The director, Roy F. Siegel, has shaped the Pielmeier drama so that the weaknesses inherent in the script are smoothed over and the play's strengths are as fully realized as in the original Broadway production. I submitted the play to the ONeill, as well as to Jon Jory at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where I had worked a lot as an actor. Agnes of God Quotes - eNotes.com Agnes of God is a 1979 play by American playwright John Pielmeier which tells the story of a novice nun who gives birth and insists that the child was the result of a virgin conception. Given dialogue that sounds as if it were written to be read, given characters who consistently avoid asking the obvious questions, given a story that refuses to declare what it is about, Bancroft, Fonda and Tilly use their craft to give the illusion that they know where they stand. It reaches for a far loftier philosophical subject, which is, I think, the possibility of miracles. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. She tells the judge that she heard "Him" singing beneath her bedroom window for six nights in a row, and then on the seventh night he lay on top of her, implying that she may have been raped and impregnated by a trespasser. More to the point: The solution to the crime hardly seems to be the point of the movie. What is the miracle Mother Miriam is referring to? Near the end of Agnes of God, Mother Miriam tells Doctor Livingstone that a small miracle has already happened. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. She is totally unsuited. She is either incapable of understanding how the pregnancy occurred or is blocking it out of her mindor, perhaps there truly was a virgin birth. The play leaves it open to interpretation whether the baby was conceived through supernatural or human intervention. The lights constantly change for no apparent reason, and the attempts at dramatic highlighting seem excessive. Read more about the play on Breaking Character: Agnes of God: A Conversation with Author John Pielmeier. DOCTOR: Yes, I do think your mother was wrong sometimes. Agnes of God Critical Essays - eNotes.com Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Agnes is a beautiful but tormented soul whose abusive upbringing has affected her ability to think rationally. It considers, or pretends to consider, some of the most basic questions of human morality and treats them on the level of "Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Convent.". For a good while I had been looking for an idea upon which to hang a play about questions of faith looking, essentially, for a plot clothesline. Under hypnosis, Agnes reveals that on the night Sister Marie-Paul died, she told Agnes she had seen "Him" from the bell tower and directed Agnes to meet "Him" in the barn. Agnes of God was filmed at the former Rockwood Academy in Rockwood, Ontario, Canada and mainly in Montreal, also in Boucherville on the south shore of Montreal (Sainte-Famille church). Pielmeier was inspired to write the play after seeing an article in a newspaper about an event that occurred in a convent in Brighton, New York, just outside the city limits of Rochester. She believes that the young nun is "touched by God.". Just answer a few questions. It takes the form of a severe, judgmental attitude of women towards other members of their sex. The character covers a full range of emotions and is on stage the whole time. After a reading at the 1979 Eugene O'Neill Playwrights' Conference. Near the end of Agnes of God, Mother Miriam tells Doctor Livingstone that a small miracle has already happened. A psychiatrist appointed by the court must determine if Sister Agnes is insane or not. The dramatist calls it "a detective story, not only of the world, but of the mind and of the soul." The film conveys is a very intense and involving way the ambiguity of contemporary attitudes toward miracles individuals evidence both hunger . The plot is about a novice nun (Tilly) who gives birth and insists that the dead child was the result of a virginal conception. This Tony Award-winning Broadway play has been adapted for the screen by its author, John Pielmeier. 6th Floor As she pulls out of Agnes the story of the nun's childhood filled with ignorance and physical abuse, she slowly uncovers the darker corners of her own soul. These three women represent the suffering of women, the suffering that results because of the Church, because of religion: but also because of their gender. Moreover, Agnes's incarceration results in the suppression of the knowledge of her "sin" and of its physical evidence, the pregnancy, thereby ensuring the silence of others who might say compromising things about the convent. While hypnotized, Agnes admits she gave birth and that another woman in the convent knew she was pregnant, but will not reveal who. Play Analysis: Agnes of God by John Pielmeier
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