I enjoyed “Almost, Maine” because of the honesty it had shown its spectators. The cast of couples were introduced to the audience with their eccentricities, their hurts and their needs with affection and warmth thus building a link between the characters and the viewers. The play used metaphors to define the story in fuelling the personal connections of the audience to the play. Metaphors used in the play remind us of what is really important in life as we move through our days.
The purpose of the play is to send a message to its audience that love should not be taken for granted. The main concept of the play is that love allows us to see the magic and wonders that exist around us but often goes unnoticed. Each story in the play explored gaining or losing love. Some characters discovered love in the least expected manner while others rekindled love. Each scene in the play climaxed with a magical moment. This is the moment when the characters realize they have found love.
The play is about the consequences of taking the risk of falling in love. It is about the terrifying, elating at the same time fulfilling possibility of falling in love. The play shows the bravery of the characters in taking a chance in love and how they deal with the outcomes of their decisions. An opportunity for discussion is being provided by “Almost, Maine” on the topic of the moments of choice and fundamental risks we take in our relationships whenever we communicate our needs and wishes.
This paper aims to explore the ideas of love by analyzing the characters at their crucial moment of choice and evaluating the element of magic in that given moment. The ideas of possibility, growth and commitment in love will be the main topic of discussion. First we explore the possibility of love despite a heartbreak in the scene “In Her Heart”.
Glory travelled to Maine to see the northern stars because she wanted to pay her respects to her late husband who broke her heart by cheating on her. Literally, Glory kept her broken heart in a bag which she carried along with her. She camped out on the yard of a repairman, East, who fell in love with her at first sight. Glory declined East’s proposal of love because she could not give or receive love with a broken heart.
East a repairman offered to fix her broken heart and in the last part they ended up in each other’s arms in love. The idea of this scene is that even when we are hurt by the people we love and decide not to love again because of the tremendous pain we felt before, still we cannot stop love from coming to us in the most unexpected way. Wounds heal even if we are not aware of it. Sometimes it would take meeting another person to fix a broken heart.
The magic in this scene appeared when Glory met East who offered to fix herat broken heart. Another idea worth exploring is commitment in love which is best portrayed in the scene “Getting It Back”. One night Gayle came over to her boyfriend’s house, Landell, to give all his love back and get all her love from him as well. She had concluded that Landell doesn’t love her anymore because he never proposed to her. She returned sacks of Landell’s love and demanded to get all the love she gave him back.
Stunned, Landell gave her a tiny bag. Surprise to receive a tiny bag of love, Gayle denied that a small bag represented all the love she gave to him. Curious, she opened the bag found a ring then Landell proposed to her. Love is often associated with commitment and loyalty to the person you love. It is in the power of commitment to spend the rest of your life with the person you love that shows that the love you share with that person has gone to a higher and more serious level.
This happens when lovers have been together for a long time that they are already certain that the love and passion they share is their faith. The magic in this scene is that material things can represent love which cannot be seen. In this case Glory’s ring is a representation of Landell’s love for her. In marriage a ring represents love and commitment.
Lastly, the idea of growth in love is essential in our analysis of the scene “Sad and Glad. In the scene, Jimmy accidentally bumped into his old girlfriend, Sandrine in a bar. She disappeared one night and never came back. Jimmy, who still hoped to reconcile with her found out a heartbreaking truth, Sandrine was engaged to be married the next day and she was having her bachelorette party in that same bar.
Jimmy showed Sandrine his tattoo that says “Villian” and explains that it should be “Villain” because he wasn’t able to get a hold of her. Sandrine walks off to her bachelorette party, leaving Jimmy sad and depress. A twist of faith happened when a lonely lady named Villian appeared and became Jimmy’s new friend.
The scene ended by hinting to the audience that Jimmy and Villian will fall in love. We are all hurt when someone we love abandon us. For every relationship that ends, letting go and moving on has always been difficult. In the case of Jimmy he was brave enough to let go of Sandrine in the end and meeting Villian proved to be a promising way for him to move on.
The magic was revealed in Jimmy’s tattoo which was accidentally misspelled to the name of his destiny. “Almost, Maine” is a moving play that is sweet and insightful. The play has realness in its stories that keeps audience adoring it because the latter can relate. Love is portrayed in this play as something shocking, cold, dangerous and difficult but at the same time it is also exciting, refreshing and full of hope. It is a wonderful play which explores the ideas of love in terms of possibility, commitment and growth.