Reviews

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail: A Play by Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee

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rileybarnes's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

locke_reads's review

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

tealattes's review against another edition

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funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

I don’t normally enjoy plays as they often correlate with academic work and bring up memories of said work (especially pertaining to Shakespeare).

BUT with the focus of this play being Thoreau and transcendentalism, and the formatting being unconventional (ebbing in and out of time periods, weaving the past and present Thoreau to shape his character), I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Transcendentalism itself is so contrary with everything that exists- the play highlights this fact, including how society has conditioned all to be a certain way when there isn’t really a right way to anything- and how people shouldn’t be scorned for wanting to break past those conventions.

With this abstract and thought provoking topic it was really clever to incorporate humor and structure it so that Thoreau is contemplating his past and present in an unstructured manner - it captured the confusing and chaotic nature of Thoreau and his statutes.

Thoreau himself comes off as real loopy to those around him in the play, because nobody is open minded enough to go past their closed minds and understand him. This dynamic created a “character against the world” type of feel, and conveyed the challenge of nonconformity.

There are many thought provoking lines that stuck with me afterwards. It is a great play for both those who know of Thoreau and this literary period or who are looking for an introduction to them.