Analysis of the play: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
On the 20th of September 2012, the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis presented a show on the play “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson”. The intent of this paper is to provide an analysis of the play as it was shown on that day.
In this play about political satires; a youthful character displays his political ambitions. Throughout the play, the youth reveals his desire to be the seventh American president. Some of his manifestos are to expand the territory of America and excommunicate Indians in America respectively.
Identify who the story centers around. What does he/she want? (Goal) Do they succeed?
The story centers on Jackson whose love for his country cannot be compromised. For example, his wife dies because she is in grief. The grief that kills her is from the lack of privacy that the two of them lack in their lives. One would expect that the death would make Jackson realize that his love for the country was extra-ordinary, but he does not. Instead, after the death of his wife, Jackson seems to have a renewed energy to fight for his country.
Jackson seems to succeed in the goal he has to be the president. This is because at the end of the play, he becomes the 7th president of America. He wants a different America for his people, and later succeeds in this endeavor. For example, it takes him a long time in which he is a political exile before he achieves the chief goal that he had in mind.
The creation of the Democratic Party is an attempt by Jackson to succeed in transforming the traditional American politics. Populism is another phenomenon that enables Jackson to be effective in the achievement of his respective goals. This is because he realizes that he can only return his country to normalcy after several dramatic occurrences in the play.
Critique and Analysis of Characters
Andrew Jackson is the chief character in the play. He is incredibly passionate about his country. The playwright creates this character as one that is courageous. This is because Andrew is never afraid of anything that comes his way when he wishes to fight for his character and goal throughout the play.
Rachel, Jackson’s wife is the second leading character who appears to be emotionally weak. She grieves excessively for her husband and later dies because of this grief. This is probably a representation of women in the 19th Century. They had less significant roles in the society and did not have adequate strength to defend them. For example, the character of Rachel realizes that she could lose her husband because of the wars. One would expect her to attempt a practical strategy that would save her marriage. Instead, she just grieves and dies, depicting the most weak of characters.
Other characters are less significant because they appear to sing throughout the play. This is because the entire play is a rock musical. This effectiveness of these other characters is compromised because they seem to play minimal roles in the development of the story. Their roles are to sing, this is wasteful of character resources in such political plays. Their respective outfits in stage make the female characters appear as 19th Century prostitutes. The males are depicted as soldiers who finally help Andre Jackson in his fight for American rights.
