Maple and Vine

by Jordan Harrison

Dramatic Comedy CharacterS: 2 male, 2 female Multiple Sets Katha and Ryu have become allergic to their 21st-century lives. After they meet a charismatic man from a community of 1950s re-enactors, they forsake cell phones and sushi for cigarettes and Tupperware parties. In this compulsively authentic world, Katha and Ryu are surprised by what their new neighbors - and they themselves - are willing to sacrifice for happiness. "Piquantly funny, cleverly executed and darkly playf

Genres: Plays, Theatre

102 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2012

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read to compare to Laura Wade's play (Home, I'm Darling) which covers much the same territory. Both plays have their plusses - Harrison's paints a broader canvas, and encompasses more topics, such as the place of homosexuality in the 50's, while Wade's focusses more acutely on one marital relationship.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky and weird play where a couple joins a community where it is 1955 everyday.

[Jeremy Martens · Rating 5 out of 5]

i kinda ordered this as just a, "eh cool concept, might as well get it, it's eight bucks." i loved it. loved the universe that was created within the text and the themes it explored in a not so heavy handed way and the overall creepiness and blackness of it all. i loved it!

[kaitlyn a. maynard · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting concept. I felt like the playwright painted a very clear picture early on as to what the audience is getting themselves into with the fabricated 1950s community. Super effective to have scenes where the audience acts as committee members where we're being fed information and instruction like we are a part of the facade.

I thought the characters all made a lot of sense. What greater motivator than unhappiness or self-loathing?

Some really big topics in this too like: mental health, prejudice and racism, gender roles, queerness and internalized homophobia, and what it means to live in a world where things are more accessible than they've ever been. How does that contribute to one's happiness or unhappiness? This idea that the modern world can make you feel stuck. You start to want for nothing because you already feel like you have most things. Or you could get them if you needed to with a press of a button. Has accessibility contributed to the downfall of community and personal happiness, regardless of how beneficial it may seem?

My only thing is I feel like we just scraped the surface of all of these things. Subtlety works and makes sense in context for some of these themes, but I just wish the stakes were a littleee higher than they felt.

[IReadPlays · Rating 4 out of 5]

🕰️ “It’s always 1955.”

~
Honestly I love a good cult trope so this drew me in right away lol

- A seemingly perfect husband and wife are recruiting and tending to a 1950s cult that is somehow enticing enough to trade modern day luxuries and advancements for this facade of “contentment”
-They recruit another couple seeking happiness and connection after a painful miscarriage amidst day-to-day struggles with their identity and “21st century angst” as one reviewer called it.
-The heart-wrenching dialogue and world that Harrison created kept me locked in until the end. I loved the parallels between the two main couples and use of double casting created some interesting parallels between the two “worlds.”
-I also appreciated the length and pacing
-I’m gonna be thinking about the ending of this one for a while
~~~
@ireadplays on IG / @ireadplaysblog on tiktok

[Kayden Merritt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this play. I adored Harrison's strong imagery and evolution of plot in Marjorie Prime. This made me excited for the Twilight Zone-esque concept of Maple and Vine. However, Maple and Pine ultimately proved to be quite the let down. The plot revolves around the same two surface level ideas and rarely subverts audience expectation. Additionally, I always struggle with plays that stray from the unity of place too much. That may just be a personal taste thing. I just believe that theater provides an interesting limitation in its spacial unity that shouldn't be broken without convention. But also the europeans appropriated the poetics and implanted their bias into theater so maybe that bias is showing in my taste.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

she encourages the other white people in their idyllic 50s community to BE MORE RACIST to her HUSBAND because they're inauthentically TOO NICE TO HIM (even though he doesn't get to keep his job as a doctor and does not get a raise at the low-end factory job he's in, because racism, how nice)

AND HE DECIDES TO STAY IN THAT FUCKED-UP WORLD WITH HER

nope. out. can't. fuck that

[Athena Psihudakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love cults!!! And it’s better that they even referred to it as a cult and went anyways. A lot of plot points weren’t touched on enough personally making the topics of mental health and racism and homophobia just kind of there. Like I get the point being that they are issues pushed aside to be happy but like wdym being gay was too easy in the real world????? Huh????? Weird solution to jump to.

[Miranda Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very nice play! It had just the right amount of “odd” in it to keep it different and interesting. There are a couple plot twists that I didn’t exactly see coming, especially how they happened. The author gave a solid ending but also the want to see how the story keeps going. It was a great play that I will be re-reading to catch anything I didn’t before.

[James Brautigam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really want to direct this girl me day. It’s very well written and visuals would really help with the impact of it.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

is this don't worry darling or am i crazy

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very intriguing idea; I wanted to love it. But it was kind of all set up. The conclusion left me cold.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good but I feel like the premise has been done before and better.

[Anne Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intriguing thought experiment that examines the lure of nostalgia and the weight of authenticity. What sacrifices are justified for love, or marriage, or the pursuit of happiness? Can you embrace the simplicity of the past without lamenting the loss of modern societal strides? And, if you can, *should* you? What are the ethics of returning to a “simpler” time, a more “traditional” way of life? Jordan Harrison adeptly addresses all these questions and more in his entertaining and insightful 5-person play.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the concept of this play to be super interesting. There are so many people that say they would love to live in a different time period, yet don't understand the realities of that. This play really showed that off and followed that idea through. I'd love to see it played out on the stage at some point. Definitely a thought provoking play about how modern people would be able to handle the past and our roles in life right now.

[Ahawes91 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really really good. I both read it and saw it, which probably explains why I loved it so much. But it was so relatable and really made you think when it was done. The relationships between the characters unfold nicely and overall it was a striking commentary on society. If you ever get the opportunity, definitely go see this performed.

[Chambers Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting well crafted play that made me think a lot about how we relate to each other in todays fast paced world.

[sav · Rating 4 out of 5]

incredibly clever premise and funny too -- this may be the play for me.