Customer Reviews

The insanity of Mary Girard: A dream in one act

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I read this play over five years ago, and hoped to get a copy of it for my personal collection. I just found out it was out of print. I'm a theatre major in college, and "The Insanity of Mary Girard" introduced me to great stage literature as a freshman in high school. The dialogue and basic storyline have a permanent effect on me. The fact that this play is based on a true couple and their marriage's end makes this play all the more powerful. Lanie Robertson researched the Girards well, she even got the years of Mary's imprisonment and her child's life correct! A brilliant work that everyone should read!

After playing Mary Girard in a local community theatre production of "The Insanity of Mary Girard", I have been changed immensely as a person. To be a part of Mary (who was a true person) is to enter the mind of someone who was not in the least insane, but forcefully committed to an insane asylum for reasons unknown to her. This work of theatre is an incredible "thinking" play. The roles of the Furies, literally figments of Mary's mind, are wretched and brilliant, cunning and deceitful. They bring the play together and their parts are interwoven so well it makes you truly wonder if they are not really one person. The role of Mary, as well, is emotionally challenging and makes one re-evaluate one's mental status.

If you are to read this play, be ready for a true burst of realization. This will make you come to think of yourself in a different way, as well as the rest of the human race. This is truly a play for humanity, and I believe that it is very important for everyone to take a critical look at the very real situations that truly occur in one's life.

I saw this play performed by a high school at a play festival two years ago. These young actors inspired me to research the play and read it on my own. I found it to be exact on the treatment of women in that time period. The story was excellent in its attempt to display what a young woman went through because of her husband. I would recommend this play to anyone who loves the theatre. I am currently a theatre major at Winthrop University in South Carolina.

I just saw this production, and it is a scary one act play that leaves a deep impression. It was amazing how the furies play such an important role in the overall storyline. Dark and very sad, but kept my attention the entire time, not one second of boredom!