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Bernardine
Excerpt from Bernardine
The orchestra rises in the pit and goes away. The buzzing in the audience subsides. The house lights dim. A pin spotlight moves across the thick red velvet curtain and pic/es out a young man stepping from behind the curtain to face the audience. He is in the uniform of the United States Air Force. He smiles. He says.
The orchestra rises in the pit and goes away. The buzzing in the audience subsides. The house lights dim. A pin spotlight moves across the thick red velvet curtain and pic/es out a young man stepping from behind the curtain to face the audience. He is in the uniform of the United States Air Force. He smiles. He says.
131 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2024
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March 6, 2024
Mary Chase's play 'Harvey' and the film adaptation are both about as close as you can get to perfection in storytelling (in my humble opinion, etc, etc). After the film's release, 'Bernadine' was the next play she wrote, and it's nothing that anyone could have predicted. Chase dives here into the hang-out culture of teen boys in the early 1950s, complete with a heavy dose of both girl-craziness and very dated slang. But there's a sort of mythology present as well, and she demonstrates great affection for her characters. Despite the dated-ness of the dialogue, there's a solid structure running through the play--and I'm certain that, given the right tone, this could still be staged successfully. Also, anyone running into the old Oxford hardcover edition will find a charming 6-page introduction.
Displaying 1 of 1 review