Art Essay: Theatre. Top Girls Plays (Essay Sample)

Theatre
Name
Course
Institution
Date
Fences
The play Fences revolves around two families. The main characters belong to one family made up of Troy, the father, his wife Rose and their son Cory. Troy is a black man who appears to be uncomfortable with the way he perceives the treatment of black people. In fact, he is audibly displeased and questions his boss about the roles played by white people against the blacks. The playwright uses this scene to bring the past into the play and to also show the audience where Troy’s scepticism of the way black people are treated comes from. He used to play football for Negro teams in the past but never got a chance to play in the major leagues because by the time major leagues accepted black players he was too old to play (Gainor, 131).
Around this time also he goes into a long story in his past about his struggle with death. This is another example of the past being brought to the present and its relevance is especially demonstrated when Troy’s Mistress Alberta, dies while giving birth to his child. Troy is forced again to face death and just as he struggled with death in the past, he faces death un-wavered and even challenges death to come for him if it dare after he has built the fence he promised his wife. We also see the past brought into the structure of the play after Troy wins the case and is made the first black garbage truck driver. In this scene, Troy and Bono reminisce over their childhood experiences when they moved north after leaving home in the South. His victory over the case at work also signifies his past experiences where he felt that he did not receive the treatment he deserved because he was black.
Top Girls Plays
Top Girls stars a career driven woman, Marlene, gives up her poor life and illegitimate child to pursue success. The play’s theme revolves around the experiences of successful women in the past, what they gave up to attain it and whether or not they had to. The playwright structures also plays the past into the present especially because it looks into past successful women and pioneer feminists in order to pass a point across. The play uses these past legends to examine how well successful women juggle family life with career life if at all. One of the past feminists structured into the play is Margaret Thatcher along with her feminist ideals. The audience is put in a position where they compare the present, Marlene&...