Play Review: The Piano Lesson By August Wilson
Laura Logan
Diana Polsky
Theater 107
03/25/2012
The Piano Lesson
By August Wilson
The Piano Lesson was inspired by a painting of the same name. It was first performed at the Yale Repertory Theater November 26, 1987. The Piano Lesson tells the story of an artistically carved piano, the interwoven stories of the Sutter and Charles families that owned the piano. Berniece and Boy Willie (the grand children of the slave who carved the piano) have different views on what to do with the family piano which has much of the family’s history dealing with slavery, oppression and loss. The theme of the play is not to run from your legacy, instead embrace and learn from it. The play’s theme will be proven through the play’s Structure.
The structure of The Piano Lesson is episodic. The play has many characters and covers a wide range of time. The end is the accumulative events of the play. The theme of an episodic play is the meaning of the journey the …show more content…
characters take. The telling of the piano’s history helps us to see the journey of Berniece’s and Boy Willie’s opposing views and their ancestors’ sacrifices and ultimately to embrace and learn from your legacy.
Berniece has not played the family piano for three years, by doing so she tries to keep her ancestors and the past away from herself and her daughter.
Her brother Boy Willie has come to Doaker Charles home to sell watermelons and try to convince his sister to sell the piano. Several fights occur during which the ghost of Sutter appears to protect her family Berniece realizes that she needs play the piano and keep the connections to her ancestors. Boy Willie is trying to raise his status and thinks by buying the land his family worked as slaves from the family who once owned his family will do this. He learns from his uncles and his sister the price that was paid for the piano. The play ends with Berniece and Boy Willie arguing over the piano, the specter of Sutter appears, Boy Willie fights Sutter, Berniece goes to the piano plays it and pleas with their ancestors. The ancestors come in the form of the sound of a train and Sutter’s ghost leaves. Boy Willie learns that ancestors want the piano to stay where it
is.
Berniece and Boy Willie both embrace their family legacy and learn from it. Boy Willie tells Berniece, “… if you and Marthea don’t keep playing on that piano … ain’t no telling… me and Sutter both liable to be back.” (Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson.2, 5, v1258-1260)
The Works Cited:
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. New York: Penguin Books, 1990. Print.
Elkins, Marilyn. Oxford Companion to African Literature: August Wilson. www.answers.com/topic/august-wilson.Web.03/14/2012.
Wikipedia. Lloyd Richards. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Richards.Web.03/14/2012.
Wikipedia. Yale School of Drama. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_School_of_Drama. Web.03/14/2012.
Diana Polsky
Theater 107
03/25/2012
The Piano Lesson
By August Wilson
The Piano Lesson was inspired by a painting of the same name. It was first performed at the Yale Repertory Theater November 26, 1987. The Piano Lesson tells the story of an artistically carved piano, the interwoven stories of the Sutter and Charles families that owned the piano. Berniece and Boy Willie (the grand children of the slave who carved the piano) have different views on what to do with the family piano which has much of the family’s history dealing with slavery, oppression and loss. The theme of the play is not to run from your legacy, instead embrace and learn from it. The play’s theme will be proven through the play’s Structure.
The structure of The Piano Lesson is episodic. The play has many characters and covers a wide range of time. The end is the accumulative events of the play. The theme of an episodic play is the meaning of the journey the …show more content…
characters take. The telling of the piano’s history helps us to see the journey of Berniece’s and Boy Willie’s opposing views and their ancestors’ sacrifices and ultimately to embrace and learn from your legacy.
Berniece has not played the family piano for three years, by doing so she tries to keep her ancestors and the past away from herself and her daughter.
Her brother Boy Willie has come to Doaker Charles home to sell watermelons and try to convince his sister to sell the piano. Several fights occur during which the ghost of Sutter appears to protect her family Berniece realizes that she needs play the piano and keep the connections to her ancestors. Boy Willie is trying to raise his status and thinks by buying the land his family worked as slaves from the family who once owned his family will do this. He learns from his uncles and his sister the price that was paid for the piano. The play ends with Berniece and Boy Willie arguing over the piano, the specter of Sutter appears, Boy Willie fights Sutter, Berniece goes to the piano plays it and pleas with their ancestors. The ancestors come in the form of the sound of a train and Sutter’s ghost leaves. Boy Willie learns that ancestors want the piano to stay where it
is.
Berniece and Boy Willie both embrace their family legacy and learn from it. Boy Willie tells Berniece, “… if you and Marthea don’t keep playing on that piano … ain’t no telling… me and Sutter both liable to be back.” (Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson.2, 5, v1258-1260)
The Works Cited:
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. New York: Penguin Books, 1990. Print.
Elkins, Marilyn. Oxford Companion to African Literature: August Wilson. www.answers.com/topic/august-wilson.Web.03/14/2012.
Wikipedia. Lloyd Richards. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Richards.Web.03/14/2012.
Wikipedia. Yale School of Drama. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_School_of_Drama. Web.03/14/2012.