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Centaur’s Theatre of Tomorrow presents
A Teacher’s Manual for
Colleen Murphy’s
Prepared for the Centaur by
Liana Bellon (Department of English, Dawson College) and
Spiridoula Photopoulos (Department of English, Vanier College)
Liana Bellon: [email protected]
Spiridoula Photopoulos: [email protected]
2014-2015 Season
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
At Great-­‐West Life, London Life and Canada Life, we are committed to enriching communities through our support of the arts. We focus on accessibility and audience involvement, and encourage the participation and education of youth. We’re proud to support Theatre of Tomorrow through the Centaur Theatre Company as they engage minds, entertain audiences and encourage new ideas.
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SYNOPSIS:
The play is centered on a couple in their sixties: a woman who has recently retired from her job
as a teacher and a businessman who has recently suffered a heart attack and is on leave from
work in order to recover. The action mostly takes place in the couple’s bedroom at night and
early into the next morning. A homeless man enters the couple’s condo and bedroom bleeding
from his forehead and asking for help. Once her initial fear of the stranger dissipates the woman
bonds with the stranger and has various discussions with him, as well as with her husband,
ranging from the need to revolt against social conformity and return to nature to longing for love
and the “flutter” of being alive.
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
LILLY BEAUMONT, a sixty-six-year-old retired teacher who lives with her husband in a
recently-purchased condo.
MORGAN BEAUMONT, Lilly’s sixty-four-year-old husband, a businessman, who is recovering
from a recent heart attack.
PARKER, a homeless man in his thirties or forties who enters the Beaumont condo; he is
wounded both physically and psychologically.
THEMES:
Nature versus civilization
Alienation and loneliness
Preserving a sense of wonder
Finding solace in nature
Idealism and disillusionment
Compassion and empathy
Social consciousness, activism, and rebellion
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:
Note to students: The goal of the following research activities is to develop research skills.
Inserting a key word into Google and copying information from Wikipedia is not considered
research. To complete the following activities, use books and reputable articles as your sources.
Provide the author and title of the texts you have used.
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1. Gather information about the playwright, Colleen Murphy, and her many other plays.
How do some of her other plays relate to the characters and themes of The Goodnight
Bird?
2. The play’s epigraph is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “When it is dark enough, you
can see the stars.” Research Ralph Waldo Emerson and his works.
a) What are some of the most important points of similarity and difference between
Emerson’s works and/or viewpoints and Murphy’s play?
b) Why is that particular quotation used as the play’s epigraph? How does it relate to
the themes developed in the play, and specifically to Lilly and Morgan’s relationship?
3. Parker quotes Emerson in the play.
Emerson is known for having led the
Transcendentalist movement in the United States during the mid nineteenth century.
Research Transcendentalism.
a) How does this movement figure in Murphy’s play?
b) How can Parker’s many comments on nature in the play be viewed or interpreted as
Transcendental?
c) Parker quotes Emerson: “I am a lover of uncontained and immortal beauty in the
wilderness. I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages in the
tranquil landscape and especially in the distant line of the horizon man beholds
somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.” What does this reveal about Parker?
d) Later on in the play, Lilly mentions another instance when Parker references
Emerson: “[Parker] looked up at the sky and quoted Emerson, ‘Every night come out
these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.’” How
is the personification of stars in this quotation significant? How does the use of this
literary device relate to Transcendentalist ideas?
4. When Morgan asks Parker what the latter’s name is, Parker replies: “Orion.” Orion is a
constellation as well as a figure in Greek mythology. Research the myth of Orion.
a) How does the myth and the mythological character relate to Parker? How does the
myth of Orion relate to the larger themes of Murphy’s play?
b) Specifically, how does Parker’s presence illuminate aspects of Lilly and Morgan’s
relationship? What comes to light?
c) “People don’t own the stars,” Parker says when speaking to Morgan and Lilly. His
words recall the song “The Best Things in Life are Free,” especially the line “the
moon belongs to everyone.” How does calling himself Orion link the lonely Parker to
everyone else?
5. Parker’s concern for the potted trees on the roof echoes Holden Caulfield’s concern for
the ducks in Central Park in Salinger’s classic novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951).
Students should be encouraged to read the novel before seeing Murphy’s play so that
they can engage in a detailed comparative analysis of the two characters.
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6. Towards the end of the play, Morgan tries to remember a poem by Emily Dickinson that
he used to recite to Lilly. The poem is “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!” He remembers and
recites the full poem at the end of the play. Research Emily Dickinson and look up the
poem. What does this poem reveal about Morgan? How does it relate to the various
themes of love and relationships as developed in Murphy’s play?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND/OR WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:
1. The play is entitled The Goodnight Bird. What atmosphere does the title evoke when first
heard or read? How does the title relate to the themes developed in the play? How is the
title symbolic of what transpires throughout the play? For instance, at one point, Parker
states, “I’m a bird … I’m a bird, I’m a bird,” and, at the end of the play, the sounds of a
bird singing are heard among the sounds of traffic.
2. The main action of the play takes place in the Beaumonts’ bedroom, which is described
as “tastefully decorated … cluttered with too many things and not enough space to put
them all. Paintings of landscapes dot the walls … a lone geranium plant perches on the
window ledge.”
a) Why is this description of the bedroom significant? How does it relate to larger
themes developed within the play?
b) What does the play’s setting reveal about the Beaumonts? What does the outside
setting of Parker’s world as a homeless man reveal about him?
3. Plants and nature are mentioned throughout Murphy’s play. There is a geranium plant in
the bedroom, potted trees on the roof, and the mention of orchids and a ravine.
a) Discuss the significance of nature and plant life in the play. How can the plants or
nature locations mentioned in the play be symbolic of larger themes within the play
or as metaphors for the characters’ situations and states of mind? For example,
Parker states, “the trees are imprisoned in pots – they’re being tortured, tortured
beyond endurance” and “their roots are busted and stripped down, stripped to raw
trembling pain.”
b) How can nature and plant life, as described and mentioned in the play, relate to the
three characters? For instance, Lilly’s name is that of a flower, lilium longiflorum,
and she says, “we all return to nature” and “I’ll bloom … like a flower.” Also, when
discussing orchids, Morgan states that the secret to growing them is “never to touch
them” and, throughout the play, Morgan barely touches Lilly. In fact, at one point, he
“snuggles against Lilly barely touching her” and then moves back to his side of the
bed. However, Parker asks Lilly, more than once, to “touch [him]” to “see if [he]
died.”
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4. The play references religion, often through dialogue given to Lilly. For example, Lilly
states early on that her friend Ruth’s gesture of crossing herself whenever she heard an
ambulance was “both conspicuous and futile” and that “despite copious amounts of
prayer” Ruth still died of cancer.
a) What does this anecdote tell us about what Lilly values and what she rejects?
b) Does the play echo her rational approach?
c) Is the play’s celebration of nature a celebration of the rational or of the spiritual?
5. Lilly is initially afraid and repulsed by Parker. She then warms up to him and even cares
for him. Discuss this change in her behavior and perception of Parker. What does it
reveal about Lilly? What specific instances within the play support this revelation? You
might want to consider the fact that Lilly quotes the proverbial phrase, “an ounce of
mother is worth a pound of God.” Why is Parker’s statement that “my whole family’s
dead and I don’t remember my mother but I miss her very much” so poignant? He also
states that “no one loves me and I love everything.” The way he words his feelings of
loss and loneliness seems to be the turning point in Lilly’s interaction with him.
6. What does Parker mean when he states that “the lion lies down with the lamb”? What is
the significance of this biblical allusion? Think about the lion and the lamb mentioned in
Isaiah 11:6: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall
lead them.”
7. Parker’s name does not reflect his love of nature (although his preferred name, Orion,
does) while Lilly’s names, both her first and last (Beaumont is French for beautiful
mountain), are initially rather ironic since she values the material world above nature.
a) Is her epiphany that nature is a source of wonder and freedom believable? Also, must
one value either nature or art or can we value both?
b) Does the play imply one must forsake art to appreciate nature?
c) At the end of the play, Lilly makes an announcement to Morgan about her epiphany
in the woods. In Renaissance art, lilies are often included in paintings depicting the
Annunciation, which is the tale of the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she will
give birth to Jesus. The white lilies symbolize Mary’s purity and virtue. With these
references in mind, explain how Lilly’s name is ultimately quite appropriate for her.
d) Parker spends time at the Good Shepherd homeless shelter. How can Lilly also be
considered a good shepherd of sorts? Consider why Morgan tells her that her students
“are your real children.”
8. After Lilly returns from her time with Parker, she tells Morgan she wants to sell the
landscape paintings because, as Parker says, “all art is useless.” Parker is quoting Oscar
Wilde’s famous statement, but Wilde celebrated the ‘uselessness’ of art that was created
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purely for art’s sake. The statement was intended to free art from its traditional role of
being a didactic tool promoting conventional values. Consider this understanding of the
line in contrast to Lilly’s newfound distaste for art. As well, consider the Romantic poet
Shelley’s thoughts on art and nature: “Without a sense of creative activity, man, having
enslaved the elements, remains a slave himself.”
9. When Lilly claims Parker made love to her, she states, “I felt cleansed, as if a layer of
rust was stripped off of me.” What does this reveal about Lilly and the Beaumonts’
relationship? How is what she says significant after she admits that Parker fell asleep in
the ravine and never made love to her?
10. Although the play explores the serious subjects of homelessness, alienation, and
existential crises, it also includes comedic moments. Parker’s appearance in Lilly and
Morgan’s bedroom prompts a series of humorous lines related to Lilly’s aversion to
swearing, her fastidiousness about home décor, and Morgan and Lilly’s shock at the
‘break-in.’ Why is humour incorporated into a scene that, ostensibly, is rather serious?
What is implied by bringing together humour and pathos?
11. The play ends with Lilly and Morgan about to engage in a “small and meaningful”
gesture of rebellion as they plan to remove the potted rooftop trees from their containers.
a) What are they rebelling against?
b) Lilly paraphrases the Russian physicist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei
Sakharov when she tells Morgan that “Sakharov once said that there are situations in
which revolution is the only way out of an impasse.” What impasse do Lilly and
Morgan find themselves in? Are the restrictions Lilly wants to rebel against selfimposed or the product of larger cultural and political factors? Is the play mocking or
celebrating Lilly and Morgan as they engage in their rebellious gesture?
c) What gestures can we each do that are small and meaningful to make the world more
beautiful, more just, etc.? Students should each think of one such gesture and
complete it.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:
1. In groups of four or five, students can rewrite the ending of Murphy’s play. Each group
presents its new ending to the rest of the class and discusses the potential effect of these
changes on the audience.
2. Students can be separated into three groups, with each group assigned a character in
Murphy’s play. The groups prepare a character analysis of the assigned character, listing
all the physical, psychological, and sociological characteristics of the character. Students
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then discuss how the character development of their assigned character contributes to the
larger themes of the play.
3. Students can prepare a brief presentation on one of the many themes developed in the
play and relate the theme of their choice to their own life experience and/or personal
interests.
4. When Lilly first encounters Parker, she speaks to him in Spanish and then in French. She
prejudges him and makes assumptions that can be considered racist. Students can be
asked to analyze instances of prejudice and misconceptions within the play and relate
these instances to current events, social issues within their community, or to their own
personal experience. For example, they can compare how Lilly reacts to Parker to how
they react to the homeless in their city.
5. Apart from environmental issues, various social issues are also mentioned in the play,
including views of sex and marriage and class distinctions. Parker states, “A third of the
world’s too fat, a third’s too skinny, an’ a third of the world had their genitalia tampered
with,” Lilly discusses a class shooting, and Morgan says, “the reality is that the world
needs poor people and homeless people and helpless people because the world is like an
aquarium. There are gold fish with beautiful fins, muscle fish to keep order, plain-looking
fish to reproduce and form crowds – then there are fish whose main purpose in life is to
suck algae off the glass.” Students can prepare a brief presentation on one of the many
social issues presented in Murphy’s play and discuss the significance of their chosen
social issue.
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