Book Review: Perfect Pie by Judith Thompson (for teaching) - Entrepreneur Generations

Judith Thompson is a Canadian playwright on the IB Prescribed Authors List, and I ordered a few of her plays to see if she would be an author suitable for IB Seniors.

Her most well-known play is probably Perfect Pie (2000), partially because it was made into a 2002 movie starring Rachel McAdams and Wendy Crewson.

The play is a two-character, 4-actress play, and goes back and forth between present day and flashbacks with nearly every scene. There are 31 specifically delineated scenes in the first act, and 20 in the second act, and the rapid shifts make for a quick read and a sense of building towards a crescendo.

The present day action is a reunion between two middle-aged women: Patsy, who has stayed in their small Canadian town as a farm wife and mother; and Francesca, who left as a teenager and became a film star. Back in high school, Francesca was named Marie, and she and Patsy were best friends; there are several very sweet and moving scenes documenting the friendship of these two girls, between well-adjusted Patsy, who loves her friend Marie even though she's poor and bullied by classmates.

That bullying reaches (minor spoiler ahead, but it's pretty clear something like this has happened from the start) a climax after a school dance, when Marie is gang-raped by a group of classmates. This is recalled towards the end of the play in a monologue by Marie, and this leads to the final secret of the play, a violent train accident that is heavily foreshadowed throughout the play, and the two girls' estrangement.  By the time the play begins, the two women haven't seen each other in over twenty years. Perfect Pie begins with Patsy writing a letter to Marie, inviting her to visit.

As the title suggests, food is an important motif in the play, and there are other interesting symbols as well, most notably ice and hands. But what is probably most interesting is the way that Thompson sets up the suffering of both women; Patsy lives a contented life on the outside, but she reveals that after the accident, she has internalized her friend's suffering, suffering from seizures (which she personifies into a stalker) and not crying, even when her son loses an arm and she delivers a stillborn baby. Likewise, Francesca lives a life of movie stardom, but also still suffers as a result of this haunting secret she carries.

There are plenty of interesting things here for students to analyze, even though the subject matter of sexual violence is definitely difficult. It is described only in one monologue in the end, but there's some graphicness to it.

I can see students really enjoying how quick of a read it is, and figuring out how the flashbacks work to build the action of the present day scenes, however. And the catharsis that happens at the conclusion of the play is reminiscent of Greek tragedies, something students have studied earlier in their time in high school.

Compared with Blood Relations (my review here), I think both have many excellent qualities in a play to teach, and it may depend on cost and availability. I have loved thinking about how Blood Relations might work with Richard III (most historical plays based upon fact, both show a character moved to villainy), but, in conversations over the next week, it will be interesting to discuss with my colleagues if Perfect Pie might work too.

from Epiphany in Baltimore http://ift.tt/2byVbM2 Book Review: Perfect Pie by Judith Thompson (for teaching) - Entrepreneur Generations

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