Juicy and Delicious

by Lucy Alibar

Hushpuppy lives with his Daddy and his ghost Mamma on the edge of the earth. Life is juicy and delicious until Hushpuppy's dad gets sick, the world starts to fall apart, and prehistoric ice beasts begin to crawl out of the red Georgia clay. As Daddy gets weaker, the world becomes more fragile and nature itself begins to come unrendered. Hushpuppy and his friends must learn to care for each other while they battle the fearsome aurochs in this magical Southern fantasia that inspired the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Southern, Fiction, Short Stories, Drama

28 pages, Paperback

First published June 24, 2012

About the author

Lucy Alibar grew up in rural Florida, came to New York City, was embraced by the theater community, and settled down to the life of a classic starving artist. But then she cowrote a movie that’s become a cultural wonder

Reviews

[Tung · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed the film “Beasts of the Southern Wild” which was based upon this play; so I assumed I would enjoy the play as well. Unfortunately, I did not – and my issues with the play have nothing to do with it having fallen short of the movie. The play focuses on a little boy named Hushpuppy (a girl in the movie) whose father is dying. The two of them live in abject poverty in the rural south, and the play hints at that having made Hushpuppy socially and mentally delayed. Hushpuppy attends a school run by a teacher who is trying to toughen up the kids and help them survive in a world that is rough, but one that is also falling apart (in the play symbolized by the world physically decaying amidst explosions and things falling from the sky). By the end of the play, we see Hushpuppy showing strength as he seeks out the mother who abandoned him. Overall, I found the play underdeveloped, like a half-baked pie. The scenes move along too quickly, and the characters aren’t fully realized. Having seen the movie first, I brought things to the character of Hushpuppy that don’t exist on the page. I also didn’t enjoy the surreal things that were occurring throughout the play (e.g. the lemons). I don’t mind plays/books that fall in the genre of magical realism; but I don’t really care for those that are simply surreal (e.g. No Exit which I detested). Fans of the movie will be let down by this book, methinks. Fans of good plays definitely will as well.

[Steven Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

The interesting part of reading this very brief, chaotic, and unstageable play is to see how it was developed by the author and her collaborators into the magnificent and affirmative film. Read it as you would an early (very early) version of the script of a great play. Some of the passages became very strong parts of the film. Thank goodess the decision was made to transform Hushpuppie into such a character of insight and strength in the film.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/beasts-of-the-southern-wild-and-juicy-and-delicious/

I think this would be unstageable. Flying lemons aren’t the half of it. Also it’s very different from the film – Hushpuppy is a boy, and he and his father live in Georgia and (I think) are coded as white. It’s been turned into a thing of wonder in the cinematic process – a rare example where the film is infinitely better than the material it is based on (cf. Casablanca, also based on an unperformed stage play).

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

After watching the film I knew I wanted to read what it could possibly be adapted from. This play is a play - very much in the realm of magical realism; it was wonderful seeing the story in an entirely new medium, transposed to theatre. The way you achieve certain feelings or tone in a play is different in a play versus film and I enjoyed seeing the transposition. It is bold. It is fresh And it feels.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of magical realism, so when lemons and grits started falling from the sky I was all for it. I think the play had a good balance of tragedy to comedy, and the amount of emotion and character depth that Alibar created in such a short play is really impressive.

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play is very strange, but thought provoking. I found myself surprised by every page. Reading this was an enjoyable experience, and it was worthwhile to see where Beasts of the Southern Wilds has its roots.

[Rachel Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not 100% sure I understood what was going on in this play, but I'm really interested to see how it was adapted for the big screen!

[Nick Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this play, watch this short film, and then watch "Beasts of the Southern Wild." It's like tasting all the ingredients before you eat the meal.

[Kate O'Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, so, bizarre. Still not sure what happened.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Play was very short, but I liked it. The movie Beasts of the Southern Wild that was based off of this play was OUTSTANDING.

[Emma Filtness · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, surreal little play with an endearing protagonist, heartbreaking themes, wonderful setting and great humour. A quick yet memorable read.

[Nico ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who read the play before watching the movie, I really wanted to come on here to say that the difference wasn’t significant, but it definitely was.

But for me personally, using this platform to simply compare the two, instead of reviewing solely the play, would be doing no one any good.

Juicy & Delicious was personally hard for me to follow, perhaps I’m just not as imaginative as Hushpuppy?
Regardless, it’s a solid read and once you start to understand the layers of lessons and see the character development, specifically Hushpuppy’s, it makes more sense as to why the store, whether in play or movie form, is well loved.

[Taylor Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting idea that ultimately went on to an inspire a great film. The play feels a little underdeveloped and heavy-handed - less of the magical elements, especially at the beginning, would have been more effective. A slower build with the technical elements as Daddy's condition worsens would heighten the surreal cacophony of Hushpuppy's world coming to an end.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Era una lectura obligada luego de que "Beasts of the Southern Wild" es una de mis películas favoritas de siempre. Por mucho prefiero la película, pero no quiero restarle méritos a la obra, no por nada fue basada en ella.

[jooj · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was such a cool script to read!

[Shelbs]

my girlfriend gave me to read 🥰

[Elise Vullo · Rating 1 out of 5]

i really admire those with bigger imaginations than me. no idea how this is stageable. planning on giving the movie based off this a chance

[Jessica Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous prose, I just don’t love impossible plays! I do love apocalypse and natural disaster plays though. I just want them to be stageable.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I'm sophisticated enough to understand a one act play simply from reading it but I'm anxious to see the movie this was adapted into as part of my Oscar challenge (reading all the books the adapted screenplays were based on).

[Alan Caskey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick read. If you see the movie first, you can skip the play. It did biting me back to when I was just a Hushpuppy.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The play that inspired "Beasts of the Southern Wild" which was an extraordinary film, great book.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I liked how it was inspired by a real group of people living in the most remote part of Louisiana. Can't imagine kids live like that but they apparently do!

[melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonder if the eyeballs are a nod to Sarah Kane.

[Izzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

What even is this about? I get it, but it could've been way less weirder than it ended up being.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. It was such a fast read that I might need to reread it so I can take it all in.

[Islam · Rating 5 out of 5]

الفيلم