It begins with Jessie calmly telling her Mama that by morning she will be dead, as she plans to commit suicide that very evening. The play is about a daughter, Jessie, and her mother, Thelma. The play won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. 'night, Mother is a play by American playwright Marsha Norman. The subsequent dialogue between Jessie and Mama slowly reveals her reasons for her decision, her life with Mama, and h 'night, Mother, Marsha Norman 'night, Mother, Marsha Norman 'night, Mother is a play by American playwright Marsha Norman.
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Even though I prefer charming Southern stories to the grittiness, I rate Marsha Norman's play 4 stars for its grit and rawness.more A chilling story that runs the gamut of human emotions, I would be interested in seeing a playhouse production of this tale. Having read many Pulitzer winning plays this year, I rate 'Night, Mother highly, both for its genre of female Southern grit and its message about mental health awareness. First starring Kathy Bates as Jessie, 'Night, Mother most likely delivered as chilling a performance to its initial audience as it does in printed form. In her tale of Southern grit, Norman brings issues like mental health diseases and suicide to a forefront at a time when society was first becoming aware of the issues at large. Both women have baggage lasting for their entire lives, and Thelma in desperation, attempts to talk Jessie out of it. In this short, powerful play, Jessie tells her mother that she is not only contemplating suicide, but that she is about to do it.
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As a result, the pair was never as close as mothers and daughters should be. Yet, Jessie was always more like her father, from her interests in fishing and horseback riding to her genetic makeup that is the root cause of her epileptic seizures. A woman growing old in an sprawling house, Thelma needs Jessie's companionship and caregiving as much as Jessie needs her.
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Widowed Thelma has come to terms with the fact that she and her husband never loved each other all that much. Even though Jessie diligently catalogues ever item the pair owns, it appears that she has finally turned the corner in her life. Following her latest episode a year earlier which resulted in her husband Cecil leaving and divorcing her, Jessie has moved back home with her mother Thelma. Chilling in its message and delivered with no intermission, 'Night, Mother tells the tale of a mother and daughter grappling to stay afloat in life.įorty-year-old Jessie Cates has battled epilepsy, mental illness, and depression for her entire life. Produced the year after Beth Henley won the Pulitzer for Crimes of the Heart, the two women ushered in a renaissance of Southern female play writing. Following her lates 'Night, Mother is Marsha Norman's play that won the Pulitzer for drama in 1983. Forty-year-old Jessie Cates has battled epilepsy, mental illness, and depression for her entire life. Chilling in its message and delivered with no intermission, 'Night, Mother tells the tale of a mother and daughter grappling to stay afloat in life. 'Night, Mother is Marsha Norman's play that won the Pulitzer for drama in 1983.