symbolism
‘night Mother
After an unscheduled delay caused mostly by a certain male sibling’s recent life changes/laziness, Novel Ideas returns with ‘night Mother by Marsha Norman. We read this play because it is award winning and unlike our previous two plays, written by a female playwright. We brought back special guest Jessica Showers (at least at the time of recording) because she works in the theater industry. In this episode, we discuss women and Broadway, depression, conformity, and detachment. We also talk about the possibility of cotagonists, Sno Balls (and how they are the worst), candy, and a few terrible alternate endings.
The music bump is “Communication” by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and was inspired by our discussion of the theme of the play.
‘night Mother – Suicide is Hard to Joke About
Recommendations:
An award winning play that would definitely be worth seeing staged. Is it worth reading? Tougher question to answer.
Gabs: 7/10. Interesting, but hasn’t stuck with me completely.
Ben: 7/10. About the same.
The Great Gatsby
Welcome back, old sport. It’s so good to see you yet again at one of our extravagant parties, old sport. This week’s discussion topic is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Old sport.) Listen as we analyze racism, how to identify a protagonist, hypocrisy, and the danger of being tied to your past. We also look at verbal tics, what is actually the “midwest,” and the various ways in which Tom is a dick. Though it’s short, this book is a pretty rich source of material. You can read it in less time than it takes to go see the movie, so consider doing that before you join us.
The music bump is “Beale Street Blues,” a popular piece of music from around the time the book was written, and furthermore, a piece of music that gets specifically mentioned in the text. This particular recording was made a few years later, sung by the still amazing Ella Fitzgerald. No relation to the author, but I hope I didn’t need to tell you that.
Lord of the Flies
Gabs was out of town this week, so we’re posting one of our test episodes this week. This was recorded months ago, before we started posting, to see if we could actually do this. It turned out well enough to bank it for possible future use, so here it is. Lord of the Flies is, of course, one of the more commonly assigned readings due to its young cast and the overwhelming amount of symbolism. In this episode, we cover the various charming personalities involved, the probable deaths of several young children, and bring you inside on the “Ralph hates girly things” joke that has appeared in other episodes.
There is no music bump this week because none was added when the episode was originally mixed. If you need an intro, just shout “Sucks to your ass-mar!” before you play the file.
Novel Ideas 