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The Mistakes Madeline Made
Book by Elizabeth Meriwether
- GenresPlays
39 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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December 22, 2014I picked up this play because Elizabeth Meriwether is the creator of NEW GIRL, one of my favorite T.V. comedy shows to watch. More often than not her brand of humor makes me guffaw with laughter. The play is funny, but painful too. You feel sorry for the main character as she navigates her way through the aftermath of losing her brother. She's emotionally unstable because of the loss and develops a fear of bathing, consequentially much smelliness ensues. She stops short of losing her mind because... handiwipes. Read it to find out what that means...
For actors: There's no monologues for women in there, but a couple good ones for men.
For actors: There's no monologues for women in there, but a couple good ones for men.
June 6, 2017
From the UCB Training Center Library.
February 24, 2009
Elizabeth Meriwether is playwright to watch out for. Attacking the social constraints of living trapped between two generations, and feeling helpless to live a normal life in the face of global turmoil, The Mistakes Madeline Made speaks subtly to a large group of Americans who feel distanced from reality by their Lysoled work and lifestyles.
The play follows Edna, a 20-something working as an assistant for a wealthy family that has 15 other assistants. Her supervisor, Beth, starts most of her sentences with "I want to tell you something," and engages in aggressively cheerful banter about the importance of a clean office and precise schedule.
Her main issue with Edna is that the girl has stopped bathing. Edna hates her work and has developed a phobia about personal hygiene, thanks to her recently deceased brother, a war correspondent who claimed that everyone in America lived too sanitary a life. Edna strikes back by stealing office supplies and sleeping with writers in order to "fuck my brother back to life."
How can one revolt against a culture that seems to move forward like a big machine, regardless of the consequences? Meriwether's work finds its answer, surprisingly enough, in Beth--who is not a monster, and struggles with the same concerns Edna can certainly externalize but cannot fully name. And it is the strength of her characters that pushes what could be a gotcha idea into more subtle territory (though her send-up of bad writers is a little easy). Of course, everyone's feeling a crunch now, with the economic crisis, so it seems a lot of people are waking up to the reality of their lives and what they must do to move through their hardships, just like Edna and Beth.
The play follows Edna, a 20-something working as an assistant for a wealthy family that has 15 other assistants. Her supervisor, Beth, starts most of her sentences with "I want to tell you something," and engages in aggressively cheerful banter about the importance of a clean office and precise schedule.
Her main issue with Edna is that the girl has stopped bathing. Edna hates her work and has developed a phobia about personal hygiene, thanks to her recently deceased brother, a war correspondent who claimed that everyone in America lived too sanitary a life. Edna strikes back by stealing office supplies and sleeping with writers in order to "fuck my brother back to life."
How can one revolt against a culture that seems to move forward like a big machine, regardless of the consequences? Meriwether's work finds its answer, surprisingly enough, in Beth--who is not a monster, and struggles with the same concerns Edna can certainly externalize but cannot fully name. And it is the strength of her characters that pushes what could be a gotcha idea into more subtle territory (though her send-up of bad writers is a little easy). Of course, everyone's feeling a crunch now, with the economic crisis, so it seems a lot of people are waking up to the reality of their lives and what they must do to move through their hardships, just like Edna and Beth.
October 11, 2012
Warning: review written just as I finished the book, and also when I was half-asleep, resides below:
I'm going to give this a sneaky five stars - because apparently I'm all about giving an extra star for a good conclusion (and therefore a strong end-of-book-feeling) this week.
This has encouraged me to read more plays (even though they're meant to be seen being performed, rather than read). Maybe plays can be my new graphic novels, in terms of bumping up my "books read" whilst taking only a tenth of the time that a big door-stopper of a novel (which is how I sometimes like 'em) would take to read. And sometimes packing even more of a punch, in the space of less than 40 pages. There's something really fulfilling about reading an entire work in one sitting.
But yes, oh. I liked this. And oh, Winston...
I'm going to give this a sneaky five stars - because apparently I'm all about giving an extra star for a good conclusion (and therefore a strong end-of-book-feeling) this week.
This has encouraged me to read more plays (even though they're meant to be seen being performed, rather than read). Maybe plays can be my new graphic novels, in terms of bumping up my "books read" whilst taking only a tenth of the time that a big door-stopper of a novel (which is how I sometimes like 'em) would take to read. And sometimes packing even more of a punch, in the space of less than 40 pages. There's something really fulfilling about reading an entire work in one sitting.
But yes, oh. I liked this. And oh, Winston...
July 2, 2016
The showrunner of http://www.fox.com/new-girl once was a promising-- nay, polished-- NYC playwright before she traded her garret in Alphabet City (is that already an anachronism?) for a ranch-house and pool in The Canyon. It is to be hoped that, when "New Girl" is done and Meriwether is set for life, she will revisit her promise and pick up writing her genuinely fresh, subversive social comedies for the stage.
Or, not.
Or, not.
September 9, 2008
I read this over and over. Memorized lines. Played a part in a production of it this summer, which was just what I needed. It's a play that is wildly open to directorial interpretation and I'm glad our direction had good vision.
June 1, 2012
I just signed on to play Beth this October in this wild, wacky and touching play... Excited!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews