Reviews for Crimes of the Heart

The average rating for Crimes of the Heart based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-01-23 00:00:00 Carlt Adams In 1980 Beth Henley won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for her Crimes of the Heart, a three act character study about three sisters in small town Mississippi. Combined with Marsha Norman's Pulitzer for 'night, mother, Henley helped to usher in a new era for southern women's play writing. A compelling play with five distinct characters, Crimes of the Heart is memorable drama. Lenora "Lenny" McGrath is thirty and unmarried and living in her grandparents' Hazelhurst, Mississippi home. Brought up by her grandparents following her mother's suicide, as the only unmarried sister, Lenny feels that it is her duty to care for her aging grandfather. Even though she is just thirty and in the prime of her life, Lenny appears worn down by her years, acting as though she is in her fifties rather than her thirties. Caring for her grandfather as well as dealing with rumors about both her sisters in a small town where everyone knows each other's business has aged her emotionally well beyond her years. To top that off, she must constantly deal with her first cousin Chick, a busy body who enjoys putting everyone in their place. While Lenny attempts to hold the family together, middle sister Meg has returned home amid rumors about their youngest sister Babe. Both sisters have dealt with their share of issues in life, and, in their mid twenties, neither appears stable. Meg was supposed to be a star singer in Hollywood but could never handle breaking up with her boyfriend Doc, and on her return home, her life appears to be in disarray. Yet, Meg's shortcomings are nothing to Babe's. Married to Zackary Bardette, Hazelhurst's top lawyer and senator, Babe is often lonely and in need of emotional acceptance. Starting an affair with fifteen year old Willie Jim, a colored boy, eventually leads Babe to shoot her husband and the town to start talking. Ironically, it is Meg who comforts Babe in this desperate hour and leads her out of immediate legal trouble. Henley has created three strong, yet emotional unstable characters in Lenny, Meg, and Babe. Each sister has faced her share of hardships during her life, most notably the emotional baggage of their mother's suicide from which none has completely recovered twenty years later. Coping in their own way by becoming a caregiver, running away, or marrying the town bigwig, each sister deals with the loss of their parents uniquely. The entire three act play occurs in Lenny's kitchen, adding to the suspense of the moment. The room can be entered or exited from four directions, so one does not know where the action will come from next. Due to the nature of the set, Henley has written some asides and notes, but leaves the rest of off stage action for the audience to speculate about. This setting combined with the strong characters has created a strong drama, worthy of its accolades. On the heals of its Pulitzer, Crimes of the Heart was nominated for the Tony award in 1982. A poignant character piece taking place in small town Mississippi, it is a play that I will remember for a long time. Between Lenny, Meg, and Babe, the three women run the gamut of human emotions, creating a powerful drama that merited its Pulitzer. Although not at the level of some of the other Pulitzer winning plays I have read recently, Crimes of the Heart is a southern gritty play, which I highly recommend and rate 4 stars.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-09-16 00:00:00 Paolo Brega Crimes of the Heart, the 1981 Pulitzer prize winning play from Beth Henley was also nominated for the 1982 Tony Award for a Broadway musical. A later film adaptation featured Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek. At one level this seems like a family version of Sartre's No Exit, as each character seemed to have created her own hell that was made worse by complex interactions with the others. A better study, though, shows the strong, resilient endurance by the sisters and their ability to come together and overcome "bad days". Another strength of the play itself is the rich history that Henley has created through the narrow lens of the dialogue. Almost like a focused perspective, we learn about characters not in the play but whose actions and influence paint indelible marks on the McGrath sisters, especially the shadow of their mother's suicide and the oppressive tyranny of Old Grandaddy. Set in Mississippi, this is a Southern family that is reborn from the past, struggling to find a new way. Excellent.