Morning's at Seven

Insights A Study Guide to the Utah Shakespeare Festival Morning’s at Seven The articles in this study guide are not meant to mirror or interpret any productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. They are meant, instead, to be an educational jumping-off point to understanding and enjoying the plays (in any production at any theatre) a bit more thoroughly. Therefore the stories of the plays and the interpretative articles (and even characters, at times) may differ dramatically from what is ultimately produced on the Festival’s stages. Insights is published by the Utah Shakespeare Festival, 351 West Center Street; Cedar City, UT 84720. Bruce C. Lee, communications director and editor; Phil Hermansen, art director. Copyright © 2011, Utah Shakespeare Festival. Please feel free to download and print Insights, as long as you do not remove any identifying mark of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. For more information about Festival education programs: Utah Shakespeare Festival 351 West Center Street Cedar City, Utah 84720 435-586-7880 www.bard.org. Cover photo: Anne Newhall in Morning’s at Seven, 2004. Contents Information on the Play Synopsis 4 Morning’sCharacters at Seven5 About the Playwrights 6 Scholarly Articles on the Play The Function of Disfunction 8 Utah Shakespeare Festival 3 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Synopsis: Morning’s at Seven Cora Swanson and her sister Ida Bolton, along with husbands Thor and Carl, have lived next door to each other for their entire married lives. In addition, an old-maid sister, Arry, lives with Cora and Thor. A fourth sister, Esther and her husband David, live outside the immediate neighborhood. As the play opens, all four families are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Homer Bolton and his fiancée, Myrtle Brown. Homer has been engaged to Myrtle for seven years and dated her for five years before that and, oddly enough, this will be the first time anyone in his family will have met her. As Homer and Myrtle finally make their appearance, Homer’s father, Carl, is so frightened of not being able to make a good impression (he considers himself a total failure) that he has one of his “spells” and is conveniently kept out of sight for the time being. Homer, it seems, is a very reluctant suitor. He has grown more than a little comfortable with his present lifestyle and has no real desire to marry, in spite of the fact that his father has built and fur- nished a house, a house that has been sitting empty for several years, that will be his when and if he does marry. Myrtle, is beginning to wonder if she has waited long enough. To complicate matters, Cora and Carl have reached a secret agreement. If Homer makes no wedding announcement during this visit, Carl will lease the vacant house to Cora, enabling her to finally live alone with her husband, Thor, who has no knowledge of the agreement. She plans to leave their present house to her sister, Arry. Cora and Ida scurry about trying to calm everyone down, and just when it appears that everyone can finally be gotten to the dinner table, the face of David Crampton appears at the kitchen window. He has previously given his wife, Esther, orders never to visit her family whom he considers to be a pack of morons. He calmly announces that, henceforward, Esther will occupy the upper half of their house; he, the lower half. In that case, Esther decides, she’ll just stay with her sister, Ida. Carl decides to move in with David, who has agreed to help him find out “where he is” in life. But first, Cora gets the disoriented Carl to sign the lease on the empty house, much to the dismay of Homer, Thor, and Arry. Homer makes up with Myrtle, then enlists the aid of Uncle Thor, who has taken a definite lik- ing to Myrtle, in getting “his” house back. The still confused Carl moves back home, reassured by David who, from all indications, misses Esther and wants her to come home. Cora relents and gives Homer’s house back to him, since he and Myrtle are soon to be married. Ida and Esther threaten to reveal their suspicions that Arry and Thor have been involved in a long-standing affair. Arry’s “secret,” the fact that she did once have a brief affair with Thor many years before, is revealed, as she decides to move in with Carl and Ida, finally giving Cora her wish of living alone with her husband. Characters: Morning’s at Seven 4 Utah Shakespeare Festival 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Theodore (Thor) Swanson: The gruff-spoken but tender-hearted husband of Cora, Thor is frequently caught in the middle in conflicts between his wife, Cora, and her sister, Arry, who has shared their home since she was a teenager. Thor is the most rational of all the males in the play and is fond of Arry and opposes the idea of sending her to live elsewhere. Cora Swanson: Wife of Thor and sister of Arry, Ida and Esther, Cora is resentful of never having had a life alone with her husband, and she desperately wants to get away from her live-in sister, Arry. It is Cora who “holds things together,” but close living with her unmarried sister for upwards of four decades has created some long-standing tensions (and secrets) in the household. Aaronetta (Arry) Gibbs: The old maid sister of Cora, Ida and Esther, Arry has lived with Cora and Thor for the whole of her adult life. She is both the family gossip and snoop and vies with Cora for Thor’s attention. She is a bit more artistic than her sisters and has a tendency to be high strung and “wound up” most of the time. Ida Bolton: Wife of Carl and mother of Homer, Ida and family live next door to Cora, Thor and Arry. She tries to understand her husband’s “spells” and holds her family together. While she wants her son, Homer, to marry and avoid being a “lonely old bachelor,” she dotes on him and makes it difficult for him to leave. Carl Bolton: Husband of Ida and father of Homer, Carl is frequently caught up in his “spells” which result from his overwhelming sense of failure at not becoming a dentist. He is more a source of concern and worry than a source of strength. He is, however, a skilled craftsman and has built a house “on the hill” for his son to move into when he marries. Unfortunately, the house sits empty (as it has for a half-decade), awaiting the big day when the younger Bolton will finally take a wife. Homer Bolton: Carl and Ida’s forty-year-old son, Homer has been living at home and dating Myrtle Brown for eleven years and has been unable, or unwilling, to make a commitment. In fact, he has never before brought her home to meet his family. Rather thick and clumsy, he is quite comfortable with his life as it is and sees no reason to change things. Myrtle Brown: The long-suffering fiancée of Homer Bolton, Myrtle is affectionate and seemingly willing to wait for Homer to marry her, although it is apparent that she hopes her long awaited visit to his family will finally lead to something more than his weekend visits. She is pleasant, polite, and awkwardly beautiful, if a bit gawky. Her arrival and introduction to the family is bound to create a stir in this quiet and unassuming neighborhood. Esther (Esty) Crampton: The eldest of the four sisters and wife of David. Esty, like many women of her generation, has spent her married life in submission to a domineering and emotionally abusive husband. She has a mind of her own, however, and usually manages to do the things she wants to without causing conflict. She is frequently a calming influence when conflicts occur among her sisters. She and her husband live (intentionally) a couple of blocks away from the other sisters. Esty has an innate understanding of human and family interaction. David Crampton: The domineering, frequently insensitive husband of Esther, David is what might be called an “educated” misfit, since his education has led to little more than an inflated ego and a misguided sense of superiority. A former professor at the local college, David refuses to associate with the others in the play and would prefer that Esther do the same. He considers his wife’s family, and almost everyone else, to be morons and is not reluctant to tell them so. However, under certain circumstances, he is capable of compassion and even affection. Morning’s at Seven: Paul Osborn By Carly Hughes Utah Shakespeare Festival 5 From Insights, 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 2004 Said of Paul Osborn by Michiko Kakutani: “He learned how to transform the sprawling nar- rative of a book into tight dramatic action and he learned how to retain the essential mood of a book while tailoring the characters to individual actor’s abilities (“40 Years Late, Osborn Has a Hit” [New York Times, 14 April 1980], 13). It is a statement celebrating Osborn’s success as a screen and stage adapter. Indeed with such credits to his name as South Pacific and East of Eden, his part in the public memory is largely tied to his skill in streamlining the work of preceding authors (World Authors 1980-1985, Osborn, Paul [H.W.

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