we wrote the majority of the script, we knew where the scene was leading and what themes and analysis we wanted to include.  In addition, our scene has minimal blocking necessary due to its location, but we were easily able to agree on the blocking.  

The group as a whole is currently working on adding more lines.  The last time we timed the scene in the classroom it took about nine minutes.  We know that our time onstage will be a little longer.  We estimated that onstage our total would be around eleven minutes.  Today, we added more lines in the conversations between the gods and Ti Moune.  We were timing the scene again with the added lines, but class ended.  Therefore, we do not know how long it is with the newly added lines.  We hope to discover this on Monday.  I would guess we added a little over a minute in length, so we most likely will have to add a few more lines.  Overall, our draft is coming along well, and only a few small changes need to be made before the script is final. 

As far as performance, our group needs to, once we finalize the lines, come up with exactly how we want the lines to sound to our audience.  For example, we need to decide how creepily Ti Moune is going to talk to Dr. Goodman.  Another major aspect is we need to rehearse more.  The gods are a difficult part to play, especially when reading from the script.  I, personally, need to work on my lines so I can move on to focus on my posture, tone of voice and where I look.  My biggest struggle right now is that I never know where to look.  I think it would look good and portray the multiple personalities if I looked in different directions when I switch gods.  This would also add to the breakdown Ti Moune has as a result of the gods arguing.  If I look where other gods might be as if the gods were having an arguement with all four sitting in the room, it would add effect when I look at Ti Moune and incorporate her in the fight.  Since the gods are giving Ti Moune mixed opinions while arguing with each other, I need to make it clear to the audience when I am addressing the other gods versus when I am talking directly to Ti Moune. Again, being off book will help.  

Our overall message- Ti Moune is obsessed with Daniel- is clear.  In each scene, the lines and the way Ti Moune acts accurately portray her obsessive love.   Ti Moune’s relationship with the gods is also shown.  Like the book, the gods come out of the dark to speak to her.  In the beginning, she looks towards the gods for advice.  She knows. They have saved her before and believes they will help her again.  This is when Erzulie gives her the comb, which holds true to the book.  Another similarity is the last appearance of the gods.  They all talk to her and she throws the comb at them.  This is supposed to symbolize the way the comb gets thrown out in the book and as a result - in both the book and our script- the gods disappear from Ti Moune for good.  

In conclusion, our scene is making progress effectively.  Once we are off book and can focus more on our reactions, especially me as the gods, will likely improve even more. Practice makes perfect and we need more practice!

Source: Google Images

My Love, My Doctor Script

[sound of car crash, sirens, lights out/dimmed, Dr G ENTERS, phone rings]

Dr. G:     The Antilles Sanitorium, this is Dr. Goodman speaking, how can I help you?… A car crash?... A new patient?... A young girl?... What’s her name?... What do you mean she doesn't know?... She lost her memory?!... Yes, you can bring her here.  We have a room for her… We will be ready for her in half an hour.  

[Dr. G EXITS.  Lights come up and Ti Moune is onstage in her bed. Dr. G reenters carrying a clipboard and pencil.]

Dr.G:     Hello, I'm Dr. Goodman.  I will be your doctor.  How are you feeling?

TiM:     I am fine, but how are you feeling? 

Dr.G:     I'm doing well. Are you sure you are fine?

TiM:    I'm fine now that you are here and I can see you are alive. 

Dr.G:     I am glad you are well. Do you remember anything? What is your name?

TiM:     They call me Ti Moune. You are not well, the Gods sent me to help you.

Dr.G:     That’s great, thank you Gods. Do you remember anything else?

TiM:     Don’t you remember the car accident?

Dr.G:     I have heard of it, that is why you are here.

TiM:     I know to make you well

Dr.G:     No I am here to make you well?

TiM:     What do you mean? 

Dr.G:     You were in a car accident.

TiM:     No, you were in a car accident

Dr.G:     No you were in a car accident, you lost your memory, I am your Doctor. And You came here so I can make you well.

TiM:     It’s so nice of you to be concerened about me but I am the one to make you well.

[grabs him (arm, hand or shoulder) he pulls away]

Dr.G:     Okay how about we take a break here. I will return later to see how you are doing.

[he EXITS, TiM starts daydraming, Gods ENTER, TiM stares after Dr.G]

G.Er:     (dreamily) He is very handsome isn’t he?!

TiM:     (starteled) Who are you?!

G.Er:     Erzulie Goddess of looooove!...As Asaka Mother of the Earth...Ag Agwe God of water...Pg Papa Ge...Er your worst nightmare...Pg I prefer sly demon of death!

TiM:     You are my Gods! 

G.Pg:     Duh...

TiM:     You sent me here

G.Pg:     Yeahh...Ag Be quiet, let the girl speak. ... As continue sweety!

TiM:     You must help me…

G.Pg:     We MUST?!...As Shhhh, of course we will help you what do you need?

TiM:     Daniel doesn't remember me.  You must help me regain his love.

G.Er:    Ahh.. Young love.. So romantic!... Pg of course you would think that.

TiM:     Please I need your help. 

G.As:     Of course we will help you, we want you to be happy… Er Take this magic comb it will help you.  It will make Daniel see who you really are. Ooh he's coming now.

[Dr.G ENTERS, Gods EXIT, while TiM is distracted]

TiM:     Where did you go?

Dr.G:     I'm right here. What are you talking about?

TiM:     Oh nothing

[combs hair]

Dr.G:     I think you misunderstood me earlier.  How about you tell me what happened.

TiM:     You were in a car accident and I saved your life. You must have forgotten me because of the crash. Now I am here to make you well.

Dr.G:     I'm sorry I don't remember that. 

TiM:     That's alright.  I'll remind you.  

Dr.G:     Thank you so much!

TiM:     The Gods sent me to you when you were injured to save your life. The other peasants didn't understand. Papa Ge tried to take you away from me, but our love was too strong.  I thought I had saved you for good, but then your father came to take you.  I'm sorry, I tried to keep us together. 

Dr.G:     That’s alright. What happened next?

TiM:     It doesn’t matter. All that matters is we are together now.

Dr.G:     I'm glad.

TiM:     I've been waiting for someone like you to fly away with me. I was so happy when the Gods sent me to you. Well obviously I was upset because you were hurt but you're alright now and we can be together forever. There are no more obstacles in the way.  I love you.

Dr.G:     Alright, that's a lot to think about in one day.  I need to take sometime for myself, sorry.  

[Dr.G EXITS, TiM looks after him upset, Gods ENTER]

G.As:     It's okay, Ti Moune. He will come around. ...Ag Stop babying her. ...Er Stop it Agwe. It's cute. Did the comb work?... Pg Does it look like the comb worked?! 

TiM:     Oh what shall I do?!

G.As:     We will help... Er Of course we will...Pg I have an idea...Er Really? You do?!... Pg Daniel should die…[Gods gasp] what? I spared his life once… 

TiM:    But I love him...

G.As:     (trying to calm Ti Moune) There's is no way I will let him do that!...Er Me either… Ag Well maybe it could be for her own good… Er How could you even say that?!... Pg Let him continue… Ag He is not good enough for her. If he doesn't see how special she is...

TiM:    He lost his memory, it is not his fault!

G.As:     Of course it is not Darling but… Er BUT what? There is no debate they must be together… Ag Ti Moune listen to me… Er No listen to me, you must follow your heart… Pg of course you would say that... As why are you always so negative… Er God of death remember! (to TiM) isn’t he your worst nightmare?... Ag Anyway, Ti Moune you must not forget about your head… As Don’t listen to him… Pg Daniel must die is the only way...

TiM:    But Papa Ge…

G. Er:    Don’t listen to that no nothing

TiM:    Erzulie, please…

(both at the same time)

G.Ag:    Papa Ge has a point… As Ti Moune you can’t… Er --you heart.. Pg --die… Ag  No… As idiot, Listen to-... Pg --me…Er --me... Ag --me… As--me

TiM:    (after Papa Ge has a point) but Agwe…(after Ti Moune you can’t) I love him… (after --you heart) Yes… (after. --die) No…(No...Idiot listen to… me) -Papa Ge… (me) -Erzulie… (me) -Agwe… (me) -Asaka

[Gods grab and shake Ti Moune]

TiM:    GODS!!!! (screams loud, rips herself away, throws the comb, Gods disappear EXIT, Daniel ENTERS carrying tray with food)

Dr.G:    TI MOUNE (pause in which she isn’t reacting) What is wrong? Are you alright? 

[ Dr.G walks toward Ti Moune, sets down tray and sits next to her, Ti Moune is shaky]

Dr.G:     It’s okay. Calm down.  Everything will be alright.  You are safe here with me.  I'm here for you. (Touches Ti Moune’s shoulder)

[Ti Moune relaxing, takes big relaxing breath]

TiM:     Oh, Daniel… (Andrea ENTERS and covers Dr. G’s eyes)

Adr:     Oh, Daniel…

Dr.G:     Andrea, is that you?!(Daniel stands up and spins around) It is you! (Picks up Andrea and spins her) What are you doing here?! I missed you so much!

Adr:     I'm so happy to see you! I missed you too!

Dr.G:     How are you doing? How was France? I don’t even know what to say. 

Adr:    France was great, but my trip is not that important.  All that matters is we are together now.

Dr.G:     It was awful being away from you…

TiM:    (pulls his coat from behind) Daniel who is that?

Dr.G: Oh right, Andrea this is Ti Moune, my new patient. Ti Moune this is Andrea, my fiance. 

Adr:    Nice to meet you.

TiM:    Fiance?! But Daniel we are meant to be together, you can’t do this to me. I love you! Don’t you love me?

Dr.G:     Ti Moune please…

Adr:    What is she talking about?

Dr.G:     She thinks that she was sent by the Gods to save my life and that we are meant to be together.

TiM:    I don’t think that I know it! And you do too Daniel. 

Dr.G:    I do?

TiM:     (getting up and grabbing his hand) Yes deep inside yourself you can see the truth.

Adr:    Do you believe any of this nonsense?

TiM:     This is no nonsense. I am to be with Daniel and you wont be able to change that. You wont! Do you hear me! (starts shaking Andrea)

Adr:    (trying to free herself) What the hell is wrong with you?

Dr.G:    (freeing Andrea) Ti Moune stop. (to Andrea) Don’t worry she’s just crazy!

TiM:     Please Daniel, I am not crazy.

Dr.G:     Let’s leave. I've had enough for one day and I want to talk to you… Alone.

[they start EXITING, holding hands]

Adr:    Did you think about the wedding while I was gone?

[EXIT Andrea and Dr. Goodman, Ti Moune is left alone in her room, staring in space a few seconds, lights dim out, Scene]

Scene Proposal- My Love, My Doctor

   Our group decided to stage the novel  My Love, My Love in an insane asylum. We based this idea on Ti Moune’s irrational obsession with Daniel. In our scene, Ti Moune gets into a car accident and loses her memory. She is sent to an insane asylum where she meets Dr. Goodman. Ti Moune imagines the story of her love to Dr. Goodman, who represents Daniel, and tries everything she can to convince him that they are meant to be together. Dr. Goodman tries to resist her advances, yet be a good doctor towards his patient. Ti Moune is helped by her imaginary friend, who is another patient with multible personality disorder. This character will represent the four Gods. When Dr. Goodman’s girlfriend, Andrea, appears unexpectedly, Ti Moune is devestated. She tries to break the two apart but fails, and they leave het heartbroken in her room.

    In this scene, Bryn will play the Gods and Andrea, who only appears briefly during the end, Wiebke will play Ti Moune and John will play Dr. Goodman. In our scene we included many small similarities to the book.  Some similarities include a comb, a car accident, the relationship between sane and insane (the rich and the poor), the four Gods, and our biggest theme, Ti Moune’s obsession with Daniel/Dr. Goodman.  While these are similarities, we incorperated them in slighty different ways that still hold true to the storyline of the book. In the our scene, we created an ending that mimicks the novel.  In the novel, Daniel marries Andrea and throws Ti Moune out of the hotel- an action that will ultimately result in her death.  Similarly, our scene ends with Dr. Goodman and Andrea leaving together from Ti Moune’s room.  Therefore, Ti Moune, in both scenarios is “on the other side of the fence.” While in the book she cannot reenter, in our scene, she cannot run after them.  

The Nutmeg Ballet Didn't Hit All the Right Notes

    The Nutcracker is a famous ballet written by Tchaikovsky. The Nutcracker takes place on Christmas eve.  The first part of the ballet shows the Von Stahlbaums’ annual Christmas party, in which the young girl, Clara, receives an enchanted nutcracker doll from her godfather, Dr. Drosselmeyer.  Fritz, Clara’s brother, accidently breaks the doll.  Dr. Drosselmeyer magically repairs the nutcracker.  After the party is over, Clara falls asleep and dreams about a magical world.  The magical world is portrayed by many characters from the mice and the Queen Mouse to the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Snow Queen and even a prince.  During the dream, many dances take place including many styles and both solo and ensemble parts.  The ballet ends with Clara waking up in her house with the doll in her arms.  

    Last weekend, I saw The Nutmeg Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker at the Bushnell.  I enjoyed the show and I thought the dancers were very talented, but I do have some negative comments.  My first comment is about the costumes.  The costumes during the dream were beautiful.  However, Clara did not stand out as different.  When reading My Love, My Love, the class has spent time looking at costumes.  We, as a class, have all agreed that the characters need to stand out in various ways to show the audience the social class and connection to the other characters.  I felt the costumes failed to make Clara stand out from the other characters.  Many of the characters, including the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Snow Queen and Dr. Drosselmeyer, were all easily distinguishable from the other dancers.  In the beginning during the Christmas party, Clara appeared in a nightgown like all of the other young girls.  Each girl had the same style gown in different colors.  Clara could have worn a different style nightgown or worn a more distinguishable color.  This would have made her more noticeable as a main character.  This continued throughout the dream as well.  Clara wore a simple light pink dress.  The magical creatures and fairies all had bright, sparkly costumes that were easily seen by the audience.  I was disappointed because while the costume was the same color as the nightgown, which proves there was an effort to show Clara in the dream and Clara sleeping as the same character, the costume did not stand out.  Clara was not easily distinguishable throughout the show, which made her nearly invisible to the audience in the magical scenes.  If I chose the costumes, I would make Clara easily stand out to the audience.  

    Another disappointing aspect of the show was the lack of a live orchestra.  The music is beautiful and it would have made the show very impressive if there was a live orchestra.  While the sound was not bad, an audience member could tell it came from the speakers.  A live orchestra is always better, especially in a ballet where there is no dialogue. The music makes half the ballet and the other half is the dancing.  The dancing was great, but the music was only mediocre.  It is easy to play the music through a speaker, it takes more talent to play the music live.  Therefore, the music during The Nutmeg Ballet’s production was not impressive. 

    Overall, these two negative comments did not destroy the whole show.  The show was still very enjoyable.  These are just aspects that could be improved to make the show even better.  I chose to write about only negative things because in this particular show, they stood out.  My final thought is that I enjoyed the show.  The cast was obviously very talented, but I did see some possible improvements to make the show more than just fantastic dancing.  

Why Not a Tree?

          The ending of My Love, My Love was unsatisfyingly frustrating.  In The Little Mermaid, the mermaid fails to marry the prince like Ti Moune fails to marry Daniel.  However, the mermaid at least gets one of her goals.  The mermaid wishes to receive a soul to live an afterlife and to marry the prince.  While the prince marries another girl, the mermaid still receives a chance from the air fairies to go to heaven.  After reading this, I hoped the ending of My Love, My Love would be somewhat more satisfying.  I did not expect Ti Moune to marry Daniel, however, I did expect the end of the book to be more hopeful or to see Ti Moune transform in some way.  Instead Lucifus “[picks] up [Ti Moune’s] corpse by an arm and a leg, [dumping] it at the side of the road to await the garbage collectors.”  This shows that Ti Moune has died and is not even seen as a peasant anymore.  She is seen as garbage.  Another important part of the ending is her connection to the gods, which is displayed throughout the book, has backfired.  She dies in none other than a storm, similar to the one she survived as a young girl.  This ending is frustrating because she dies.  She gets swept out of the Hotel Beauxhommes at a rapid pace following the return of Andrea. This seems very unfair to a girl who has made this journey to make Daniel well again.  In addition, she is not only demoted as a peasant, but the storm seems to symbolize that the gods are no longer advocating for Desiree, showing that she is a lonely piece of garbage.  Overall, Desiree makes the journey from being loved by Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian to an obsessive love for Daniel to being lonely, which is frustrating to see because the main character does not thrive.  She grew throughout the story only to end up as a piece of garbage on the side of the road.  

         The book teaches its reader to be who they are.  At the beginning of the book, before Desiree meets Daniel, she is a hopeful person.  She believes she has a connection to the gods and she is hopeful of they will bring to her.  As she goes on the journey, she is still naive, however she grows up.  She has hopes and dreams of marrying Daniel, but these hopes and dreams become challenged.  Previously, she had a good life as a peasant  and was able to daydream as she wanted, but she wanted more.  When she left her peasant life, she did not get to marry Daniel and she ended up dying.  This ending is sad to prove that the best life for Desiree was not at the Hotel Beauxhommes.  The author also makes a statement through the little girl that Desiree cannot return to the peasant life.  If Desiree had resisted the urge to see Daniel, she most likely would not have died from the storm.  The storm was the wrath of the gods because Desiree had abused them along the way, especially Erzulie by placing the comb in a drawer.  Desiree took the opportunity to take care of Daniel for granted.  In addition, the story involves realistic.  Desiree easily became obsessed with Daniel.  She thought she was different from the other peasants.  While this was partially true, she did not fit in with the rich people either, but she ignored this fact.  To avoid the depressing ending, Desiree needs to understand her place in society.  To conclude, My Love, My Love teaches the reader to not only be who they are, but to also be realistic and understand their place in the world.  

Sources: Google Images

My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy

Analytical Questions

1)Discuss the similarities between night in the Little Mermaid and night in My Love, My Love.  What does night symbolize?

2) To what extent do the gods affect Desiree's decisions through the novel? Which god/gods influence her the most?

3) Compare and contrast Desiree's relationship with the godmother to Juliet's relationship with the Nurse.

4) If you were to stage a scene at the hotel, how would you make it different from the peasants? Would the characters act differently? Would the staging be different? What would the rich costumes look like? Also, talk about lighting, props, set pieces etc.