"Overtones" by Alice Gerstenberg

         The first play we get to talk about is called Overtones. It was a very easy read, taking maybe 45 minutes to get through the whole thing. On top of that, the entire time you're reading it you can't help but be completely fascinated by these 2 characters, er 4 characters…For me, it brings me back to every conversation I've ever had with someone that I don't like, don't trust, but for whatever reason it was important for me to "play nice". 

         The focus of this play is the idea that women make effort to maintain a facade when dealing with others. In this case the facades are physically manifested as the "primitive selves", Hetty and Maggie, the rough counterparts of the "cultured selves", Harriet and Margaret. It doesn't even matter whether or not they care about or even like each other, but the fact of the matter is that they need to be perceived a certain way. They'd like to be thought of as happy, successful, brilliant, etc. These two women are threatened by each other. This is why their counterparts, Hetty and Maggie, are so prominent in the scene as it unfolds. These "primitive selves" are activated when primal instincts, like fear and anger, become front and center. They believe that the lies they tell are vital to their very survival. For example when Hetty and Harriet discuss that neither one loves their husband Charles, Harriet offers,"…a man who is managed only by the cleverness of my artifice." This tells you that it's not just other women, but her own husband, that she deceives in order to preserve her status. This stems from her fear of being poor and alone. In Margaret/Maggie's case her deception stems from the same fear although hers is more of a present danger. In one instance starving Maggie pleads with Hetty,"Help us! Help me! Save me!" while at the same time hating Harriet/Hetty for "sneering at [their] poverty". It's as though something as modern and tedious as social discord can cause these women to respond as though they are being physically threatened, and their counterparts instruct them to "attack" and "defend" themselves as they see fit. Though the so-called attack is cleverly hidden by each character's overtones.

Thought for the day: