The Red Letter Plays

by Suzan-Lori Parks

The playwright who "has burst through every known convention to invent a new theatrical language, like a jive Samuel Beckett, while exploding American cultural myths and stereotypes along the way [John Heilpern, New York Observer and Vogue]," has written two haunting riffs on Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter: In the Blood and Fucking A.

Hester La Negrita of In the Blood is an unapologetic mother of five illegitimate children—"my treasures, my five joys"—who practices writing the alphabet to help herself "one day get a leg up. The letter A is as far as she gets. Hester Smith of Fucking A works the only job available—abortionist to the lower class, in order to save for a reunion picnic with her imprisoned son. Her branded A bleeds afresh every time a patient comes to see her.

These are two mature, beautifully crafted, inventive and poetic plays by one of the most unique voices writing for the stage today.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, School, LGBT, Read For School, Adult

225 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Suzan-Lori Parks is an award-winning American playwright and screenwriter. She was a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002. She is married to blues musician Paul Oscher.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second go around with In The Blood which I still like but Fucking A was Fucking Great. Grand in scale, The Handmaid’s Tale if it were written by Sophocles. Suzan-Lori Parks knocks it out of the park (whoops) with a plot you can see coming but that keeps you gripped in its inevitability.

[Ryan Rebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read an essay that Parks wrote about writing that I found obscure, unhelpful, and unnecessarily eccentric. Thank God her writing is much better than I thought it was going to be.

The first thing to note is her distinct voice. It really is one of a kind. Her plays are abstract, archetypal, dialect-filled, and limit-pushing romps. Yeah, they're romps.

I occasionally felt alienated by her universes, but her dialogue is engaging and her thematic threads are tight. I'd recommend this if you're looking for a distinctly different read.

[Ross Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

suzan-lori parks is so good and such a strong voice and inspires me honestly

also good timing wrt me reading this considering we did a unit on the scarlet letter in my english class. id rather read this tho, any day of the week

[sashrika · Rating 4 out of 5]

scarlet letter fanfic but make it better
i have not read the scarlet letter

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two plays, both based on themes from The Scarlet Letter, both containing similar ideas (shame, motherhood, poverty, prison, race, illiteracy), but explored in different ways. In the Blood is set in the modern world, and the issues faced by Hester La Negrita are similar to those that show up in the news all the time. Whereas Fucking A is set in a strange, unnamed dystopian nation with an odd dialect, hereditary mayoralty, and the practice of branding certain people who have committed crimes. Both were dark and chilling at times. I would love to see either, or both, of these plays performed: there were certain moments that I suspect would have struck even deeper on the stage than on the page.

[Ileana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished teaching In the Blood to my tenth grade English class. It is a revision of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

[Emily Fortuna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, good, well-written plays, just not my personal cup of tea.

[wes. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTASTIC.

"In the Blood" This was a retelling of The Scarlet Letter, where Hester is a black single mother on welfare with five children from five different fathers. Susan Lori Parks criticizes society and the inefficiency of social services to help the people who need it most. Poor Hester! She was so horribly taken advantage of by each of the adults. This was so tragic, but like satisfyingly tragic somehow.

I would love to see these performed. The five kids also played five adults, and I think the staging would be really interesting for this.

UPDATE
After the semester, I read the second play in the paperback, "Fuckin A" This centered on Hester the abortionist, her prostitute friend and the wife of her ...sugardaddy the Mayor. It was all very Greek Tragedy-like in structure, which was kind of cool. I liked this play a little less, but still really enjoyed it. It was veeerryy heavy-handed, but then again so was In the Blood. Again, I would really like to see this play performed

[Tarina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw a production if In the Blood last year and was blown away by it. The blurb on the back of this books calls these plays "Classical tragedies", In the Blood played almost like a fairytale. All evil players and morals and nobody wins in the end.

Fucking A is by far my favorite. I find myself wanting a full length novel set in this world. I want *more*. This one is a tragedy if ever one was written, and I loved every line. I would love to see it one day.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved loved loved Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks and I'm hoping these plays will be great too. I'm not somebody that would normally read plays, but she is so great I'm going to give it a try. But I really recommend Venus to anyone out there.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't really know how I felt about these plays. The tension throughout was constant while you are trying to figure out what is happening, but I'm not sure I enjoyed reading them. The author is a good writer, I just think the plays need to be seen more to be fully appreciated. They are good stories though, just sad.

[Swati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suzan-Lori Parks writes powerful plays. Short and easy to read. These plays must be incredible when performed because she clearly has a lot to say, but also leaves a great deal up to the interpretation of the director.

[Branden · Rating 5 out of 5]

i wasn't really on the SweetnLori Parks hype train until i read these two plays and i have to say that these are really kind of unbelievable--raw, strange, moving, and completely original. "In the Blood" is now officially one of my favorite things on Earth.

[Constance · Rating 4 out of 5]

These plays are raw, disturbing and quite complex--signature Suzan-Lori Parks.

[sacha kenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

she is amazing.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plays in this collection are tough-going. . . not exactly a fun read. They are powerful, however, and one cannot help but be caught up by Parks' vibrant imagination and language.

[Maja]

If you don't know Suzan-Lori Parks, you should.

[Rachel Pollock]

Had to read Fucking A for a class. Bleak.

[amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

way too bloody for my taste.

[Brittany Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing playwright who makes her audience think. If you read her plays and aren't moved, check your pulse.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreakingly good.

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Blood is creative and insightful. Great read!!

[Daze · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a realism about the social issues Parks paints which culminates to an unpredictable, lamentable tragedy. It's a mix of Dickens meets Shakespeare.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the blood—5.
Fucking A-3.
Blood is devastating modern rewrite. God. That ending.

A is similarly tragic. Little more scattered though. Unclear about purpose of fake foreign language.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, but some of it reads like an out-take from a bad Spike Lee film.

[Gabino G. Ocampo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Amazing plays, specially In the Blood. The colloquial speaking of the characters, the troubles that real people in extreme circumstances go through, a mother's love above all, etc... It caught my heart and made me relate and made me be in these social problems. It was very tragic in the Greek sense and I loved it for that.

[amyleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suzan-Lori Parks brings figures, figments from the here and now that is also the past and the yet to come to her sparse stagings that can only be described as gutsy. There is blood. There is love. There is desperation. I will come back to these, read many more of her works and words, and hopefully maybe see them performed one day.

[Jennifer Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bold, smart and perhaps a touch too provocative to teach in school. But only maybe.

[Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So inventive and new. I'm not a fan of reading plays, but F****** A kept me motivated until the very end. I loved it.