How I Learned to Drive

Vogel uses the Greek chorus setup I believe to bring a sense of levity to the play. The opening scene might make an audience feel a little awkward. The entire play is revolved around a type of underage incest, which is a definite taboo. A major portion of the play is spent narrating and that was the purpose of Greek choruses in Greek plays. Using a so called “Greek chorus” and having music be a part of the play makes it somewhat like a musical. Using these elements might make an audience more at ease with the subject matter of the play. The entire intent of Vogel might be to make the play a parody of Greek plays. If this is the case, anyone with knowledge of Greek plays would find humor in the use of the “Greek choruses”.

          The way Vogel uses time in this play at first confused me. I couldn’t fully understand it until I finished reading the playscript. After reading the first scene and understanding the context, I felt somewhat disgusted. For the most part, the play goes back in time to tell of events critical to the story. You begin to understand slowly the context of the relationship between Peck and Lil’bit. Using this concept of time will keep the audience more interested as to why and how it started. If Vogel had just used time in a straight linear fashion the play would have had a different mood altogether. You would have immediately felt a sense of sympathy for Lil’bit and anger towards Peck. Instead as you go back in time to discover how it began and then jump to the end, you see it as a tragic romance.