BUG
Tracy Letts was born on July 4, 1965, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is the son of author Billie Letts and actor Dennis Letts. He was raised in Durant, Oklahoma and eventually moved to Dallas in the early 1980s when he began his acting career. He was cast in Jerry Flemmons’ O Dammit, and eventually moved to Chicago at age 20. He has been a member of the Steppenwolf ensemble since 2002 and is still an active member. He has written 5 plays, with August: Osage County, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2008.
Bug premiered in London at the Gate Theatre on September 20, 1996. Following its run in London, the play premiered in the United States at the Whoolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington D.C. around March/April of 2000. The play received numerous awards including 4 Lucille Lortel awards in 2004, for outstanding play, Director, lighting design and sound design. A film adaptation was made in 2006.
1. What kind of similarities can be drawn when comparing Bug to Killer Joe?
2. It is important to note the constant use of drugs throughout the play; to what degree do you feel this impacted the events that played out during the play?
3. What percentage of Peter’s claims do you believe were true? For example, his claim that he was programmed with Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombings, and his claim of being tracked by the government.
4. The term “bug” is used in nearly every sense imaginable throughout the script. What is the significance of this in your opinion? Is it the depth of the term’s symbolism or its many different possible meanings?
5. Do you believe that Dr. Sweet was really a doctor who performed tests on Peter? If not, then give your opinion about what you feel he was.
6. How does Peter use fear to trap Agnes into his own paranoia? One example to look at would be his use of her abducted child as proof that he is correct about his conspiracy theory. Try to find other examples as well.
7. What do you feel is the overall theme of the play? If there are multiple themes then explain how they interact with one another.
8. Why did Peter finally go completely insane after meeting Agnes? He had been paranoid for many years and had the opportunity to find numerous other women to be “matched” with. Why was Agnes different and why did she end up being the catalyst for this insanity to finally climax?
5. Do you believe that Dr. Sweet was really a doctor who performed tests on Peter? If not, then give your opinion about what you feel he was.
ReplyDeleteI certainly believe Dr. Sweet was a real person (not just another illusion), but I don't think he performed tests on Peter. I believe he is a therapist/rehab counselor if some sort. He seems to have experience working with people on drugs/in a strange state of mind, so it would be reasonable to assume that he was Peter's doctor/therapist/counselor prior to Peter's escape from the clinic.
1. Both Bug and Killer Joe by Tracy Letts are interesting reads. When comparing the two plays, I found many similarities. They both contain seriously messed up characters. In Killer Joe, we follow the story of a drug dealer who is plotting to have his mother killed. The setting is in a cheap and grimy trailer park. In Bug, we follow a forty-year-old divorced waitress who lives in a grungy motel room. Both plays deal with psychological issues, drugs, and settings in poor areas. Through the characters, drama, and settings, Letts shows similarities in his writing style in the two plays.
ReplyDelete2 & 8. I think that the drugs may have had some type of effect on its users but there's no way all of that stuff came from just drugs. Like Brooke pointed out earlier in class, anytime you use "good" (illegal) drugs, you're already in a paranoid state because you know you shouldn't have it and Peter was like this before he even took the drugs. Crack and cocaine are strong drugs, but unless you smoke or sniff an incredible amount, I don't think you can get hallucinations like that. Sometimes you'll think deeper or you may not think at all, but all of that just from the bars, I find that hard to believe. I think the drugs had a larger impact on Agnes than it did on Peter; Peter was already crazy, but he seemed like he knew what he was talking about the entire time. As for why it took so long for him to bug out, I was thinking along the same lines as Will; Agnes and him were sort of compatable. They lost something, they needed help and no one came to their aid, they were pushed aside and above all, they didn't trust anyone. With Agnes still fighting the devestation of her loss child, she was desperate. A desperate woman is the best haha, but seriously, when you're as vulnurable as she was and someone like that comes into your life, some one who is just like you and yet the exact opposite, something is bound to happen. It never fails when you're around crazy people, that's why they're so much fun.
ReplyDeleteI thought peter's well spoken-ness was a bit frightening. His drug use was absolutely rediculous. I feel the drug use has caused him to form these stories in so much detail that he believes them in everyway and have been completely formed. These stories make him able to convinve agnes of everything he says and i feel bad for her
ReplyDeleteI think Dr. Sweet was an actual person, but I didn't know if he was good or bad because I struggled throughout the play with believing Peter and his theories. I didn't know if it was all in his imagination, or if he was telling the truth. I don't think the drug use affected Peter very much, but I do think that it affected Agnus since she was doing crack, and there are so many different ingredients in it. I noticed that the use of the drugs seemed to increase towards the end, and it was kind of irritating. Whenever Dr. Sweet showed up, the play reminded me of "Shutter Island," and I think they both are similar, especially towards the end because you don't know whether or not the character is telling the truth or if it's all in his head, and he's creating all these different storylines to make his imaginations truth. And the reader doesn't know whether or not to believe Dr. Sweet or Peter.
ReplyDelete