Summary Of The Play 'On Tidy Endings'

In the Play “On Tidy Endings” written by Harvey Fierstein it tells the story of a woman whose husband leaves her for a man. Marion is married to her late husband Collins, who dies from AIDS. They have a child together. Collins realizes that he likes men and starts sleeping with many of them until he finds Arthur. They fall in love and they move in together. When Collins gets sick and dies, Marion is left with his money. Arthur is left with nothing but the memories he had with Collins in their apartment. The most intruiging scene in the play is when Arthur put’s Marion in her place. He tells her how he is the one who was there for Collins when Collins gets sick. “I was the one who cooked his meals. I was the one whp spoon-fed them. I pushed
his wheelchair. I carried and bathed him. I wiped his backside and changed his diapers…..and when it was time I was the one who prepared him for death”(Collin 196). Arthur wants Marion to understand that collins was his. Marion is just his ex-wife and is insignificant in their life. Arthur is letting Marion know that he is not someone she can walk all over on, and that she is in his apartment so she should show some respect. The least interesting scenes is the beginning because there is no action. It is mostly just Marion talking with her lawyer. There are also scenes about Marion and her son. Her son is a bit disrespectful to her. “Marion: To the apartment. You and your daddy spent a lot of time here together. Don’t you want to take one last look around? Jim: Ma, get a life”(Collin 165). No one should talk to their mother like that. Her son is probably acting out. Hi father is gay and is now dead. That’s hard for a child to take in and undertsand at his age. The play is rated two hearts because it was not that interesting to read. It did not have any lasting impact. The story line is good because it is different than anything I have read. It could have been delievered better. The film is more interesting than the play. The play is confusing but the film cleared it up more. The character Arthur is fascinating. He is gay but he does not act like the stereotypical gay man you see in shows and movies. He is not loud or obnoxious. He has a subtle amount of femininity and does not over-do it. The character Marion is annoying. She does not seem sincere at all with Arthure. She acts fake. She acts to nice to be real, but inside she dislikes Arthurs guts. The authors message is to show how prescious life is and that the ones people care about can be taken away from them at any moment. The author is also bringing awareness to the seriousness of AIDS and HIV. The plot could have been more thrilling so overall I rate this play two hearts. I recommend this to an age group of sophmores through seniors. Freshmans would not be able to handle this topic because there immaturity level is low. They will giggle at words like gay, HIV or lovers.