Prompt 2--"Trifles"

My first instinct is to say that Trifles would be much less effective if produced minimally.  While the dialogue is obviously very important to the meaning of the play, it would not be as effective if none of the props or set dressing were included.  The point of Trifles is that all of this meaningless feminine junk onstage that the men carelessly pass by actually holds the key to Mrs. Wright’s motive, if one were to look closely enough.  Therefore, I would think that the best way to produce Trifles would be to clutter the stage with such trifles to prove the point further—perhaps this would imply to the audience that all of the other, non-referenced props could also help tell the story of what actually happened.  If I were the props master or set designer, I would create the story of what actually happened between the Wrights in my own head, then I would set the scene accordingly, so that an observant audience member actually could dissect it if he wanted to. 

On the other hand, one could produce an ironic production in which the trifles are dismissed, and the actresses are interacting with and referring to nothing physical onstage.  I’m not sure what effect this would produce—perhaps it would be from the point of view from the male characters, who do not notice any of that important evidence.  It is as if the trifles did not exist.  Alternatively, it could call to attention the idea that a woman’s success is measured by her husband’s, and now that her husband is dead and she is in prison, men see her as having nothing in her life.  Also, since her primary job in life was to take care of the home and make it comfortable to anyone living within, all of her life’s work has disappeared now that no one is living there anymore.