Abstract

The teleplay titled 'On Tidy Endings' is composed by and stars the famous playwright and gay rights advocate Harvey Fierstein. The act is primarily related to the homosexuality. The play narrates the account of two characters, Marion and Arthur, who are ex wife and male lover of the Collin who passed away at some time. Now, these two people have come together to spilt the property of the deceased person. In the course, they learnt to share the pain and joy and also realized the importance of each other in the life of Collin. Through the account of these two characters, Fierstein has tried to address the erroneous prevailing belief in the society about the same sex relationships. He also tried to make aware the audience that a deadly virus like AIDS can occur to anybody and there is no definite relationship with the homosexuals.

'On Tidy Endings' by Harvey Fierstein

Introduction

The teleplay titled 'Tidy Endings' is composed by and stars the famous playwright and gay rights advocate Harvey Fiierstein. He was also an actor and producer. Educated at Pratt Institute, he made his debut as an actor at La MaMA in Andy Wahol's Park(1971). He garnered sudden fame in 1981 with the success of his Torch Song Trilogy, a play presenting various views of male homosexuality. With the commercial success of the musical, La Cage Aux Folles (1983), for which he wrote the book, he was considered the most successful Broadway playwright concerned with Gay themes in 1980s though his efforts since 1983 have been less successful (e.g., Spookhouse, Safe Sex, on Tidy Endings), devoting more time to television and film roles (Wilmeth & Miller, 1996, p. 153).

Discussion

Harvey Feinstein's publication "On Tidy Endings" is primarily related to the homosexuality, which gives conventional taste outside the norms. There are many plays, movies and great literature classics which people even in today world may feel offensive. Tidy Endings, cannot be just ruled out as a gay propaganda, which was thought at that time, but actually, the essence behind the play take into consideration a full range of individual sentiments including his needs, his wants, sincerity, familial relationships and crises. With such plays, Feinstin tried to create a new kind of theater which specifically addresses the complex issues of gays relationships - issues that can create both tragedy and comedy in their characters' lives (DiGaetani, 2008, p.151).

In the play, a deceased person's ex-wife and his male lover split his property and fix together loose ends. They move towards the accomplishment of this task in an organized manner; at the same time they tried to avert any emotions from swelling to the surface. They uncovered their soul to each other, finding out, in the process, that it's better to share pain and joy of the deceased person's life rather than isolating themselves. The one-act play, produced by the Powerhouse Repertory Company, Santa Monica, is one of a rising number of cordial stage shows about life in the period of AIDS. In 1987, ...